On my own on Pulau Perhentian

Erik: A bit of travel advice: keep your passport on you at all times – it's much safer on your body than in your bags. Just as important, though, keep it in something water tight. More on that later...

In Terengganu, I'd looked into heading out to Pulau (island) Redang, which supposedly boasts great diving, but the prices and what seemed to be over development put me off – it was really more of a holiday resort island than a remote island paradise. A few hours north, near the Thai border were the Perhentian islands, the smaller of which had no roads, only a few bungalow resorts, and great diving, so that seemed the better option. T wasn't too interested in staying on a tiny island for any length of time, so as she mentioned before, we decided to split up for a week and do our own thing.

Getting there was easy – 2 ½ hour bus ride and then an hour ferry ride out to the island. Perhentian is actually two islands – the larger and more modern Perhentian Besar, and the smaller, simpler (and cheaper) Perhentian Kecil. I headed for the latter, and wasn't disappointed. I arrived on the Coral Bay side, which is comprised of about 100 meters of narrow sand beach and with 5 or so groupings of beach bungalows, a few restaurants and two dive shops. It was truly the rustic island getaway so many other places try to be – no roads, electricity only at night, and nothing to do but sit on the beach, swim or dive.

The far side of the island (a whopping 10 minute walk away) is Long Beach, with a much larger beach (go figure), and more of a backpacker, party-beach atmosphere. I opted for the beauty and calm of coral bay, as I really was there to relax and dive. Within 30 minutes of arrival I had a place to stay and was booked on an afternoon dive.

That evening after the dive and the shower, it hit me that I was on my own and could do whatever I wanted – a very strange feeling after so much time together. Spending nearly 24/7 together over a long period of time just isn't healthy for a relationship – and after so much time on the road, we're used to it as the norm, and you begin to forget the liberty of being able to make decisions on your own, doing exactly what you feel like doing, when you feel like doing it. Or simply doing nothing! The freedom of being on my own really was quite exhilarating for the first few days.

Speaking of doing what I wanted to do, beer on the island is quite expensive ($3/can), so I opted for the more economical small bottle of vodka and hung out with the dive crew at Steffen's Sea Sports. We shared a few drinks and diving stories, then I wandered over (all of 10 feet over) to the restaurant next store for an amazing fish BBQ. It was pricey ($4 for a huge king fish steak, potato, salad, fruit and banana bread!) , but I was famished and finished every last bit. Once I'd finished eating, though, it hit me – what do I do now? Well, there really was nothing to do, so I wandered back to my bungalow, read my book beneath the mosquito net. It's nice to be able to do whatever you want, as long as there's something you want to do!

Over the next 6 days, I did little more than that. Dive, eat, drink and read. Many of the dives were truly spectacular, and so I was never bored during the day. In the evenings, though, I did miss Talor and would often wish I had someone to share the beautiful sunsets with, etc. I made friends with the dive staff, though – many of them local to the island, or from the neighboring cities on the coast. Some of the other divers would do the same, such as Peter from Sussex and Andy, an American who teaches English in Japan, who we would meet up with later in Cherating as well.

The island is far from perfect – there are lots of mosquitos (one morning I found 8 of them, fat with blood inside my mosquito net!), and the food and drink is very over-priced and mostly mediocre. The diving is cheap and very good, though, which more than made up for it. My little bungalow perched on a rock overlooking the bay and the beach was nearly perfect - albeit very rustic - as well. In the evenings I would sit there, sip vodka listening to BBC World News on shortwave and stare at the stars. It was very beautiful and very relaxing, but after a week I really did miss T and was ready to get back.

Now back to that advice about the passport. I took the 8am ferry back, and as soon as we were loaded in the small, open boat, it started to rain. OK, no problem, there was a small rain/sun guard over the boat. But then the storm really kicked in, and it was dumping buckets – sideways! Everyone on the boat was soaked within minutes, and the ride took a full hour. I thought about my passport in the zip pocket on my trousers, but there was nowhere to move it to (my bags were at the back of the boat.) Besides, passports are sturdy things, right? (Again, more on that in a later post.

After the boat ride, I waited nearly two hours for a bus back to Terengganu. Luckily Andy was there, too, along with his friend Pat. Finally the bus came, and after boarding, I took out my passport, which was now warping at an alarming angle from the moisture, and many of the stamps were nearly illegible. Still, I didn't think too much of it, and was simply happy to see T waiting for me at the bus station in Terengganu.

Pics from Perhentian:

Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia