What a truly amazing day - I met some absolutely wonderful people!
I woke up at 4.30, caught a cab to Kuala Lumpur central station where I then got a coach to the airport. Today I would be going to the perhetian islands.
My flight to Kuala Besut was quick - only 45minutes. I had done some research before arriving and discovered that there was a local bus that would take me to the jetty where I could then catch a boat to the perhentian islands. I asked at the information counter where i could get the bus from and was simply told outside the airport. I walked to the closest thing that looked like a bus stop and waited there - i had no idea if it was in the right direction but was hoping to ask the first people i saw. Then out of nowhere appeared three people - a girl of around my age with what looked like her parents. I asked if I was going in the right direction to the jetty but the girl warmly informed me that she was not sure as she was a tourist as well. Then along came a man offering a taxi. The girl kindly asked me if I wanted to share the taxi with them and split the cost (60 ringgit) She seemed like a very lovely person immediately and her parents who didnt speak very much english had a very humbled and warming aroma about them and so i agreed. The cab ride was a bumpy one through lots of villages - there were cows just casually crossing the road at points. I talked with the girl (cannot for the life of my remember her name - I think it was Sara so I will call her that for the purposes of this blog!) about many different things - my instincts were correct as she was just so lovely. She was from Iran but came to Malaysia to do a degree in electrical engineering - which she had now finished but was working. Her parents were over in Malaysia visiting her for a month. She was 26 and you could see that she absolutely adored her parents. When she spoke to her mum - who was sat in between us, she gently and affectionately rubbed her leg and talked with a quiet soft voice. It was adorable to watch.
Sara explained to me that the Iranian government do not care about their people and make it very difficult for them to leave the country. She told me that her dream is to travel, like me she said, but her Iranian passport restricted her and visas were very expensive because of it. She continued to tell me that she was trying to get residency in another country so that by the time she was 30 she could go travelling. Studying her degree in Malaysia was just the start. In Iran she said that it was very hard to get into university and you have to do vigorous tests - i'm talking all the subjects you study in school (english, maths, history, geography and other tests) but because there was such a small intake that they would only take the people with the highest marks and if you weren't in that selected group, then you would have to wait until the following year and go through the whole process again.
This was why she studied in Malaysia - which was just her route into trying to go to the USA to study her PHD. She explained that you need to live in the states for 3 years to gain permanent residency and the student visa was just her gateway in. I honestly admired her determination and patience.
When we got to the jetty it was like they had taken me under their wing. Although Sara's parents could not speak English, i could see her dad was very caring from his actions - when I tried to put my rucksack on my back he made a noise of concern and lifted the bag to help me. He kept making signals to Sara and making comments in his language whilst pulling a concerned face and then he eventually took my day pack and insisted on carrying it - he guided it like a baby the whole way to the perhentian islands. He was very sweet. Upon arrival at the jetty port, Sara took the lead role and walked around trying to haggle the best price for us for the boat to the Perhentian islands. Originally I was planning on staying at Maya accommodation on Coral Bay but Sara said that long beach was nicer so I went to long beach instead. She told me about the place she was looking to stay at - huts on the cliffs overlooking the sea. It sounded amazing and so I said I would check it out.
Upon arrival at the pulua perhentian kecil, long beach, (there are two islands to the perhentian islands and kecil is the smaller one) I was blown away. It looked stunning. The sea was crystal clear and the beach was long (hence the name) with pure white sand. The beach was lined with a couple of wooden shacks - restaurants, bars, and snorkelling companies. I was not disappointed.
The walk to check out the Rock Gardens (the accommodation Sara recommended) was awful!!! It was soooo hot and my backpack weighed a ton. To make matters worse, to get to the accommodation you had to climb hundreds of extremely steep steps. By the time i got to the top I was dripping with sweat and my body was aching all over.
I dropped down to the steps of someones hut and sprawled out in exhaustion while Sara went to ask at reception for someone to show us the rooms. The first room we walked into I didn't care what it looked like, I dropped my bag on the floor and said "I'll take it!" I could not imagine walking even one more step!!!
I changed straight into my bikini and proceeded to the sea to cool down. I was laying on the beach when I stupidly realised that after paying 70ringgit for the room I had only 100ringgit to last me 5 days - that wouldn't even cover accommodation. I asked a boy at the snorkelling hut closest to me if there were any ATMs around. It was a long shot! We were on this jungle covered island with just beachfronts! He said the nearest on was in Kota Besut town- where I had just come from! I would have to pay another 25 ringgit to get the jetty back to the mainland and then get a cab into the town....and that's what I did costing me 90 ringgit.
The boat journey back was at 5.30. I got talking to the guy that was driving the boat. He was really friendly and offered me some coconut fish inside a banana leaf that had been barbecued - they were supposed to be transporting it from the mainland to the islands!!! It was actually amazing and so tasty. I asked him where was good to eat on the island and he advised me of a place called Panorama where they do barbecue fish.
He dropped off the last two people in the boat and then told me that he had a volleyball match that he was late for - the big island local people vs the small island local people, and asked if I was in a hurry. The excitement of seeing the locals doing their thing excited me so much that I quickly responded "not at all - does that mean I can come and watch?!" I squealed with excitement when he said yes.
We picked up some of his friends who also played on his team - I instantly took a shine to them when one of them starting singing Pitbull and Neyo- love you tonight. The biggest smile spread across my face as I thought of my beautiful friend back home, Lahari! This song always reminded me of her because when I got back from my trip to Thailand last year we went on a night out. The DJ played this song and Lahari went nuts dancing and singing her heart out with her whole face and eyes gleaming with happiness. I remember watching her with a big smile on my face thinking, damn I missed you! I had never heard the song before because I had been away but now it just reminds me of her every time and how much she makes me smile.
Whilst the men played, me and a girl that we had picked up ealier sat and talked. Her name was Hagemarueguchi, aka E. She was 21 and married to one of Burung (the guy who drove the boat)'s friend. The friend she was married to had introduced himself to me on the boat as Jack Sparrow. His name was really Ejay. She was so very cute and innocent. She told me that she was from Terrenganu - 110km from Kuala Besut, and met Ejay when she came over to the perhentian islands to work. She had known Ejay for 2months only when she made up her mind that she wanted to marry him- and so she told him "I want you as my husband." And now here they are one year later married. Her mum had already passed away and she didn't have a great relationship with the rest of her family. I asked her if she wanted children and again, squealed with excitement, when she told me she was 3months pregnant. So cute.
Anyway, after the volleyball match Burung asked if I wanted to join E, Ejay and himself at Panorama for dinner to which I of course agreed!
They took me to their village first so that they could have a shower which I saw as a massive privilege. It was very quiet apart from the prayer that was being echoed for everyone to hear.
The food at Panarama was ok - Burung ordered me King Fish but to be honest it was nothing compared to the fish I had at the street market in kk. The company definitely made up for it though. The group were very warm and tried their hardest to include me in their conversations by speaking English or translating anything that was said in Malay. During dinner I mentioned that I liked shisha - Burung said something in Malay to Ejay and then Ejay made a call - they had arranged for us to have shisha on the beach after food. Seriously, how much nicer could these people be.
The rest of the night (until 5am) was spent laying on mats on the beach, smoking shisha, looking at shooting stars and talking with Burung.
Burung was very caring with a very kind and loving heart. E's nickname for him was Aba (translation "dad"). He had apparently looked after her when she came to the island on her own and made life here easier for her. As she had said earlier, she didn't get on great with her own father and had now found a better father figure. She also regarded her close friends who we saw throughout the night as her family. Even when I needed to go to the toilet, which was only a five minute walk down the beach, Burung asked E to walk with me. It was just so humbling and comforting to feel apart of it all.
The whole of the day couldn't have been more perfect.
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