Kota Bharu and Perhentian Kecil

The bus to Kota Bharu left Kuantan at 1.30 and it arrived at Kota Bharu around 9.00.Thgat was one REALLY long trip.
I took a few random snaps during the bus journey and here they are!

Boats moored

Typical House on the route to Khota Baru

Mosque

I decided to stay in KB backpackers hostel for 2 nights (as I wouldn't mind seeing some of the islamic museums. This place
has a real muslim vibe to it. I have not seen many women with no head scarfs) I had a look at the market this morning. think
moore street and multiply it by about a million!

Get your 'nanas

These stalls went on for miles!

 I visited the Negari Museum first. When I say I visited it first, I mean ,i walked into the building beside it and had a
look around. It looked like I had walked into a government building (I had! I went in the wrong entrance.whoops!)
Anyway,Eventually I went to the museum where they Described all the Chinese dynastys  (You were not allowed to take any
photos at this museum.) If you want, i could show you a picture of the Chinese bringing a camel to Malaysia during the Tang
dynasty.

                                                              Camels were so cool during the Tang Dynasty

   There were quite a few authentic Ming vases here.(I had to make sure my backpack never slipped!)
There was a couple of interesting tid bits in this museum like the history of kite flying.(which was said to have originated
in Thailand) They had a few exmples of wau kites (they were supposed to resemble a human - i.e: a part with a head, body and
legs)
There was an example of a Reban Ubi drum there (It was made from wood and some cowhide, it looked a bit like a Lambeg drum)
There was a item on Pencak Silat (Malay\Java martial art to be used for defense only)
There was a really tacky room close to the exit which was really cool. You walk in the room and noises comes from nowhere
,then you look to your left and you see a guy trying to make a fire by rubbing a stick with flint. It looks really low budget
but kind of cool!
    I headed off in the direction of the 'Istana Jahar' museum.
This place contained some details about royalty.I saw Limar cloth (Royalty wore this orange cloth as a sign of wealth.) The
ritual of engagement within royal circles was explained here. The man would give the woman a ring and in return , she would
buy him an outfit (headgear {tengkolok},shirt,waistband etc)
    If the couple were having their first kid, there would be a ceremony during the 7th month of pregnancy where the village
nurse (Kampung Bidan) would glide a blade over the woman , then comb her hair and her belly, then run an egg over her - then
a coconut- then apply a silver and gold thread around the stomach (sounds like a long ritual to me!)
      I headed out for dinner at one of the local restaurants.When I walked in , one of the lads eating hs dinner started
cheering (He started slagging the girl who was going to serve me for being a bit slow (service wise) but it seemed in good
jest! At the  end  pf the meal, she brought me down a glass of water (water is always appreciated!!)) I guess he must have
thought that I looked like royalty!
  Anyway, The next morning I got the 9 bus out of Kota Bharu to Kuala Besut (The journey took 90 minutes but it flew by fairly
quickly as there were a  couple of lads heading to the Perhentian Islands and They were full of chat.)  One of the lads (Ger)
is from Armagh and has been traveling though south east asia for quite a while. He is heading to the islands as he heard that
the dives around the island are pretty cool. I have never dove before but I might give the snorkeling a go. In Kota Besut, I
bumped into another Irish bloke (Dave) who is traveling through south east asia before heading on home for the summer. We
bumped into each other on the beach (There are 2/3 bars there and at night time, they throw on some music) Note to self :
stay away from the 'Orang Utan' rum as it goes down too easy A 330ml can of tiger beer costs RM10 here so It's not too cheap!
      wednesday:
     I went for a snorkel today.
Note: remember not to freak out when you jump into the water.I jumped into the water and had a look at the bottom of the
ocean and had one of those moments! So I ended up wearing a safety jacket for most of the day. This was really annoying as it started digging into my sides.I think i'd rather drown than wear a safety vest again.
                                       

                                        
                                                        The downside to wearing a life jacket 



         The snorkeling itself is great craic. I saw a HUGE turtle and many different types of fish (Actually, can fish bite? I felt a few bites at one point! I saw a small shark at one point also. Unfortunately, there was no accompanying Jaws music for that shark and as it was 1 metre long, it was not too scary but it was still impressive.)
         I must remember to stop swimming AWAY from the boat too much. We (The instructor and
4 of us made the dive) went to 5 different places. When the boat stopeed in the first location, I swam to shore and then
tried to swim back to the boat but it had moved on....eep!!! The boat showed up a few minutes later anyway (luckily for me!).
 here are a few pics of the journey around the islands

Longbeach (Perhentian Kecil)

travelling around the islands

Clear blue waters everywhere!

Can you feel the sun through these pics?

The people on this Island (Perhentian Kecil) are very chilled out. Any time , I go for a breakfast/lunch/dinner , the smiles
are out in force! The vibe is a lot better than Pulau Tioman (Although, Pulau Tioman still has its attractions.)
      It rained a bit last night and I had my bag with me (with the laptop in the bag.Not a good idea, Today, there seems to be 5 or 6 brightly coloured lines running vertically down the screen on the laptop. so it looks like the screen could be ready to throw in the towel...)

    I must remember if I ever snorkle again the following few things....
1. Do not bother tryig to swim as the fins and the headgear will keep you buoyant.
2. You can float on the surface for ages without moving a muscle!
3. Don't bother using you arms, Use the fins to glide through the water.
4. Remember , the water can have a multitude of temperatures. swimming through water with different temperatures is class!
5. Do not touch the turtles!
6. Watch out for the biting fish.
7. Learn not to drink too much seawater
8. Breathe like Darth Vader.
9. Always remember to take off the fins before jumping back on the boat.otherwise, it could get a bt awkward!
10. Try swimming without the lifejacket.

            You can always spot the Irish person on the beach by looking at his /her back as Irish people are ALWAYS the ones with the red backs! As for the local animals, you would often bump into one or two of them when walking along the path.

Making a break for freedom

          I can't remember if I mentioned the place where I am staying so I'll write it now, It's called the 'Tropicana' and it is
located around 10 minutes from the beach. It is quite cheap (RM20 per night) for a dorm room but you have to negotiate your
way back to the room at night time .This can be tricky enough s there are no real lights, So you have to walk with your hands
out in front of you just in  case you might walk into a tree (which I didn't do, I swear)
        We were having a chat with the locals today.They seem a really friendly bunch of blokes who have time for everyone.(I
guess that is what's called 'Island Life'?)
       
        I have just left the island to head back to K.L. The last night on the island was pretty cool as there was quite a few of
us at the bar.An Irish group of doctors who had just qualified had travelled over and there was a few English girls out also.
So, I heard stories about Tubing in Laos (Note to self: never tube) and diving in koh tao (Thailand). It sounds deadly (in a
real AND metaphorical sense).I am not sure if I could thread water for 10 minutes and swim 200 metres in the open sea.Sounds
like a challenge though.            
    At the end of the night ,One Malysian bloke came up to us and mentioned that there was a girl lost at the top of the
beach. She was lucky he had spotted her as she was staying in the hostel to the back of us (and she had no lights on her.)
Apparently, she had passed out for 6 hours on the beach. Not a nice place to be at 5 in the morning.
    The journey back to the mainland was crazy but cool,It looked like 2 speedboats were trying to outdo each other in the
speedboats.They were driving the  boats so fast that at one point, None of the boats were  touching the water.

                                                                       These boats can pick up speed VERY quickly

We got to Kuala Besut aroung 5.30 where the lady behind the counter shouted at us (I think) She wasn't able to get us a cheap and good
bus so we had a go with a local bus from Kuala Besut to Terengganu and then an 8 hour express bus to K.L.

Rush Hour in Kuala Besut

 Unfortunately,the local bus did not show up so we had to get a minibus (It was easy for us to hire a minibus as the locals badgered us forr around 20 minutes offering to drive us in their minibus. They can be very persuasive). The driver of the minibus seemed to think that driving on the right hand side of the road was the done thing in Malaysia! I was never so happy to see the end of thhat ride! A couple of the lads had thumbed lifts to Terengganu from Kuala Besut.(the distance was something like 150km) The night bus was grand as 8 hours
on that bus was plenty of time to grab some shut eye...