In Perhentians

This is the first chance we had to access the internet since we arrived on Perhentian Besar island and thought it might be a good idea to let you all know that we are doing ok. This is true island vacationing. Few cabins along the beach with a rustic looking restaurnt and that is it. The water is amazingly clear. I am really looking forward to going snorkeling in the next few days.

Yesterday was a busy day for us. Up at 6 am, we had breakfast and took a tuk tuk to the airport. We flew out of Siem Reap on AirAsia and arrived in Kuala Lumpur two hours later. As soon as we arrived at the airport, we checked in for our next flight to Kota Bharu. The flight was to leave in an hour and a half so we had enough time to grab something to eat at the airport.

Flight to Kota Bharu took about 55 uneventful minutes. Once off the plane, we met a couple from Holland and shared a taxi with them to Kuala Besut. From there, we had to took a crazy speedboat to Perhentian Besar. That was quite a bumpy 50-minute ride, with splashes of salty water hitting our sweaty faces way too frequently.

Once on the island, we got a room for the first night at the Abdul Chalet and shortly thereafter found out that the island was pretty much booked up for the weekend. Yikes! As soon as we checked in, we went down the beach to other chalets to see if anyone had any rooms available. Out of eight 'resorts', only one place had a room available for the weekend, at a steep price nonetheless, but it sure beat sleeping on the beach. As harmless as sleeping on the beach at night sounds, with all the mosquitos, fire ants and monitor lizards, I would not try it myself.

We are staying at our first room for three nights and will then move to the other, more luxurious, resort. 11th of May is our last day here. We fly back to Kuala Lumpur, but we don't know where we are going next. Most likely Singapore.

I will have to write a summary of our visit to Cambodia and Angkor Wat a bit later. It was a really interesting visit.