Perhentian Islands

Remember those little islands you used to draw as a child with the sea, the sand and the palm trees? Well, they actually exist; about 19 kms off the northeastern coast of Malaysia. Perhentian means stopping place in Malay, and it is no surprise that many a foreigner get stuck here for several years - Every paradise island cliché you could ever wish for can be found here: Golden sunshine, blue skies, white sands, turquoise waters, green palms, fresh coconuts and beautiful scantily clad people. As if the surface wasn't awesome enough, I decided to sign up for the PADI open water dive course

 which revealed a whole other World beneath the waves which was equally, if not even more, breathtaking. Creatures of all colours, shapes and sizes lurk between alien rocks, anemones and corals... Among my scuba highlights were 2 beautiful green sea turtles, a slithery moray eel, and an adorable junior yellow box fish. Finding Nemo is actually unbelievably easy, the cute little orange buggers are absolutely everywhere... I'll try and not bore you to death with a description of every tropical fish I happen to remember though - the point here is it's amazing down there so go and check it out! If scuba isn't your thing then snorkelling is still pretty awe inspiring but there's nothing quite like the magical feeling of weightlessness you get when you are under the water. I recon it is the closest I'll ever come to being an astronaut!

As well as all the natural beauty of the place the island is really sociable as everyone mostly hangs out on the same beach (long beach) meaning we were able to meet plenty of people from all over the World.

Perfect though it seemed we did discover a very ugly under belly after a couple of days... Stories of tourists and locals getting beaten up with sticks for trivial reasons - last year alone two people were beaten to death and the only punishment for this crime is the cost of a police bribe. On a less serious note my iPod and cash were stolen while I went swimming and on a very tragic note an English tourist was killed when a boat hit her whilst snorkelling. When you are presented with that kind of perspective it seems silly to mourn the loss of a gadget and some cash. Sadly you come across tragic situations like this that remind you never to let your guard down fully as there can be danger in the most serene of places.

We did have an amazing time though and I was really very reluctant to leave... Having met plenty of people on that beach who 'stopped' for a few days and still hadn't carried on after a few years, I thought it best to escape paradise before it sucked me too far in!

Key info:

Accommodation: Bintang view - amazing wooden huts with beautiful views of the sea. Electricity from 7am to 7pm which makes sleeping in after a night out somewhat difficult! But that's what the beach is for anyway isn't it?

Dive school: Turtle Bay Divers - friendly staff and good instructors with a maximum of 4 divers per instructor which is just right.

Fresh coconut straight from the tree:

Long beach:

Bintang View:

Fire throwers and monkey juice at the beach bar:

Full moon rising;

Me being a sea astronaut:

Nothing much else to do but:

Singapore and Penang

Oh Singapore, Singapore, Singapore! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

At first I wasn't sure if I just loved this place for the pure joy of being back in civilisation, but after a few days there the love only grew. Clean, shiny gleaming city of awesome food, countless air conditioned malls, artificial beaches, landscaped gardens and towering sky scrapers in all shapes and sizes. We were initially worried that our wallets wouldn't be able to handle iy but honestly we didn't find it to be too expensive - the transport is reasonably priced and easy to use (keeping in mind that London is my reference point!) and the food is so cheap and sooo good - it's just the shopping temptations that you have to keep in check and if you can manage that (we failed a bit) then your smooth sailing. Having said all that the drinks in bars and clubs were unbelievably expensive so if partying is what you are after then you'd best come here with a heap of savings!

Our first day there we recovered from our overnight flight by lazing by the pool in a beach club on Sentosa island. The beaches are beautiful although noticeably artificial but sadly the sea is not particularly inviting - not surprising with it being the one of the busiest ports in the World. Before it gained independence in 1965, Singapore was the main British naval base in Asia and the World's largest dry dock which earned it the description the 'Gibraltar if the East' - it's no small wonder why we felt so at home! However having been to both I can safely state that Singapore is nothing like Gibraltar...

Once we got round to exploring we found a clean, cosmopolitan city whose inhabitants seem so relaxed that it's hard to believe there is such an abundance of economic activity going on. The highlight here other than the shopping is the stuffing of ones face at the various hawker centres dotted around the city. For less than a fiver (GBP) you can gorge yourself on dumplings, noodles, soups, dim sum, crab, pig intestines or pretty much any other food you can or can't think of all of which taste beautifully delicious (OK, so I didn't actually try the pig intestines... Maybe next time).

We very reluctantly left the city comforts of Singapore and headed to Malaysia based on the recommendations of some fellow travellers we met at our hostel. Our first stop was Penang where we didn't really have enough time to do anything other than head to a bar to play some pool and drink a Jaeger bomb or two which was fun enough but sadly I have nothing much to report about this city... I hear the assam laksa here (more food)is unmissable but sadly we missed it but it was a fun night out! At 5am we transferred our sore heads to a minibus to the Perhentian Islands where I'm currently sat writing this... All I'll say for the moment is that I may never leave here!

Chilling on Sentosa:

Marina Bay Sands:

Drinking coconut juice with a view:

Plenty of bars we couldn't afford at Clarke Quay:

The beautiful temple in China Town:

Sunset in Sentosa:

Fat prawns and the best dim sum ever:

Night bus to Penang with massage chairs!:

What I saw of Penang! :