We flew straight into Malaysia from Bali, heading to Kuala Lumpur for 2 days, we both wanted to visit KL as I have never been and we decided it would be nice to have a 2 day city adventure before we headed to the Perinthians, we managed to find an okay city guesthouse that was clean (standard no window) but the room was clean and so was the bathroom, it was really central so allowed us to have a good two days of adventure.
We spent our first day out at Batu caves, which is a Hindu shrine in a series of huge cave, they’re based just out of main KL city, the caves are filled with deity’s and it’s a really interesting site. Obviously studying deity’s on my course it made the even a whole lot more interesting than it once would have and we spent ages walking round talking of each deity and singing the gyatri mantra outside the tacky shop selling clocks with the tune coming out, all my learning was flooding back from inside a cave, just beautiful.
We strolled the streets searching for local laksa, very different to the Kuching Laksa (in Malaysian Borneo), the KL (Asam) one having more of a curry taste to it and fish is used instead of prawns, however it was still a tasty eat and with a coconut to accompany it I was in my element.
We visited the Petronas towers both in the evening and in the morning to compare the differences in how they looked, it was incredible to see such huge vast buildings in the middle of a city centre but also how they were such a tourist hub, right next to the shopping centre but also busy at all times of day and night. The evening we went we spent some time just looking up, taking photos and generally being overwhelmed at the colossal size of them.
KL was perfect as it give us two days back in the city to do a few errands we needed to do, take a tour of this busy metropolis but also enjoy two days back in normality in a fast moving city. We took a night bus on our 2nd day to the Perinthians ready for a week of reading and relaxing.
We arrived at 7am into the bus station next to the Perinthian islands and felt excited and ready to explore this island we knew very little about. It was Ms Stonestreet who had recommended the Perinthians, Ben and Claire both stating it was one of their top spots of travelling and somewhere they both highly recommended, with this we added it straight into our list of places to go, we read a small bit in the lp but apart from that hadn’t really done much more then send a few emails to secure accommodation. Sam informed me he had found the perfect desert island spot for us, he just hoped they had received our email stating we would be arriving today. When we arrived on taxi boat, Kerry came out to meet us and informed us sadly both the rooms were booked but we could have the tent for the night and move into one of the rooms the following day when it become available. With that we agreed, it had been a while since we had camped so felt no better place than a beach to get back into it.
Our first day was just beautiful, I have never felt so remote and like I was living on a desert island. Petani beach only has one guesthouse on it (the one we were staying at Mari Mari), it has quite an interesting story as previously Hash (owner), had worked next door at another guesthouse for 10yrs, the owner of Petani beach guesthouse decided to take management back but sadly his attempts failed and the business ended up closing for good in April. Hash however was given the land next door and has since started to build Mari Mari resort on this land, the build is still ongoing, hence why all the rooms weren’t ready (the 3rd room was in the progress of being built) whilst we were staying, the plan is for a tree house and a longhouse, meaning in total there would be eight rooms.
We moved into our room on our 2nd night and our lovely friend Mike turned up with his friend on our 4th meaning we ended up staying on Petani beach at Mari Mari for 6 nights it was just blissful, our days consisted of eating, snoozing, reading, sun baking, snorkeling, drinking beer, playing poker and more eating. It was so laid back staying there and it was like being part of a family with group eating at meal times, painting our shack with Ganesh and being involved in the life of the Mari Mari family.
Kecil Island is made up of loads of different bays, one of them being romantic bay which is only accessible by taxi boat or canoe; obviously we chose the latter and took to the 40min canoe around the island. We took to the open water full of energy and managed the canoe out easily, it was a sheer delight canoeing through such clear blue waters, seeing the marine life below and excitedly watching like on a tv screen as they fish went by with their daily living. I spotted romantic bay as soon as we came around to it as the beach was just white sand and there stood a tree in the middle with heaps of coral hanging from it, there wasn’t many people on the beach either and we felt excited about our day there. We brought the canoe into the bay and jumped out finding a spot of the smooth white sand, the day was just heavenly, we snorkeled and saw sharks, we saw rainbow fish (parrot fish), clown fish and so much more, the snorkel was great and with my new life jacket whilst snorkeling I was able to stay out longer and really enjoy the fish and coral below (yes I wear a life jacket whilst snorkeling, with my poor swimming its perfect for staying out longer, I threw my ego out and got my life jacket on). I don’t think I have ever been to a beach so pristine and idyllic; it’s the beach I imagine in my Hawaii dream. We stayed until about 4pm then chose to head back before dark, sadly the tide wasn’t on our side on the way back and although we made it, poor Sam was worn out as the paddling was just ongoing, however it felt good to make it back and we both had our hearts full from a day at this little bit of paradise.
Back at Petani, snorkeling was part of a daily routine, we would take a morning and evening snorkel, hoping to catch the clown fish that would swim up at our masks or catch the sting rays sweeping slowly across the sea bed, we were even visited by a reef shark and her baby one morning, she passed in the blink of an eye but wow what a split second sight to see. Sammy was lucky enough one morning to go out early and see them feeding which he was pretty chuffed about.
We also chose on our last night at Petani to swim out to the pontoon, which was quite a swim out to see the phosphorescent which is incredible at this part of the beach, however the tide was low and the coral was a pain to get through, however we made it out in the pitch black and got to the pontoon (me in my life jacket again), it was stupefying to see all the plankton, it felt like I was in a snow dome as every time someone jumped in with the goggles on the wows of astonishment were just brilliant, the sea was lighting up around us and we were all taken aback with the beauty and intenseness of the light shining below us. I jumped in with the goggles on and kicked my legs about and the darkness went and only light sparkled, it was like something from human planet the vast amount surrounding us.
After 30mins or so we chose to head in which sadly turned out to be a nightmare, a storm started approaching, it was so dark and the tide was low, which resulted in two of us being spiked by sea urchins, scrapes of the huge coral bed and a lot of panic. We made it in just in time, then the storm hit, bad, if we had been 10mins later I am fearful what the outcome would have been.
We shared a cup of tea after listening to the storm and smiling at our luck of making it back in time, all agreeing though that the phosphorescent was totally worth it.
Sam, Mike and I left on the 7th day to head across the border to Thailand, with a 20hr train ahead we readied ourselves to leave the beach behind and head back to the city, Bangkok, next stop.
link to photos for non facebook users - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152330865956716.1073741839.513626715&type=1&l=4d3baf0465
We spent our first day out at Batu caves, which is a Hindu shrine in a series of huge cave, they’re based just out of main KL city, the caves are filled with deity’s and it’s a really interesting site. Obviously studying deity’s on my course it made the even a whole lot more interesting than it once would have and we spent ages walking round talking of each deity and singing the gyatri mantra outside the tacky shop selling clocks with the tune coming out, all my learning was flooding back from inside a cave, just beautiful.
We strolled the streets searching for local laksa, very different to the Kuching Laksa (in Malaysian Borneo), the KL (Asam) one having more of a curry taste to it and fish is used instead of prawns, however it was still a tasty eat and with a coconut to accompany it I was in my element.
We visited the Petronas towers both in the evening and in the morning to compare the differences in how they looked, it was incredible to see such huge vast buildings in the middle of a city centre but also how they were such a tourist hub, right next to the shopping centre but also busy at all times of day and night. The evening we went we spent some time just looking up, taking photos and generally being overwhelmed at the colossal size of them.
KL was perfect as it give us two days back in the city to do a few errands we needed to do, take a tour of this busy metropolis but also enjoy two days back in normality in a fast moving city. We took a night bus on our 2nd day to the Perinthians ready for a week of reading and relaxing.
We arrived at 7am into the bus station next to the Perinthian islands and felt excited and ready to explore this island we knew very little about. It was Ms Stonestreet who had recommended the Perinthians, Ben and Claire both stating it was one of their top spots of travelling and somewhere they both highly recommended, with this we added it straight into our list of places to go, we read a small bit in the lp but apart from that hadn’t really done much more then send a few emails to secure accommodation. Sam informed me he had found the perfect desert island spot for us, he just hoped they had received our email stating we would be arriving today. When we arrived on taxi boat, Kerry came out to meet us and informed us sadly both the rooms were booked but we could have the tent for the night and move into one of the rooms the following day when it become available. With that we agreed, it had been a while since we had camped so felt no better place than a beach to get back into it.
Our first day was just beautiful, I have never felt so remote and like I was living on a desert island. Petani beach only has one guesthouse on it (the one we were staying at Mari Mari), it has quite an interesting story as previously Hash (owner), had worked next door at another guesthouse for 10yrs, the owner of Petani beach guesthouse decided to take management back but sadly his attempts failed and the business ended up closing for good in April. Hash however was given the land next door and has since started to build Mari Mari resort on this land, the build is still ongoing, hence why all the rooms weren’t ready (the 3rd room was in the progress of being built) whilst we were staying, the plan is for a tree house and a longhouse, meaning in total there would be eight rooms.
We moved into our room on our 2nd night and our lovely friend Mike turned up with his friend on our 4th meaning we ended up staying on Petani beach at Mari Mari for 6 nights it was just blissful, our days consisted of eating, snoozing, reading, sun baking, snorkeling, drinking beer, playing poker and more eating. It was so laid back staying there and it was like being part of a family with group eating at meal times, painting our shack with Ganesh and being involved in the life of the Mari Mari family.
Kecil Island is made up of loads of different bays, one of them being romantic bay which is only accessible by taxi boat or canoe; obviously we chose the latter and took to the 40min canoe around the island. We took to the open water full of energy and managed the canoe out easily, it was a sheer delight canoeing through such clear blue waters, seeing the marine life below and excitedly watching like on a tv screen as they fish went by with their daily living. I spotted romantic bay as soon as we came around to it as the beach was just white sand and there stood a tree in the middle with heaps of coral hanging from it, there wasn’t many people on the beach either and we felt excited about our day there. We brought the canoe into the bay and jumped out finding a spot of the smooth white sand, the day was just heavenly, we snorkeled and saw sharks, we saw rainbow fish (parrot fish), clown fish and so much more, the snorkel was great and with my new life jacket whilst snorkeling I was able to stay out longer and really enjoy the fish and coral below (yes I wear a life jacket whilst snorkeling, with my poor swimming its perfect for staying out longer, I threw my ego out and got my life jacket on). I don’t think I have ever been to a beach so pristine and idyllic; it’s the beach I imagine in my Hawaii dream. We stayed until about 4pm then chose to head back before dark, sadly the tide wasn’t on our side on the way back and although we made it, poor Sam was worn out as the paddling was just ongoing, however it felt good to make it back and we both had our hearts full from a day at this little bit of paradise.
Back at Petani, snorkeling was part of a daily routine, we would take a morning and evening snorkel, hoping to catch the clown fish that would swim up at our masks or catch the sting rays sweeping slowly across the sea bed, we were even visited by a reef shark and her baby one morning, she passed in the blink of an eye but wow what a split second sight to see. Sammy was lucky enough one morning to go out early and see them feeding which he was pretty chuffed about.
We also chose on our last night at Petani to swim out to the pontoon, which was quite a swim out to see the phosphorescent which is incredible at this part of the beach, however the tide was low and the coral was a pain to get through, however we made it out in the pitch black and got to the pontoon (me in my life jacket again), it was stupefying to see all the plankton, it felt like I was in a snow dome as every time someone jumped in with the goggles on the wows of astonishment were just brilliant, the sea was lighting up around us and we were all taken aback with the beauty and intenseness of the light shining below us. I jumped in with the goggles on and kicked my legs about and the darkness went and only light sparkled, it was like something from human planet the vast amount surrounding us.
After 30mins or so we chose to head in which sadly turned out to be a nightmare, a storm started approaching, it was so dark and the tide was low, which resulted in two of us being spiked by sea urchins, scrapes of the huge coral bed and a lot of panic. We made it in just in time, then the storm hit, bad, if we had been 10mins later I am fearful what the outcome would have been.
We shared a cup of tea after listening to the storm and smiling at our luck of making it back in time, all agreeing though that the phosphorescent was totally worth it.
Sam, Mike and I left on the 7th day to head across the border to Thailand, with a 20hr train ahead we readied ourselves to leave the beach behind and head back to the city, Bangkok, next stop.
link to photos for non facebook users - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152330865956716.1073741839.513626715&type=1&l=4d3baf0465
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