Pehrentian Islands

Hello!

Well we are back from the beautiful Pehrentian Islands!  We had a long day of travel from the Cameron Highlands to get there...5 and a half hours on the bus then we waited around for the boat to take us to the island.  The water was pretty wavy on the way there and the ride was very bumpy!  Definitely an adventure!  I was holding onto Dan for dear life the whole time!  But we arrived safe and sound and then had to walk to the other side of the island to find a place to stay.  We were hoping for a place on the beach like we had on Tioman Island but that wasn't really to be had here, so after a fairly extensive search we settled for a place up on the hill where you could see the ocean, and recommended by another girl on our boat.  It turned out to be really great too!  We had our own little cabin with a porch and it was a short walk to our restaurant to get our meals and (our favorite) fresh watermelon juice.  The place was run by an Irish woman and Malay man who had gone into buisness together.  You have to be Malay in order to purchase land on the Pehrentian Islands, even the Chinese or the Indian can't buy it.  We arranged a snorkelling trip for the following day and had a great time!  The first place we went there we sooooo many fish!  Just amazing!  Then we went to shark by and actually say some small sharks!  I was a little worried before we jumped in the boat and asked our guide how big they were, and he jokingly said "as big as that boat over there"  - which was about 20 feet long...ha ha.  Anyways, they were actually only about 4 feet long and completely not interested in us...whew.  Then we went to a few other spots and saw some turtles..we followed them as they swam along the ocean floor for quite awhile!  They look like they are moving so slowly but we were struggling to keep up!

We had some lazy swimming/beach days after that, partially because we were tired from our snorkelling trip, partially because I got some kind of bug that I was fighting off, and also...that's what you do on a tropical island right?

Dan took off on our last day on another snorkelling trip...I unfortunately had to stay behind due to some gastrointestinal issues (ugh), but I met this really really nice German girl who was travelling for 3 weeks by herself and we spent the whole day together just chatting and then we went for a swim so that was really really nice.  She had actually lived in Ireland for a year so she had an Irish accent that was very cute!  Dan said he had an amazing day as well, and saw a fish that was bigger than him!

Thankfully the sea was a lot calmer this morning when we headed back to the mainland so the boad ride was actually enjoyable :>)  We look a taxi to Kota Bharu where we will spend the night and have booked a bus ticket to Penang tomorrow.  We wandered through the central market this morning which was an adventure in itself!  Totally crazy place!  It was a 3 story building, on the bottom level they are selling fruits, veggies, and meat, on the second level spices, nuts and candies, and on the third level batik.  Dan was amazed by the meat section, and good thing my stomach is more stable today because it was pretty greusome, but good to experience because it felt very authentic.  And little kittens sleeping everywhere....On the third level I bought 2 pieces of batik.  The lady who sold it to me was very nice and even showed me how to tie it properly. 

We will venture off to the night market tonight for some dinner.  I have tried to post pictures here but the computer won't let me...appologies.  I will try again in  Penang.

Bye for now!

Hanna and Dan


Dan being harassed by small children...the one in the red shirt slapped him on the bum!

Snorkelling trip!

Buying Batik in Kota Bharu