The best of times and worst of times

Spring Break is here! UTP generously gives their students two whole days off, and with a four day weekend, we decided to make our way to the Perhentian Islands. During Monsoon season the islands are not pleasant due to debris that clogs the beaches and mud that clouds the usually crystal waters. Hostels on the island usually reopen around the beginning of March, and by the middle of the month the water’s clarity has returned. Unfortunately for us, the monsoon season came about a month late this year, and our opportunity to visit the islands is now.

We planned to take the UTP provided bus to the night market in Sri Iskandar, and then find a bus from there to Ipoh. From Ipoh we would ride seven hours on the night bus which departs at 2200 for Kota Bharu. We would then have to find some transport to the Jetty in Kuala Besut, and a boat from there to the islands. There were uncertainties, but that is how we travel.

Then the UTP bus was canceled ‘due to unforeseen circumstances.’ So we called some friends and eventually found someone who could take us to the night market. Just as we arrived it started to downpour, as has become standard for our visits, so we grabbed food as quickly as we could and boarded a bus drenched and dripping. We found a bus from Ipoh to Kota Bharu without any issues, and it even left on time. I tried to sleep, but sadly I am not very skilled in that area, and never got beyond the jolt that you get just before falling asleep. Around midnight, at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, the bus stopped for an hour. Eventually we were told to empty this bus and board a different one. It turned out to be somewhat more crowded and cramped than the last, but Kevin and I were able to find seats together, and Berthold had most of the back row to himself. Unfortunately the other occupants of the back row were playing ‘music’ on their phone whose wailing wasn’t pleasant in the least. “Who plays music on a night bus!?” “Some people just want to watch the world burn” was Kevin's response.

The next six hours were not enjoyable in the least. I didn’t wish to wake the guy to request that he cease his intolerable serenade, but it took great effort not to be very irritated.

I was exhausted from sleeping poorly the night before, and it would have been great to at least doze off occasionally, but the wailing playlist from the seat behind us repeated for the entire six hours. To keep my brain busy I tried to understand the rationale that would allow someone to play music loudly on a bus where everyone was trying to sleep. I have noticed that this culture as a whole seems to lack the respect for others that is expected in the U.S. Wasting someone’s time, while generally unacceptable in the States is not even blinked at here. Inconveniencing people with one's actions and expectations seems to be a valid modus operandi. This is apparent in my classes, the driving habits, the litter which covers the country, the wailing on the night bus, and even when ordering food. I guess Music Man either didn’t take the time to consider the effects of his actions or simply didn’t care.

And thus I spent six hours trying either to distract myself or blot out his music with my own. We arrived in Kota Bharu around 0500 (apparently the hour wait was part of the schedule) and missed our stop. On our walk through the darkened city back to the bus station we joined some people watching champion’s league football in a restaurant. When we found the bus station, we asked some taxi drivers when the first bus to K. Besut was, and were told that it was not until 0830 so we should of course take a taxi, and quoted a price ten ringitt higher than the last driver we asked. I felt that his perspective was probably a bit biased, and I glanced at the ticket booth and noticed a schedule indicating that the buses started running at 0615. Not being in a very good mood due to sleep deprivation, I was tempted to walk up to our would-be swindler and ask him how he could justify his lack of integrity, but reason prevailed.

I was finally able to lose consciousness on the bus to the jetty, though only briefly. Our boat to the island was suppose to leave around 0830, and about 0845 someone came and told us to follow them to the boat. He spent fifteen minutes wandering the jetties looking for the boat, and then had us follow someone else. We waited another 15 minutes for the boat to show up, and then fifteen more while they boarded. The sign said maximum capacity was ten people, so I was a little surprised when we left with only fourteen. Before we left the bay, however, the pilot turned around and we gained another four passengers. Even with nearly twice the recommended load, the boat was able to move relatively quickly. It rose with the swells and then slammed into the water on the other side. Some of the moments of weightlessness were rather exhilarating and Kevin and I began rating our impacts based on how close the water came to coming over the gunnels. It nearly did a couple times, but never quite succeeded in swamping us.

The water became less turbid with increased distance from the mainland, and was fairly clear by the time we reached the island. It wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the water in Phuket, or the pictures I had seen of Perhentian under better conditions, but still quite lovely. Traveling in the off season does have its benefits, though, and we checked into a nice resort whose AC room was the same price as the chalets with holes in the floor. Berthold began his SCUBA certification course immediately, and Kevin and I, exhausted from the trip, just chilled for a while.

Once we regained some energy we walked across the island to seek a beach. What we found woke us up completely. The white sand ended in blue water with waves far bigger than any I have seen in Malaysia to date. There is still debris scattered on the beach from the rains, and smoldering fires saturate the surrounding jungle with smoke, but all we saw was beach.

We spent two hours enjoying the waves and fighting a strong current that pulled us along the beach toward some lovely rocks. Lovely for climbing that is, not so much for being dashed against by the surf. The sun and swimming drained our energy, and we decided to sleep through the heat of the day. We awoke refreshed around 1800 and explored the island a bit before nightfall.
We then found Berthold and a restaurant which was exuding fabulous aromas, and ordered grilled seafood.

It was the best meal I have eaten in Malaysia, and probably the best I’ve ever had in a restaurant. We ate on the beach, and by that I mean we had to move our table as the tide came in. I got kingfish with butter garlic sauce, Kevin got a Spanish mackerel steak with coconut curry, and Berthold opted for the blue marlin with chili-soy sauce. Each meal was accompanied by potato, rice, coleslaw, pineapple, watermelon, and banana bread and washed it down with honeydew drink. This cost 5USD.

The fish was fresh, flakey and not at all fishy, the sauces delicious and the fruit exquisite. In addition to fantastic flavor, after eating I was actually satisfied, not hungrier than when I started as is usually the case. Definitely a buy. I am excited for supper tomorrow night to try shark or sting ray.

After dinner we slept, waking only once to kill mosquitoes.

Island Trek: Perhentian 1.0 shown in blue and 2.0 in red.

Island Trek Perhentian was scheduled to begin at 0630 with sunrise, but we were still pretty tired from not sleeping the night before, so we slept in until 0800. We packed a few pieces of bread and a liter of water, expecting a brief, three kilometer rock scramble. It turned out to be a grueling, eight and a half kilometer trek over boulders, along rock faces and through jungle creeks. Our greatest lack of preparation was water supply, and we ran out long before the end. Thankfully, God provided us with an unopened 1.5 liter bottle before we were completely spent.

While we have rated it most physically demanding, Island Trek Perhentian 1.0 also wins the prize for beauty. We crossed secluded white sand beaches edged with clear, azure water flashing with the vibrant colors of tropical fish. The bare rocks that blocked our route were as beautiful as they were challenging. The waves frothed and foamed as they crashed on the granite.

‘Twas awe-inspiring. It doesn’t quite seem real that I am actually here, on yet another tropical island, trekking through landscapes like those I admire in National Geographic's photo of the day.

I’m not even going to try to describe it as I couldn’t even come close to capturing it with my camera. I hope that my feeble attempts below at least give you a taste of the beauty I have been privileged enough to experience. I am sorry I cannot include the sea breeze, roar of the surf, incineratory tropical sun, and salt spray.

Where we began our journey

The beach where we stopped to swim.

These feet were made for trekkin'!

Watching the waves was great, but had a high risk of getting soaked

Rounding the point of the Island

When we finally made it back to the hotel, dehydrated and exhausted, a nap seemed in order. After resting briefly we ate another meal of incredible seafood: barracuda, shark, and dorado this time.

Mosquitoes and heat made the night a rather restless one, but I still decided to get up before the sun in order to watch it rise. I jogged a kilometer to the far side of the island and then scrambled another third of one out to the eastern point of Pulau Kecil. The sunrise was quite lovely and it beautifully illuminated the cliffs that I had unsuccessfully attempted to photograph in the harsh afternoon sun. I spent an hour and a half watching the sun creep up the sky and the tide up the rocks in front of me.

I bouldered my way back to the beach, taking advantage of cracks in a cliff face to traverse across it instead of climbing over the top. Kevin had finally gotten some sleep while I was out adventuring and when he woke we set off on Perhentian Trek 2.0. We hiked through the jungle to the southern end of the island to find some burgers fabled to be made of *gasp* real meat. The trail was covered by fallen trees and vines at times, and we nearly had a run in with several large monitor lizards. We found a burger stand after wandering the village a bit but weren’t sure that it was the right one. We ordered one each, and immediately ordered another when we saw the burgers. Though lacking in girth, they were more than an inch thick and looked more like beef than anything I have seen here. They were drenched in delicious sauces of several types and actually came with some vegetables.

Strengthened by burgers we set off to complete our circumnavigation of the island. We took a random side path and ended up wandering through a ‘suburb’ of metal shacks where everyone stared at us, but eventually we found our way back into the jungle. We followed the shoreline around the remaining portion of the island and swam at Long beach again. Sunset on the beach was followed by a sea food buffet which left us all quite satisfied.

The plan for Sunday was for Kevin and I hike to the other side of the island, get burgers for the road, leave on the last boat off the island, catch a bus from Kuala Besut to Kota Bharu and take a night bus from there all the way to UTP. We would arrive around 0600, grab a bit of sleep and then I would go to class for eight hours. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.

We decided to try to find another trail to the burgers, but it vanished into the jungle. We beat our way through the undergrowth to follow a pipeline that we were pretty sure went the same place we wanted to go. This took much longer than we expected and by the time we got to the Fisherman’s Village it was time to run back across the island to catch our boat. And the burger place was closed. Tragedy.

We ran the three kilometers of hilly trail back to the hotel, checked out and made it to the jetty by 1200 to catch our boat. While we were waiting I idly wondered if there would be space on the bus from K. Bharu to UTP.

This time the ten-person boat was loaded with 25 people so it was riding very low in the water and listing slightly to starboard. The water was very choppy, and every time the bow of the boat slammed into the water after going over a wave we got wet: especially me. In addition to the spray coming over the prow, two streams of water, directed exactly at me, came through little holes on either side of the boat. It was my own fault; I had decided to sit in the front row because I figured it would be the driest once the boat planed out. That never happened since the water was so rough and the boat was carrying 2.5 times its recommended capacity. I was literally dripping by the time we arrived on the mainland.

The boat also took longer than it would have under ideal conditions, so we missed the bus that we had planned to take on the first leg of our journey. We found three other UTP students in the same predicament and decided to share the cost of a taxi. It took ten minutes and twenty extra ringitt to convince a driver to take all five of us, but in the end we crammed ourselves in and drove a very sweaty two hours.

We arrived in K. Bharu around 1500 only to find that all the buses going the direction we wanted to were full. After asking every booth about every option, we bought tickets to Penang, three and a half hours from where we actually wanted to go, but five hours closer than our current location.  That bus didn’t leave until 2130 though, and from a station several kilometers away. We had six hours to kill, so we walked the three kilometers across town to the other bus station in the sweltering sun. We spent the rest of afternoon being stared at while we wandered around the area, finding food, watching a movie in a KFC, and eating some delicious ice-cream.

We talked to the bus drivers to see if there would be any chance of taking the place of no shows on the bus to Ipoh. They seemed helpful, and said that maybe we could switch buses when they stopped at 0130 if there were any empty seats. At that time however they said that all the seats were full (though I had seen at least two empty ones), that two of us could sit on the floor if we wanted to, that that wasn’t an option, that we should just continue to Penang and catch a 0600 bus from there, that the counters wouldn’t be open until 0800, and were generally confusing and evasive. I was tempted to stow away in one of the empty seats, or even a luggage compartment in order to not miss my lab. In the end though we just re-boarded the bus going were we didn’t want to go. Around 0300, I heard a weird noise, and shortly after the bus stopped. Apparently something broke, because we remained there for an hour and a half and were then rescued by another bus. At least this wait wasn't accompanied by wailing.

We arrived in Penang around 0600, and chilled there until we could catch a bus to Ipoh at 0830, and then took a taxi back to UTP. In total we spent 24 hours in transit from Perhentian to UTP, and I didn’t sleep for 40 hours. We arrived just in time for me to take a 15 minute nap and then spend six hours in the classes that I didn’t miss as a result of our escapade.

Staying awake has rarely been more difficult.