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| Me and Luke. We've officially turned into fish. |
If reading this blog sometimes feels like I'm on a quest to find the most beautiful place on earth, then call off the search: I've found it.
When we arrived on the island of Pulau Kecil after a stomach-churning boat trip from the Malaysian mainland, we were greeted by the palm tree-fringed Coral Bay surrounded by turquoise water.
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| Beautiful Coral Bay at Pulau Kecil, Perhentian Islands, Malaysia. |
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| Long Beach at Pulau Kecil, Perhentian Islands. |
Pulau Kecil is one of five islands that make up the Perhentian Islands which lie 10 miles away from the Malaysian mainland. All of the coral-fringed islands belong to a marine park and Pulau Besar and Pulua Kecil are the only ones that are inhabited - Besar is the more expensive option while Kecil is the choice of backpackers.
Being budget travellers, we booked ourselves on to a ridiculously cheap boat tour of the islands with low expectations. For 35 RM (so, £6.50) we thought it would be a pile 'em up high kind of day, when in fact there were just ten of us on a very powerful speed boat which saw us nipping around the sights of the marine park - including Shark Bay, Millions of Fish, Turtle Bay and The Lighthouse.
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| Bezzing around the Perhentians on a speedboat. |
Turtle Bay, as it says on the tin, is where turtles go to hang out because they like the algae that grows on the sea floor at that particular spot. As soon as we got there, the driver started shouting for us to get into the water QUICK as there was a turtle next to the boat. An actual real-life turtle metres away from us - imagine. So we threw our snorkels on, jumped into the water and had the amazing experience that is swimming with a turtle.
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| A photo of the actual turtle we swam with - what a guy. |
Turtles are magnificent creatures that very gently glide through the water, bobbing up ever so often for breath. It was breathtaking to see one swimming wild and it's something I'll remember forever.
Our super-cheap day of exploring didn't stop there though. Later it the day (funnily enough at Shark Bay), Luke saw three Blacktip sharks frolicking at the bottom of the ocean . I then jumped into the sea at Millions of Fish and saw the back of a very fat metre-long Blacktip shark and near enough had a heart attack. I don't think anything can quite prepare you for seeing a shark that big in the open sea, but I was assured that they don't bite!
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| Blacktip shark: "I don't bite, honest." |
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| Me and Luke in the water at Millions of Fish. |
Still on the same trip (for just £6.50, remember!) we visited the beautiful Romantic Beach which is, well, very romantic. The sand is the whitest I've seen and feels like icing sugar under your feet. The atmosphere is further romanticised by the fact that people have taken it upon themselves to collect stray coral and attach it to the trees lining the shore. In shallow water and within easy swimming distance from the shore, there are also some pretty reefs with vibrant purple Anemone and pretty Nemo fish.
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| Pretty coral strung up Romantic Beach. |
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| Nemo fish at Romantic Beach. |
Little restaurants and cafes line the shore at both Coral Bay and Long Beach but we think we found the best place to eat - and luckily it was also the cheapest. Ombak Biru is owned by a lovely man called Raza who since 1994 has run his business from his rustic wooden shack. Initially it was just him with his guitar and a cool box full of beers. Since then Pulau Kecil has become much more developed but Raza still has his lovely shack - these days his wife cooks up amazing rotis for 9 RM (£1.70) and his 13-year-old daughter Aisha serves them up with the sweetest smile you'll ever see. Pilau Kecil is definitely on its way to becoming even more developed, but I really hope places like Ombak Biru survive as they make it the paradise it is.
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| Aisha serving up a roti at Ombak Biru on Long Beach. |
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| Luke at Ombak Biru. Now that's what I call a view. |
Pulau Kecil can only be accessed by boat and there aren't any cars on the island which means that it can be very wild and woolly at times. I would say that there are definitely more lizards than people and I'm sure half of them were living in the roof of our beach hut. There was one particularly cheeky one that used to poke his bum out of the roof and poo on the bed! Just wandering down the street you were quite likely to bump into a Monitor Lizard and, at one metre in length, these guys are big.
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| Monitor Lizard going for a stroll on Pulau Kecil. |
Pulau Kecil was our last beach stop on our six-month trip across Asia and I think we saved the best until last. It's the perfect mix of breathtaking scenery, amazing underwater creatures and wonderful wildlife.
USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT PULAU KECIL, PERHENTIAN ISLANDS:
Accommodation: We stayed at D'Rock on Long Beach which is the cheapest accommodation on Pulau Kecil. We paid 35 RM (£6.50) a night for a hut with shared bathroom. The shower and toilet block was really clean but the room wasn't great. We were there at the end of March/beginning of April and in April the same room went up to 50 RM (£9.30) a night but they let us stay on at the cheap rate. They did have huts with en-suites starting at 80RM (£15) a night. They didn't have wi-fi and the walk up there was quite steep.
Eating & drinking: Apart from amazing rotis at Ombak Biru, we mainly ate at Ewan's, between Coral Bay and Long Beach, which did cheap breakfasts (under 10RM,£2). For dinner we went to Mama's on Coral Bay which did tasty, cheap curries (again, under 10RM, £2) and you could get cold beer from the stall next door. It's particularly beautiful on Coral Bay at sunset.
Snorkelling: We booked it through Amelia Cafe on Coral Bay and paid 35RM (£6.50) each. All of the cafes along here seem to offer the same trip and, as far as I could tell, all took people to the same places.
Getting there and away: The Perhentian Islands are a 45-minute boat ride from the mainland and, as we went slightly out of season (late March), the seas were really choppy and the boat ride quite hairy. But it was all worth it. You get the boat from Kuala Besut for 80RM (£15) return and from Kuala Besut you can get direct buses to Kuala Lumpur - there is also an airport nearby as well. We pre-booked a bus from Kuala Besut to KL while on Pulua Kecil for 60RM (£11).
