We just spent a week on what must be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Close your eyes and imagine an island paradise: soft white sand, clear blue warm water as smooth as glass and palm trees swaying in the light breeze. That place you're imagining is the Perhentian Islands off the coast of Malaysia. It is barely inhabited with just a handful of hotels on the beach and a small fishing village on another part of the island. There isn't even regular electricity: none in the day and generators power the lights and fans for a few hours at night.
As soon as we set foot on the beach all we could say was "Wow." The only way to describe this beach was perfect. So far Koh Pha Ngan was our favorite hang out beach and Koh Phi Phi was the most beautiful island with its limestone cliffs, but Palau Perhentian had by far the most beautiful beach.
However one flaw quickly became apparent in this beautiful place. This was no ordinary island, it was MONSTER Island! While Jason wandered around the beach looking for a place to stay and I waited with the bags I spotted 3 giant spiders. Now if you know me at all you know that I am absolutely terrified of spiders no matter the size. But anyone who saw these things would agree that they were monster sized. The only thing I've seen bigger are some tarantulas. These spiders ranged in size from "small" ones the size of a toddlers hand all the way to that of a hand of a big man with his fingers spread all the way out. And the thing with these spiders was that they were everywhere (except the beach, thank God). We ended up staying at a hotel set back a few hundred meters from the beach where we had to walk along a dirt trail through trees and long grass to get there. Around 15 visible spiders dotted the trail. And at night there were no lights along this path. Our first night walking home I was so scared I actually cried. I eventually got better about dealing with them because what choice do you have? Deal with the thing that terrifies you most or go home. And I wasn't leaving. The only thing that made me feel better was that they NEVER moved from the center of their webs. And the man at our hotel promised me that they were not poisonous and that people even touch them with no problems.
The other reasons I called this Monster Island was because of the 5 foot long Monitor Lizards that inhabited the place and the Mosquitoes the size of a silver dollar. The creatures were so big i was half expecting to find King Kong lurking in the bushes But despite all of the monsters it was an amazing place and we had a great time wasting our days away on the beach.
The Perhentian Islands are also renowned for their incredible diving and snorkeling. Yesterday, our last day on the island, we went out for a snorkeling trip to 3 different sites. We got to swim with -and touch- a giant sea turtle, were surrounded by dozens of fish swimming up to our masks and through our arms and legs (they kept biting me!), see beautiful coral gardens, saw sting rays and even a shark!! When they said we might see a reef shark I imagined a tiny tiger stripped shark maybe a foot and a half long. But this was a big grey shark with black tipped fin, over a meter long! Very cool to see in the wild and somehow I wasn't even scared. Even though I've been doing a lot of snorkeling and boating lately and been fine with it, this time my stomach decided I should share ALL of my breakfast with the hungry fish. Always a fun experience.
Now we are moving along to our next destination. We are currently in the middle of a 5 hour mini bus ride to the Cameron Highlands- an old British hill station filled with tea plantations, strawberry fields, butterfly farms and hiking trails. After a couple days there we'll head to the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, and then fly to Bali where we'll spend the last week of our trip. I can't believe the 3 months are coming to an end so soon.
And if you're wondering when I'm going to post photos from all of these wonderful places, its going to have to wait until I get home. Internet connections are too slow, and the last time I tried to plug a camera into a computer in Thailand it put a virus on my memory card...
Showing posts with label Island Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Island Life. Show all posts
May 6, 2009
May 1, 2009
A Night on the Beach
We just spent a whole week in Koh Phi Phi. That's the longest we've stayed in one place since Luang Prabang. Phi Phi is a very touristy island with a small town and tons of stuff to do. And its beautiful. Like really, really beautiful. Limestone cliffs. Jungle. White sand beaches. Even with all of this stuff I still prefer the little beach we stayed at on Koh Pha Ngan. There wasn't near as much to do there, but it wasn't so touristy and I liked our lifestyle there. But all that aside, I still liked Koh Phi Phi and we did some great things there.
By far my favorite thing we did at PP- and one of my favorite things from the entire trip so far- was spend a night on "The Beach" beach. You know, that movie with Leonardo DiCaprio where he goes to Thailand and finds this backpackers paradise on an amazingly beautiful island? Well we slept on that beach.
Its on an island right next to PP (called Koh Phi Phi Ley, the one the town is called Koh Phi Phi Don). In the late afternoon we took a boat out to the island and parked in a small bay opposite from "The Beach" side. There we were able to kayak and snorkel around. It was the best snorkeling we've done so far. The water was so clear and we saw fish every color of the rainbow (including one that was rainbow colored), giant starfish, sea annenemies urchins and cucumbers and amazing coral reefs. Angel fish. Long scary fish that changed colors. Bright yellow flat fish. Curious fish that would come right up to your mask before swimming away. It was truly incredible and there's no way I could describe just how great it was here.
After about an hour playing in the water we hiked through the rocks and the trees to the other side of the island. The trees opened up to snow white sands and emerald green waters in the unbelievable Maya Bay- "The Beach". It was even more perfect and beautiful than in the movie. I was really glad we decided to do an overnight tour rather than just going during the day. We talked to people who went in the day and said it was so packed with people that it wasn't even enjoyable. But by the time we arrived in the bay all of the day tourists and boats were gone. There is only one overnight tour there, so for the whole night there were only about 20 of us on the whole island.
We walked all around the beach and in the water and took photos. That night were served two delicious dinners (apparently the tour guides really like to eat) and relaxed on the white sands and admired the sky filled with a million stars.
Then when we looked into the ocean the beautiful night sky seemed to be reflected in the water. Plankton filled the bay and would glow when washed up on shore or when agitated. They flowed on to the sand mirroring the stars above. We wandered down the short pier and jumped in to swim in the glowing water in the middle of the dark night. It was such a unique experience that I'll remember forever.
Late at night we finally fell asleep just in sleeping bags under the stars. We woke up early and watched the tide come in and the sun light up the water. The light was perfect and I don't think Maya Bay could ever be more beautiful than it was that morning. After breakfast and a morning swim we headed back to PP before the crowds came into the bay.
By far my favorite thing we did at PP- and one of my favorite things from the entire trip so far- was spend a night on "The Beach" beach. You know, that movie with Leonardo DiCaprio where he goes to Thailand and finds this backpackers paradise on an amazingly beautiful island? Well we slept on that beach.
Its on an island right next to PP (called Koh Phi Phi Ley, the one the town is called Koh Phi Phi Don). In the late afternoon we took a boat out to the island and parked in a small bay opposite from "The Beach" side. There we were able to kayak and snorkel around. It was the best snorkeling we've done so far. The water was so clear and we saw fish every color of the rainbow (including one that was rainbow colored), giant starfish, sea annenemies urchins and cucumbers and amazing coral reefs. Angel fish. Long scary fish that changed colors. Bright yellow flat fish. Curious fish that would come right up to your mask before swimming away. It was truly incredible and there's no way I could describe just how great it was here.
After about an hour playing in the water we hiked through the rocks and the trees to the other side of the island. The trees opened up to snow white sands and emerald green waters in the unbelievable Maya Bay- "The Beach". It was even more perfect and beautiful than in the movie. I was really glad we decided to do an overnight tour rather than just going during the day. We talked to people who went in the day and said it was so packed with people that it wasn't even enjoyable. But by the time we arrived in the bay all of the day tourists and boats were gone. There is only one overnight tour there, so for the whole night there were only about 20 of us on the whole island.
We walked all around the beach and in the water and took photos. That night were served two delicious dinners (apparently the tour guides really like to eat) and relaxed on the white sands and admired the sky filled with a million stars.
Then when we looked into the ocean the beautiful night sky seemed to be reflected in the water. Plankton filled the bay and would glow when washed up on shore or when agitated. They flowed on to the sand mirroring the stars above. We wandered down the short pier and jumped in to swim in the glowing water in the middle of the dark night. It was such a unique experience that I'll remember forever.
Late at night we finally fell asleep just in sleeping bags under the stars. We woke up early and watched the tide come in and the sun light up the water. The light was perfect and I don't think Maya Bay could ever be more beautiful than it was that morning. After breakfast and a morning swim we headed back to PP before the crowds came into the bay.
Apr 26, 2009
Beach - Burma - Jungle
Oh wow. Since I last wrote we have done so many great things. We said goodbye to our new friends and left Koh Tao on a night ferry (so far this trip: night train, bus and boat. The only thing left is night flight, which I'll do when I leave Bali) which was surprisingly comfortable and rodent-free. We booked a little package deal for our visa run, so we were picked up from the ferry and taken directly to the Thai-Myanmar border. We were stamped out of Thailand, took a boat across the waterway, stamped in and out of Myanmar and sent back into Thailand with a new 15 day visa. We were only in the country for all of about 15 minutes, so I can't say to much about it besides that I was offered every kind of cigarette/alcohol/drug you could possibly want. A few people on our boat returned to Thailand with the cheapest cartons of cigarettes on earth. (Note: like any border town almost anywhere it was a little sketchy, but I have heard really great things about the rest of the country. There were several Burmese people who worked where we stayed in Pha Ngan and they were the some of the kindest, happiest people I've met on my trip).
From the Thai border town we made our way to Khao Sok, a national rain forest on the mainland between the islands we're visiting. We made in there in late afternoon, which meant we went from an island, to another country, and to a rain forest all in less than 24 hours.
We spent two nights in Khao Sok staying in a bungalow for $5/night. We wanted to do some tours around the park but the prices seemed too high even by US standards. So instead we spent a day exploring some of the easier trails by ourselves. We trekked to some "waterfalls" that were so small I don't think they could be considered as such even in the height of the rainy season. But we did see birds, lizards, frogs, snakes, monkeys and scary spiders and bugs. We even saw a giant wasp like thing wrestling with and killing a very big and hairy spider. It was like something off Discovery Channel. And in the late afternoon we got stuck in the forest in a torrential down pour which was actually a lot of fun until leaches started climbing up our legs...
So after that it was time to make out way to our next island destination, the beautiful paradise that is Koh Phi Phi. You may have heard of it for two reasons: it was it hit hard by the 2004 tsunami and the movie "The Beach" was filmed here. It's probably the most beautiful island but also most touristy island we've visited yet and we've done some amazing things here. But all of that is for another posting.......
From the Thai border town we made our way to Khao Sok, a national rain forest on the mainland between the islands we're visiting. We made in there in late afternoon, which meant we went from an island, to another country, and to a rain forest all in less than 24 hours.
We spent two nights in Khao Sok staying in a bungalow for $5/night. We wanted to do some tours around the park but the prices seemed too high even by US standards. So instead we spent a day exploring some of the easier trails by ourselves. We trekked to some "waterfalls" that were so small I don't think they could be considered as such even in the height of the rainy season. But we did see birds, lizards, frogs, snakes, monkeys and scary spiders and bugs. We even saw a giant wasp like thing wrestling with and killing a very big and hairy spider. It was like something off Discovery Channel. And in the late afternoon we got stuck in the forest in a torrential down pour which was actually a lot of fun until leaches started climbing up our legs...
So after that it was time to make out way to our next island destination, the beautiful paradise that is Koh Phi Phi. You may have heard of it for two reasons: it was it hit hard by the 2004 tsunami and the movie "The Beach" was filmed here. It's probably the most beautiful island but also most touristy island we've visited yet and we've done some amazing things here. But all of that is for another posting.......
Apr 17, 2009
Life's a Beach
For the past week and a half or so we have been hanging out in the Thai Islands and let me tell you: life here is good.
From Bangkok we decided to head right down to the islands rather than sticking around and seeing areas on the mainland. I'm bummed we missed out on some places that I wanted to see but between our visa issues and the Thai new year it just seemed like it would be a better idea to head right down here. We since realized that we could have made it work but that's okay, I have confidence that this won't be my only trip to Thailand.
Our first island destination was Koh Pha Ngan on the east coast. It's a real backpackers kind of place and famous for it's wild full moon parties. We got there the day after full moon and headed to a small beach one over from where the full moon parties take place called Haad Yuan. It's about a quarter mile long beach with 5 or so places to stay and several restaurants and bars. Technically you can get there by road but it's so bad so the main way to reach the beach is just by boat. There is no town there, just the beach front bungalows. It is a very quiet place with just the right amount of tourists so that you can meet people but still have the beach practically to yourself.
We got a great little bungalow built into the rocks with an amazing sunrise view- all for less than $9/night. Tell me where else in the world you can do that? Life at Haad Yuan was great and each day seemed more beautiful than the last. We would wake up late everyday, eat breakfast and chat with new friends, relax on the beach and swim in the crystal clear, warm water. Late afternoons were reserved for a game of volleyball and then dinner and a movie relaxing in our favorite restaurant. We met great people and were loving life. I never wanted to leave! But after about 5 days, we did.
We took a ferry to Koh Tao, an island just north of Koh Pha Ngan, known for it's great diving. We came with a group of new friends who all wanted to do a scuba course here, it's one of the cheapest places in the world to get PADI certified. Jason thought he might want to do the course as well but decided against it.
So we have been on Koh Tao for about four days now, relaxing by the beach and pool and doing some great snorkeling. The water here is equally warm and clear, plus there are coral reefs all around that are filled with sea life. Even relaxing on the beach in less than a foot of water I've had colorful fish swim all around me. We have been going out on our friends' diving boat and snorkeling from there as well.
The fish are so unafraid and swim right up to your mask. Our friends have been loving diving, one of them is even planning when he can come back to do a 6 week course.
Tomorrow we'll leave Koh Tao and cross over to the west coast. We have to cross the border into Burma so we can get another 15 day Thai visa. For anyone wondering, yes, its perfectly safe to spend a day in Burma. From there we'll probably go to the west coast islands around Phuket, but we liked Koh Pha Ngan so much we might head back.
Oh and about the protests in Bangkok and Pataya, we are worlds away from that and in no danger.
From Bangkok we decided to head right down to the islands rather than sticking around and seeing areas on the mainland. I'm bummed we missed out on some places that I wanted to see but between our visa issues and the Thai new year it just seemed like it would be a better idea to head right down here. We since realized that we could have made it work but that's okay, I have confidence that this won't be my only trip to Thailand.
Our first island destination was Koh Pha Ngan on the east coast. It's a real backpackers kind of place and famous for it's wild full moon parties. We got there the day after full moon and headed to a small beach one over from where the full moon parties take place called Haad Yuan. It's about a quarter mile long beach with 5 or so places to stay and several restaurants and bars. Technically you can get there by road but it's so bad so the main way to reach the beach is just by boat. There is no town there, just the beach front bungalows. It is a very quiet place with just the right amount of tourists so that you can meet people but still have the beach practically to yourself.
We got a great little bungalow built into the rocks with an amazing sunrise view- all for less than $9/night. Tell me where else in the world you can do that? Life at Haad Yuan was great and each day seemed more beautiful than the last. We would wake up late everyday, eat breakfast and chat with new friends, relax on the beach and swim in the crystal clear, warm water. Late afternoons were reserved for a game of volleyball and then dinner and a movie relaxing in our favorite restaurant. We met great people and were loving life. I never wanted to leave! But after about 5 days, we did.
We took a ferry to Koh Tao, an island just north of Koh Pha Ngan, known for it's great diving. We came with a group of new friends who all wanted to do a scuba course here, it's one of the cheapest places in the world to get PADI certified. Jason thought he might want to do the course as well but decided against it.
So we have been on Koh Tao for about four days now, relaxing by the beach and pool and doing some great snorkeling. The water here is equally warm and clear, plus there are coral reefs all around that are filled with sea life. Even relaxing on the beach in less than a foot of water I've had colorful fish swim all around me. We have been going out on our friends' diving boat and snorkeling from there as well.
The fish are so unafraid and swim right up to your mask. Our friends have been loving diving, one of them is even planning when he can come back to do a 6 week course.
Tomorrow we'll leave Koh Tao and cross over to the west coast. We have to cross the border into Burma so we can get another 15 day Thai visa. For anyone wondering, yes, its perfectly safe to spend a day in Burma. From there we'll probably go to the west coast islands around Phuket, but we liked Koh Pha Ngan so much we might head back.
Oh and about the protests in Bangkok and Pataya, we are worlds away from that and in no danger.
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