October 6, 2005 - Perhentian Islands
Finally on the boat after the bus ride from hell!
Okay, now to tell you about the last 5 days.
First, we arrived in Penang on the west coast of Malaysia. It was okay.... kinda dirty. We met an scottish guy named Ian who came with us to the islands. We spent two night in Penang and got the night bus across the peninsula to the other side. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. We left at 9pm from penang, on a ticket that was meant to go all the way to (I will call it town 1 because names mean nothing to you anyways). Anyways, we thought it went to town 1 which was where we were to get to boat from. But no, it went to town 2, 20 min drive from the pier. We got on the bus anyways cause there was nothing we could do.
So we drive along through the night, and at about 3am they shove us off the bus and tell us we are in Town 2. Well that's just great!! We are stranded at a bus station at 3am amongst creepy people, we've had no sleep and we are hungry. Just GREAT!! We were very glad we had Ian with us then. We waited for about 2hrs then we managed to get on a bus to take us to town 1. The bus driver didn't really understand us so we got the ride for free. It's about 5;30am when we arrive in town 1, where we were taken to a travel place to sign our names in the book and wait, etc. We had pre paid tickets for the slow boat, which cost RM 20. Then we found out that if we wanted to take the 7am boat it would cost us another RM10 for the speed boat. If we waited for the slow boat it wouldn't go until 10:30 and even then it only goes if there are enough people. So we had no choice. And then when we get to the pier there is this booth and to enter the island we have to pay RM 5 for a permit. So we are all tired and cranky and gettig ripped off.
We get to the island, but it stops about 30m from shore and they put us on another boat. Strange I thought, thinking that it was cause the other boat couldn't go all the way to shore. But no!!! it's a fucking taxi and we have to pay another RM 2 to get to shore!!!! fuckers!! the taxi driver started to freak out when we didn't want to pay him and drove us farther out into the water and started smaking his head and stuff until we said we would pay him. We were all so tired and had no sleep we just needed a bed.
The days on the island were good. Relaxing. Walk around all day without shoes on and lay on the beach. Snorkel, play cards.
Tommorrow we have to get up and catch a 5am train to Taman Negara. It takes 11 hours through the jungle. I am really excited about the jungle. It is 130 million years old and in the book it sounds absolutely INCREDIBLE. I am almost positive there will be no internet in the jungle, but we will only spend 2 nights at the most there. Then onto KL.
First, we arrived in Penang on the west coast of Malaysia. It was okay.... kinda dirty. We met an scottish guy named Ian who came with us to the islands. We spent two night in Penang and got the night bus across the peninsula to the other side. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. We left at 9pm from penang, on a ticket that was meant to go all the way to (I will call it town 1 because names mean nothing to you anyways). Anyways, we thought it went to town 1 which was where we were to get to boat from. But no, it went to town 2, 20 min drive from the pier. We got on the bus anyways cause there was nothing we could do.
So we drive along through the night, and at about 3am they shove us off the bus and tell us we are in Town 2. Well that's just great!! We are stranded at a bus station at 3am amongst creepy people, we've had no sleep and we are hungry. Just GREAT!! We were very glad we had Ian with us then. We waited for about 2hrs then we managed to get on a bus to take us to town 1. The bus driver didn't really understand us so we got the ride for free. It's about 5;30am when we arrive in town 1, where we were taken to a travel place to sign our names in the book and wait, etc. We had pre paid tickets for the slow boat, which cost RM 20. Then we found out that if we wanted to take the 7am boat it would cost us another RM10 for the speed boat. If we waited for the slow boat it wouldn't go until 10:30 and even then it only goes if there are enough people. So we had no choice. And then when we get to the pier there is this booth and to enter the island we have to pay RM 5 for a permit. So we are all tired and cranky and gettig ripped off.
We get to the island, but it stops about 30m from shore and they put us on another boat. Strange I thought, thinking that it was cause the other boat couldn't go all the way to shore. But no!!! it's a fucking taxi and we have to pay another RM 2 to get to shore!!!! fuckers!! the taxi driver started to freak out when we didn't want to pay him and drove us farther out into the water and started smaking his head and stuff until we said we would pay him. We were all so tired and had no sleep we just needed a bed.
The days on the island were good. Relaxing. Walk around all day without shoes on and lay on the beach. Snorkel, play cards.
Tommorrow we have to get up and catch a 5am train to Taman Negara. It takes 11 hours through the jungle. I am really excited about the jungle. It is 130 million years old and in the book it sounds absolutely INCREDIBLE. I am almost positive there will be no internet in the jungle, but we will only spend 2 nights at the most there. Then onto KL.