Thursday, November 08, 2007

Perhentian Islands, Malaysia




Hello and welcome to this Malaysian tropical island issue!

October 9 was my birthday and I celebrated it in style, with Daniela, on Perhentian Besar. There are two islands, the other is Perhentian Kecil, and they lie just off the North East coast of Malaysia. Besar is the big island, Kecil the smaller one. The translation of Perhentian Besar and Kecil is Big Dropping Off Place and Small Dropping Off Place.

We dropped off on Big and had a fantastic time. The snorkeling was amazing. We saw giant turtles, stingrays, beautiful clown fish and a shark! They told me afterwards that it was a vegetarian shark.....I'm still not sure I believe them. We also saw myriads of other beautiful species, minute and huge that I cannot name, and gorgeous coral.

On land we saw the dusky leaf monkeys. Very cute. I managed to get a couple of shots.

When we weren't snorkeling we walked on the beach and lazed around. It was only 4 days on the island but a real break from 'normal' life.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

To get to the Islands we passed through some rural parts of Malaysia and also stayed in Kota Bahru, the state capital of Kelantan. Kelantan is one of the most traditional Islamic states of Malaysia.

Next time I will show you some photos of this part of our holiday.

Until then, take care and don't forget to come back.

Love

Alan