The idiot who fell off the boat with his camera,

Perhentian island Kecil

June 2-6th

What a horrible time for a bus to leave at midnight. I had had a few beers just before we left, hoping that it might send me to sleep, but the minibus was really bumpy and the seat was not much cop, so i hardly slept a wink.

We arrived at Kuala Besut which is where the speed boat leaves from at about half six and the next boat was at 7am, so i had a cuppa and watched the sun rise from behind the islands opposite, it was all very pretty.

They are not very far from the mainland and the speedboat does it in about 40 minutes.

The islands are very small with no roads, just a collection of bays, so you have to decide which bay you want dropping off at.

I had read the smallest island has the best beaches and long bay has the most bars (two). So i opted for long bay. The boat pulls up to the shore and you have to jump in to the water and there you are.

The bay was stunning, picture postcard stuff.It was a lot smaller than i had imagined with just a few bamboo style huts on the beach and most of the accomodation set back in the jungle.

This part of the island has more of a youth scene, so the accomodation is cheap and cheerful to match.

I managed to find a little shack run by an irish woman which was very basic but clean. It is basically a shed on stilts with a bed in it and a few lizards thrown in to boot. It has a tin roof, so it took some getting used to the noises of things running accross it at night.

The shack was not vacant til 11am, so i had to go amuse myself for 3 hours til it was. It is so hot and humid here, really tropical.

The diving here is supposed to be really good, so i booked myself on a diving trip for the next day, and just as i got to my room, an island hopping trip was leaving, so they waited for me and i jumped on with them.

First stop was swimming with turtles, some of them were huge. Then sharks, but i only saw a baby one, and then exotic fish. Last stop was a really stunning bay and then we had the camera incident...........

As i was about to hop off the boat i looked down and thought i could reach the beach no problem. So i hooked a leg over the side of the boat, and it was the Japanese hot springs all over again.

As i went flying under the boat, my other leg shot up, hit this japanese woman and then i cracked it a treat on a rail, but i had my camera in my hand, and tried to do a lady of the lake and hold it out of the water, but i think it got a bit ofa dunk as afterwards it was dripping water from the lens and then it did not work any more.

It switched on and off, but it was just black. I think water had shorted something in the lens.

Typical, the best place to take some piccies and i broke it. Also as i was on an island that only has electricity at night, i was not hopeful of being able to find a dixons to sell me a new one with a 5 year warrantee, extra memory card, scart lead and finance.

Great.

I had also not realised how strong the sun was, and managed to burn my back a treat.

I went for a power nap at 6pm as the lack of sleep finally caught up with me, and next thing i new it was 10 o clock the next morning. I had been meaning to have a day off the booze for ages, but this was not how i had planned it haha.

Ever the optimist i had left the camera in the sun hoping it might dry out, but it had now gone from moving to completely dead and the lens stuck out.

So now certain off it's demise, i started pulling and prodding and bashing it, all the things you should never do to a camera, and put the battery in it and then.....................

like jesus it rose from the dead, only it did not take 3 days.

Apparently the Malaysians have just bought some fighter planes off the russians, so the russians are teaching them how to fly them.

Also turns out they have been watching too much top gun, as they deliberately fly low over the island to show off. Well they did one day, but i was walking through the trees, i saw the first fly over which was quite low, but missed the second wherethey flew so close to the beach and then floored it in to a vertical climb and apparently the thrust blew over all the umbrellas and took the tin roof off one of the chalets.

The sound was deafening though, and i felt the blast even in the middle of the jungle.

The scuba diving was amazing, there is coral and nemo fish and stingrays and loads of fish i do not know the name of everywhere.

the instructor said i was "a natural" and then surprisingly tried to sell me a full course to take my Padi qualification.

I had actually considered it, but despite being such a "natural" who can not really swim very well and has a fear of drowning, i said i would think about it.

Well i had 2 days of not drinking to catch up on so i headed down to the bamboo shack that was the main nightclub on the island and had a few beers..............to many. I think i might have embarassed myself with a Danish girl, but never got to see her again to find out.

Oh dear what a hangover, not good in this heat and humidity.

There is a jungle path you can walk through to get to the other side of the island where there is another bay that faces west, so you get the best sunsets.

So i had a wander over, but there was forever stuff moving in the undergrowth. I saw a 4 foot lizard, spiders the size of your hand, and there was also lots of things i heard but did not see. Not for the faint hearted, especially on the way back when it is dark and there are no lights anywhere.

So it was time to move on, so the next day i sat on the beach with my rucksack and waited for the next boat to take me back to the mainland where i would catch the famous "jungle train" down to kuala lumpur.

next installment...............................the lady boy haircut in kuala lumpur