Tropical thunderstorms, Sar & Ged's arrival, screaming babies and a stolen phone on a night train, jungle rats and monitor lizards and a tropical paradise island!!!

HI ALL!!...

Sorry for the lack of bloggage!! Been quite hectic since leaving KL. I've just done a brief overview of the journey to Perhentian Kecil to remind me what I need to tell you about!!!

So...

Sar and Ged arrived in KL during a MASSIVE tropical storm and after a short walk to the reggae guesthouse, arrived soaked through whilst me and Zara were waiting in the bar sipping our cocktails!! Haha!! It was so surreal and exciting seeing Sar again! We had a bit of a huge night and i woke the next day (my birthday) with a huge hangover!!

Sar had decorated their room with birthday balloons/presents/cards/fresh flower necklaces and even a happy birthday song list that Ged had made! hahah!! We were going to have bloody mary's but tomato juice is a bit hard to come by in KL so we just had vodka and some kinda juice... i REALLY wasn't feelin like drinking but a bit of hair of the dog did the trick!!!

We basically sat around waiting for our night train all day until i had a bit of a panic thinking i'd left my money belt with lots of money (there are no ATM's on the perhentian islands so we had to take enough) under the mattress protector in the hostel. I ran back and made the poor Malyay lady empty out ALL the dirty washing onto the reception floor... i was just about to start crying (mum - you can imagine the stress i was in!!!) when i looked in my rucksack and found that in my hungover state i had shoved it in there! It was practically hanging out of the bag - anybody could have taken in!!! I've learned my lesson though!!!

Anyway - the night train was better than the thai night trains but we did encounter a few problems!!! We all had top bunks right next to each other and they were really comfy - there were a few problems with ants and spiders but apart from that it was really clean and comfy! We all settled down to read our books and sleep when it started - the loudest scream i have ever heard from a baby and it was RIGHT below Zaras bunk!!! i SOOOO needed my earplugs but forgot to bring them!! - must remember to buy some more actually - we're in Samui now and every morning the cleaners sweep outside our room for hours and wake me up!!! Not to mention the weird frog/lizard noise and the huge objects that keep falling on the roof of our bungalow!!! Anyway - We were kept up for hours by that screaming little thing so were not feeling very rested in the morning. Me and Zara went to get some breakfast at the breakfast cart in the morning. It was sooo lovely!!! We had a lovely tea (malaysian tea is soooo nice! they use condensed milk!!) and we asked for toast but were brought over some kind of toasted marmalade sandwich thing and it all cost like one pound!! We sat there having breakfast and looking out at the jungle villages and amazing scenery!! It really was quite spectacular and just sooo remote!! I wonder how they live in those areas with so little to do!! the kids ran out to look at the train going past their huts... that must have been the highlight of their day!! poor little things!

Anyway - when we got back from breakfast Zara's phone was nowhere to be seen! Sneaky little b*****s must have somehow swiped it even though sar and ged were there in their bunks!!! We think we've cracked who it was though. These 2 malay blokes were trying to talk to us for the whole journey and we saw them leave the food cart when we were there so they knew they could quickly steal something without us being there. As soon as we started looking for it then came out trying to help us find it!!! Bloody thing was probably in their pocket!!!

Anyway - the perhentian islands are pretty remote and alchol is quite limited there as it's a quite strictly muslim community so we decided to bring 3 bottles of vodka with us!! Ged had a huge bottle of vodka in his bag which the cab driver who took us to Kuala Besut for the speedboat over to the islands had chucked on the floor in a heap with all the other bags. When we went to leave we noticed a huge puddle around his bag and we just knew straight away it was the vodka! It had smashed and the glass was shattered to tiny pieces all over his lovely alchol smelling clothes!! NOT HAPPY!!

So... we got a speedboat over to Perhentian Kecil and began looking for accommodation. You can't actually book anywhere on this island you just have to turn up and look so we left Ged and Sar with the bags on the beach and went off in search. I had been in contact with one place called Bintang Chalets but they were full that night. She promised we could have 2 chalets the next day so we just needed somewhere for one night. We trapsed Long Beach for ages in the scorching sun and everywhere apart from one place was full!! We ended up all in one room in Moonlight Chalets - if anyone is planning on coming here DON'T whatever you do stay here! The whole room smelt of wee/poo/damp/dirty/euuugh!!! The sheets looked like they hadn't been washed in like 10 years and there were spiders and a lovely ant infestation... BUT we did have mosquito nets!! haha! We had to board up one window which was just non existant and we had shared toilets and showers which we couldnt even go in alone!! They were really horrible... probably even worse than my Pai experience but not snail on my toothbrush!! Anyway - we got ready and got outta there quickly and decided to try to get drunk so we could sleep in there. We had such a long journey that we were well ready for bed at 12 so we went back to be greeted by a huge jungle rat scurrying around our feet!!! We slept the whole night with the light on that night and got out first thing in the morning!

Bintang was a palace compared to that!! Still communal showers/toilets but they were lovely and clean! Me and Za had a pet frog too!! Sweet little thing!

We basically just chilled for a few days - the perfect place to relax! The sand is like powder and the sea is so clear and blue. The wildlife on the island is amazing too!! Loads of colourful butterflies, HUGE monitor lizards, cute frogs and jumping squirrels!!! It's really like a little tropical paradise. Not great internet connections though and my phone seemed to only work right down on the beach! We did a snorkelling trip with the bloke who runs Bintang with Finola (an irish lady) and he took us to some lovely places! We saw turtles and chased reef sharks and mauri wrasse and some beautiful coral.

We ended up just running out of days and there was a freak thunder storm which sounded like we were being bombed in the middle of the night - i've never woke up so scared in my life! But this meant that i didnt get around to doing my wreck dive :( but little did i know.. i would be coming back!!!

xxxx