Got up and ready at 7:00, only having a small bag makes packing take 2 minutes in a morning! Heaven!
Went to catch our bus to Jerantut but couldn't find the stop! And can't ask local villagers that don't speak English! We did get there just in time though, 7:58 precisely we saw it drive off!
5 minutes of panicking later, we saw the guy that sold us the ticket and he rang for the bus to come back! Totes awks when a minivan of foreigners are all eyeballing you for being late!
The ride was 2 hours through the lush forest seeing more monkeys, clear waterfalls and long stretches of river! Sometimes the journey in/out of different places is the fun part. That is, ignoring the fact i'm squeezed in between two sweating, stinking hairy foreigners, clutching my iPhone for dear life and banging my head on the roof every time we go over a bump! I can close my eyes and pretend I'm in my stepdads X5 beemer back home really though! I wish!
Got to the restaurant and booking office in Jerantut and I've never been happier for a speckle of wifi! It's only been a day and a half but in Michael and Annie land, stuck in the jungle it's more like months!
Got on another bus, to a restaurant 2 hours away and had a noodles and chicken buffet! We don't do seconds we go back for like 4ths, when we've only paid like £2!
Then the bus for another couple hours to Kuala Besut, where the jetty is! Got on the speed boat straight away but we had to wait 30 minutes for it to get full! I'm seriously about to vom after being stuck on this speedboat rocking up and down on a full stomach!
Got to the island around 5:30pm and got dropped off at Coral bay, the best beach for snorkelling! Walked along the few guesthouses/resorts along the beach until we found the cheapest, 'Amelia's guesthouse' for £12 a night! The room is two or three shacks from the front row of beachfront rooms so it's pretty dark but faces the forestry were there's loads of squirrels climbing the trees!
Didn't want to waste any sunlight as we only have two nights here so got straight to the beach! The seas full of sea cucumbers so I'm presuming there's gonna be urchins on the rocks too! I shalnt be telling annie this as she'll run off screaming. She stood on one years ago and I'm glad i wasn't there to witness the scream! Theres 4 clownfish in there anemone as I paddled in so tested out my underwater iPhone case and recorded them! iPhone intact! Thank god, and only cost £5!
Then was slightly too late to sunbath so decided to burry Annie in the sand! Tried to make her look like a Mermaid, she looked more like a sardine! Caught everyone's attention though, that's how we met Shima and Shaz they took photos as they walked past! Little did we know they are working here today writing reviews on highlights of the island! I hope Annie's sardine photo makes the website!! Ha!
Went home got and got Showered and back to Amelia's to meet Shima and Shaz, plus two other friends for a famous BBQ! This is the busiest place on the beach which is handy for us but we waited over an hour and a half for our meal! They usually forget orders apparently too but in our case it was just new arrivals get seen to last, and returning customers get the better service! So maybe tomorrow I won't have to wither to the bone and collapse off my chair before i get fed!
Started raining super bad and everyone flocked inside! It was quite cute it makes it more cosy and you get people joining tables and making conversation! We exchanged story's with each other and spoke to two German girls next to us!
Went next door for hot chocolate - they know how to make it gooood! And sat around just the four of us! Until after midnight and i realised id been eaten alive by every malarious, denghi infected mosquito on the island! Shaz is local so she knows about Denghi as she once caught it... It's very common and can kill if you get it twice! Also the monitor lizards that look like salamanders that we see walking around have infected tongues which can poison! Add to this, the blood sucking bats and biting irritating sand flys that are in abundance on this island, it probably wasn't the best place to forget my insect repellant!!