As our speedboat bounced its way to the Perhentians, a picturesque kilometre-long stretch of white sand soon came into the view. To be honest, any land would have been a blessing for our bruised behinds at this point, but the palm trees, wooden beach huts and the still expanse of sparkling blue waters, still made my day.

Long Beach is a sun seekers paradise, a backpacker's nirvana and a chilled diver’s hangout all rolled into one. It's a beautiful, hassle free location filled with sociable travellers and locals all looking to relax and have a good time, what more could we ask for?

So close to the end of our travels? Well, possibly a few less 'travellers'. That's why, a few days later, we gave up our people watching -- while lying under our beach umbrella, nibbling away at the best pizza we've had in a year -- in favour of the quieter Coral Bay. The beach isn't quite as pristine, but the coal comes right up to the shore. And our hut had AirCon: a true god-send in the sticky Malaysian heat. There is seriously nothing sexier than a sweat moustache!

We found that the only real way to hide the fact that we were sweating in more places than I care to think of (other than hiding in AirCon) was to stay near the water. That way we either look like we'd just come out of the sea or we'd just come out of the sea -- it's a 'if you can't beat it, join it' kind of thing, I think. So we swam, sunbathed and snorkelled our way through the week (we went kayaking too, but that starts with a 'k').

The snorkelling was amazing. The coral gardens that hug the islands are beautiful. And we got to swim with Sea Turtles! Dude!!

Nothing beat swimming alongside these majestic creatures. We'd dive down to keep them company as they busied themselves finding food on the ocean floor. And then, would struggle to keep up as a turtle glided effortlessly towards the surface, coming up for air. That was my favourite part: breaking the surface to find yourself nose to nose with a turtle. Add a few Clown fish (oh and a friggin SHARK!...all be it a small one... But no one said anything about there being sharks) and it was nothing short of Finding Nemo.