Life's a beach

The Perhentian Islands consist of Kecil, the small island, and Besur, the big island. Most budget friendly accomodation is on Long Beach on Kecil. Unfortunately for us, and everyone else here, these places aren't reviewed on sites such as HostelWorld.com, have worthless descriptions in the Lonely Planet, don't allow pre-booking (you just have to show up), and there is barely enough accomodation on Long Beach to fit all of the tourists.

After a 5 hour bus ride to Kuala Besut, and a 45 minute speedboat ride to the island, we arrived at Long Beach. We were dropped off right at the beach, and had to get out in the water. So with a big backpack on our backs, a small one on our fronts, shoes in hand, and pants rolled up to our knees (jeans in my case.. it was cold on the bus!), we made a sweaty march from chalet to chalet, looking for a place to stay. After some time our feet were painfully burnt from the hot sand, our clothes were entirely drenched with sweat, and we'd looked at nearly all available accomodation on the beach. The first two available places were out of our price range, so when we finally got to LemonGrass Chalets, which had a chalet available for 60 ringett, we decided immediately to take the chalet, drop our bags off, and jump in the water.

LemonGrass made us pay for two nights minimum. What a racket. We soon discovered how unpleasant our living situation was. Our chalet was in the back, touching the jungle (most of the island is undeveloped jungle) so we were swarmed with mosquitos by the time we got to our porch. There was some relief in sleep, though, because of the mosquito net over the bed. To make it worse it's pitch black in there, so you can't even swat the moquitos (everything on this island runs off of generators, so the budget places only give you power after 7:00PM). The room was pretty small and uncomfortable. Also, the shared [outdoor] bathroom was totally filthy. Janet is more bothered by the filth and the bugs than I am, but even I was desperate to switch chalets.

So on Saturday, after one night at LemonGrass, we walked all over the island asking about prices and trying to see as many places as possible. Sunday morning I woke up before 8:00 and went back to a few of the more promising chalets. Reception wasn't there was first. By 8:30, the reception arrived for Matahari Chalets and we were able to secure a chalet with attached bathroom right in the front (no mosquitos), twice the size of our other chalet, and with plently of natural light for 65 ringett. We're totally happy with this place and so comfortable here. An older Italian couple also secured a chalet at Matahari, which they are very happy with, after upgrading from Symphony Village. By 9:00, people were being dumped on the beach with their luggage, making the sweaty walk down the beach. One girl came up to the Matahari reception, but they were full. "Suckers," I thought. It's like initiation to Long Beach. We later saw her moving in to LemonGrass as we were moving out. I wonder if they forced her to pay for two nights.

In front of our new chalet

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As you can see from Janet's previous post, the place is beautiful! And for anyone tempted by her post, the beach lovers should Google "Boraqay, Phillipines" or "Bali, Indonesia." The more adventurous of you can meet us in Laos or Cambodia. And there's always Thailand.

The outdoorsy folk should look into Mt. Kinabalu - anyone want to climb it with me in December (or Febuary?) while Janet's doing her grad school apps in Hong Kong? You need to plan very far in advance to get the required permits/etc so let me know! Forest I know you could probably jog up it but it's still the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia, and Febuary is a great time for a break from Alaska. Ramey - you were all about the mountain climbing thing for about a week last year. We could get a bunch of cousins and do it. Dan Corbera, Mark Roper - I know you'd be down. Anyone who didn't get a shout out by name is also welcome! =)