Perhentian Besar

The internet here seems to be quite sketchy, so this might end up being a short post for fear of getting cut off and not being able to even update at all.

Anyway, we left by speedboat from Kuala Besut at a leisurely 10:00 am this morning. The ocean was very calm, so it was a nice 30 minute trip out into the South China Sea to the Perhentian Islands. There are two islands, a larger one (Besar, which means "big"), and a smaller one (Kecil, which, yes, means "small"). We're staying at Flora Bay Resort, on the larger island. Both are very beautiful, though, with powdery white sand beaches and crystal clear blue water. We lounged around for the morning, then a few of us decided to take a boat taxi around to the other side of the island. Some people wanted to get massages at the spa over there, but I just relaxed in the sand, went for a swim, and grabbed a bite to eat at one of the restaurants. It's very tranquil here, and not at all "touristy". It's definitely a change from the previous island I was on (Ko Samui), which while still relatively peaceful and beautiful was far more developed than these islands. If you check out the Perhentian Islands on wikipedia, you can get a little bit of an idea of what the view looks like from the beach. Of course, I have many more pictures that I'll show when I get back. (I don't have my camera cord so I can't upload anything...!)

Tomorrow morning, we're going on a three-hour snorkeling trip around the island. The waters, as I said, are crystal clear, and you can see fish swimming from above the water, so getting right in and looking around should be very interesting. We're here for a total of three nights, and aside from the snorkeling trip there are no planned activities. I might need to find a book to read!