#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Malaysia Forum >  >  Perhentian Islands.  North East Malaysia.

## terry57

Following on from Malacca we will travel by bus up to KL, fly on to Kota Bharu in the far north east corner of Malaysia,  take a taxi down to Kuala Besut,  ( 1 hour )  and then on to the Perhentian Islands by boat.  ( 30 minutes)

A boat trip of 20 klm from  " Kuala Besut ",  ( the closest port )  will take us to the beautiful Islands of the Perhentian's. 

These are arguably the most beautiful islands in Malaysia,  with crystal clear waters full of quality coral and abundant marine life.

Ive been to many islands in my travels but i must say the Perhentians where a big surprise and we will kick it of from Malacca and the bus that took us up to KL.

Enjoy the trip. 

cheers

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

We paid 90 ringit for a deluxe room with all the fruit,  this was exceptional value and money goes along way in this part of Malaysia.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

There is cheap backpacker accommodation available as well as better resorts.  You will see in the following photos.

The Perhentians consist of 2 islands very close together and one is aimed at back packers and the other goes for a different market.

The backpackers stay on Palau Kecil , the others stay on Palau Besar and you can catch a boat between the 2 for 10 ringit.

We stayed on Palau Kecil where there was a bit more happening but being low season there was only a handful of punters there. 

This was good for us as we scored a great bungalow looking down the beach for 90 ringit with aircon and hot water.

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## Begbie

Where's the special brew then Terry ?

Looks interesting, never heard of the place.

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## terry57



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## terry57

^

Sorry beggars, 

Im a tad busy at the moment,  but i will post a picture of the " Special Brew " again just for you.

cheers

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## terry57

This place is much like Samui was back in the 80's so i suggest if any of you fellas want a flash back,  id be heading down here.
Dont expect any Waccy Tabbacy as its not very kosher but you can get a nice cold beer.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

Im a beach person and always on the look out for places where there ain't to many punters.  This place took me back to when i was living on Koh Phangan in the 80's and its been along time since I've been able to find some thing similar. Once again the trick is to be there outside tourist season and we were lucky with the weather. Bloody wonderful it was.  :Smile:

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## terry57

This photo was taken standing on our balcony and as you can see we near on had this place to our selves.  This was taken 3 weeks ago and the monsoon was due in November. All the dive shops where closing down and getting ready to head back to the mainland till next February. We took our chances with the weather and hit the jack pot but we deserved it for making the effort to get here. Anyway, thats the last photo for tonight and ill be back tomorrow night to throw up some more.  :Smile:

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## sabang

Beautiful spot.  :Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57

These bungalows are located on " Long beach "  and i highly recommend them.

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## terry57

Comes complete with inhouse dive shop and on the left hand side you will see the local bar.

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## Wayne Kerr

Bloody lovely stuff old Tez, but I suspect the spray paint shit on the front of your shack would have pissed you off, loving every post of this thread  :Smile:

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## terry57

Because of the strong Muslim influence in this part of the world none of the bungalow complexes sell alchohol. Its not a problem,  as there are bars located on the beach. The Muslims don't drink but kill themselves by chain smoking cigarette's all day.

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## terry57

It was really strange,  as you had these Muslims running the resorts and the Rasta boys with dreads down to there arse cruising around the place.       "Whatever."    :Smile:

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## terry57

As you can see, things are still very layed back around here and i suggest you get down there before things start to really kick off. I feel once they finish the piers they will be bringing in the package tourists and things will change quickly the same as the Thai islands have.

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## terry57



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## terry57

I was very bloody happy to have found an island that is still at the very start of mass tourism,  but it surely cant last much longer. They are also just organizing reliable 24 hour power ,  then you will see the big resorts start to take over and at the moment there is only 1 large scale resort on this bay.
All the rest are small scale family run bungalows the same as when Samui was in its prime.

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## terry57

There still many small A frame bungalows and very cheap basic bungalows on this beach. Not many rooms that have air con and even less with hot water.

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## terry57

:Smile:

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## dirtydog

That last one would do me for a week or 2  :Smile:

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## terry57

:Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57

This is a brilliant deal and we paid 40 ringit for the day. There was only 6 people on the boat and we snorkeled with turtles, reef sharks, huge tropical fish amongst pristine coral .  For  lunch the dude took us to the local village and we chowed down on fresh squid . Bloody wonderful day and we went again the next day as well.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

We are now on Turtle Island but i had my eye on other stunning sea creatures.   :Smile:

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## jizzybloke

Terr, another good trip report and it really does look beautiful.

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## ChiangMai noon

absolutely superb terry.

Sorry if I missed it, but how do you get there?

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## terry57

This is my favorite position for snapping incognito sneaky photos of stunning looking dolly birds,  and its a winner every time.   :Smile: .  In the background is Long Beach where we are staying.

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## terry57

How do you get where Nooners. ? 

All the inside info is on the first page.

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## ChiangMai noon

> All the inside info is on the first page.


yes sorry, just re read it.
i was only looking at the pictures earlier.

I would love to go there.

How much would a week cost you on a stingyish person's budget?

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## terry57

The sand is pure white and that sort of squeaky feeling one gets in special places.  The environment is unspoiled as punters must leave this bay by sundown and they have rangers that live here full time to enforce it. This is prime turtle egg laying territory and the government take this very seriously which is enlightening. We had this bay to ourselves for the day as our base and very bloody lucky we were. This is why i always travel to these places out of season.

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## daveboy

Really nice terry love the pics

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## terry57

^^

We payed 90 ringit for our room with air con and hot water as the season was near on over. 

Go in season and you will pay around 160 and the only way you would get these bungalows would be to pre book it. 

All other costs,  ( beer and food ) are equivalent to Thailand but i recommended not to go in season as the place would be full of punters just like Koh Phangan or Tao and be shite.    

Plan your trip well Nooners and you will be rewarded.

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## terry57

The flora on these islands are superb and many different specie of plants and trees abound.   I  think these are a specie of the mangrove tree and can anybody help me on this one. ?

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

We had a brilliant day snorkeling, eating squid and generally having a top time with the help of our boat dude who was a champion fella.  We gave him a nice tip and he was well chuffed.  :Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## ChiangMai noon

^
that's the problem with holidays.

yo always have to go home.

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## terry57



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## terry57

A very special photo of the extremely powerful fire water that is Special Brew.

Recommended to drink only a night time as one could be comatosed very quickly if indulging at lunch time.  :Smile: 

This is for you Begbie.   Cheers

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## terry57

Ok,  that was the Perhintians Islands in the far north east corner of Malaysia on the Thai border and i hope you enjoyed the tour.

We are now at Kota Bharu train station at 6.00am in the morning and have a 6 hour train ride on the jungle train traveling through the Rain Forest.   :Smile: 

Our destination is Jerantut and this is closest town to the Taman Negara National Park.

Ill post a thread on this in the future .

cheers.

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## English Noodles

Very nice, looked like a great trip mate. A couple of friends went there last year and said it was stunning and highly recomended it. I will have to give it a bash.

Keep up the good work.

Noodles.

BTW. Yeh i got your e-mail.

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## gos

Thanks terry great thread and pics I noticed nobody wearing life jackets on the boat(see sign)

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## codefreeze

Thanks for that post Terry. Those pics certainly brought back some fantastic memories - wonderful stuff. I did a route similar to you - I even recognise that boat that took you out to Perhentian!  :Smile: 

I stayed at Arwana Eco resort on Perhentian Besar. The place needed a little TLC but the attached dive shop was fantastic - the dive trips were world class.

Had a great time in Malaysia - I would probably rather go back there or to Philippines than to Thailand these days, but that's just me  :Smile:  

Cheers again!

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## alexiajeorge

Okay, I am 30 years old. I have just completed a Contiki tour and loved it. Although I want to go back to Europe, I was hoping to get a tour company that had more people on the tour in their 30s. All information would be appreciated. I would be travelling from North America. What is a company that provides good European tours for people in their 30s? Can you help me with your great answers?

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## hillbilly

This trip report had escaped my attention. 

Amazing pics and thoughts terry57! Well done!  :Smile:

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## sunsetter

great stuff , looks like its wortha visit for those beaches, cool thead :goldcup:

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