Loving the Perhentians...

Ahh the beautiful Perhentian Islands. We left Kota Bharu via a wild taxi ride -- since all the cars in Malaysia seem to have broken speedometers, we're not really sure how fast we were weaving through traffic, but Alyss and I assume it was pretty fast! Anyways, we arrived at Long Beach in the Perhentians in the late afternoon with beautiful views of jungle-clad hills, white sand and fishing boats coming into the bay to settle in for the night.

It's hard to really describe how taken aback we were the next morning at the beauty of this beach - it was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. And that's saying nothing of the soft white sand that extends for longer than you can swim out into the South China Sea. We spent four days total in the Perhentians which was when the amazingness of our vacation really started to sink in - at least for me, but then you all know how much I love my beaches!


We went on a snorkelling trip one day with a notable quote from Alyssa being: "Wow, you just haven't lived until you've swam in coral reefs!" and both of us even managed to get some scuba diving in. Being certified, I went on two amazing dives on the reefs off the islands, with some noticeable excitement being the dive I thought my regulator was busted about 60 feet underwater. (Ed. note: It wasn't and all was well). Alyss did an introductiory dive one afternoon and loved it (obviously) but I'll let her tell you all about that. We also tried to rent a catamaran and go explore some deserted beaches around the islands, but even with 4 days of vacationing in paradise, there just wasn't time... But don't think it was all glamour, we both got a little gloomy due to overpriced internet and looming med school/grad school applications...

But speaking of deserted beaches, I do have to delve into detail about one (and I swear I'm not trying to make you jealous, only convince you to take a trip to the Perhentians!) We found the most amazing beach ever on our snorkelling trip. It's this moon-shaped stretch of white sand rising into jungle and the water was the warmest, clearest and bluest water you can imagine. Oh, and have I mentioned the baby sea turtle nests yet? No joke, this place was amazing. Anyways, that's our latest update from Malaysia -Hope all is well in Canada and I'm very jealous of your trees that I hear are changing colours.

Take care, love em