Malaysia: Kuantan, Perhentian islands, Kota Bahru, Penang, Merang, Redang, Kuala Terangganu.
Thailand: Hat Yai, Ko Lanta, Bangkok
We once more took the ferry to the main land and travelled north to Kuantan where we took a break and spent the night. I got a very short hair cut LOL not what I wanted and not the best misunderstanding I have had. We continued our trip to the Perhentian islands where I would spend a month doing my rescue diver and later Dive master training at Watercolours. We hit the tail end of the monsoon season so my first days of training were a bit rough but I soon got into the rhythm of eating, reading and dive training. As time went by Jorunn was getting very bored, to say the least, even with fun diving and nudibranch searching almost every day. Here Jorunn had time to learn the latin names for a lot of species of nudibranch, the favorite is of course her name frind Jorunna Funebris. Eventually help arrived so Jorunn hopped on a bus to Penang to meet her sister and some friends for a few days of sightseeing in Penang after so many days on an island. They came back to the Perhentians after a few days and things were grand, I spent my time with my training while the others enjoyed paradise. Sigi learned about snorkeling and nudibranchs, Rune got into diving and the rest just chilled in the sun and explored the island. We always met up for afternoon fresh fruit and a recap of the day's events. They also brought along tax-free stuff to celebrate my Dive Master certificate. After some days our friends left and I finished my Dive Master so it was time to pack up and move on again.
Heading south to Merang we caught a ferry out to Redang to check out the diving there and found out that as it was a local holiday it was very crowded. We had also learned before we got there that you have to choose prebooked packages to stay there. We stayed in an OK room (this is where my second pair of sandals went missing) and had a buffet meals with the hungry hoards (the race for food) that were waiting for the food to arrive. We spent our days diving, which was OK but we saw pretty much the same things as in the Perhentian islands. We dived sites like: Sharons Stone, Big Sea Mount, Mak Cantik, Terumba Kili, Tanjung Tokong, North Run and Mini Sea mount. We also did some snorkelling but had to laugh when we were watching 40 or so bright orange lifejackets bobbing around in the water (not everybody swims that well). The funniest of all were the ones who were trying to dive down and would pop up like a cork and could not understand why, and the worst one of all tried several times to pull himself down an anchor chain and would eventually pop right up again. For us it was time to find a new pair of sandals after the second pair disappeared.
We headed south once again to the city of Kuala Terangganu to get on a small motorboat out to the island of Tenggol where there was a small dive resort with nice rooms and food included, this all had to be pre-booked as well as the diving. This was a very beautiful and green place, underwater there were long sloping walls with large boulders lying around but not many fish. Not that there were no fish, it's just that it has been overfished (even though Tenggol is a Marine park we saw fish traps all over the place). The house reef was really good with a small wreck and lot's of things to see like: Nudibrand, twinspotted blenny, napoleon wrasse, humphead parrotfish, barracuda, green turtle and more. After our 6 guided dives we were left to our own device and soon became dive guides for the other divers on the island for the last dives. We dived the following sites on Tenggol: Tokong Timur, Moonraker, Tokong Laut and more. I guess the funniest thing was the name of the boat that transported us to the dive sites, it was called "Titanic" and yes it did always feel like we were going to sink but we made it back every time. One last thing, on the day we were to depart we found out that the boat man had forgotten the boat too close to shore and the boat was sitting high and dry, so we had to wait for the tide to come in (one hour or so later) before we could leave, then halfway to shore the motor quits, eventually we made it to shore and could move on again.
This time we headed north for the border through Kota Bahru and Hat Yai for the night then on to Trang, to switch minivans and to Ko Lanta where we found a great place to stay on the beach which suited us perfectly. In Ko Lanta we dived with Lanta Divers which is a German run outfit and very professional and serviceminded. We did some long and beautiful dives here and went to sites like: Koh Ha 1, 3, 4, Koh Ha Yai, Hin Daeng and Hin Maung a couple of times as it was manta ray time. Koh Ha was new to us and was a great adventure with an underwater cathedral to dive up into and creatures everywhere, the dives seemed to go on for ages. The days on the boat were fantastic with good company and discussions of what we saw such as: 3 to 4 manta rays, turtles, leopard sharks, moray eels, octopus, mantis shrimp, seahorses, shrimps, crabs, nudibranches and many more. After fabulous days on the beach, good food and romantic sunsets it was time to move as the rainy season would soon be upon us.
We packed up and returned to the place we started diving on this trip, Khao Lak. This time we were there for the wreck diving, which is little known but very good, we first did two dives on the Bang Sak, which at first did not look very inviting but after descending next to a sleeping leopard shark things started happening: loads of nudibranch, clouds of snappers, ghostpipefish, lot's of lionfish, shrimps, barracuda, scorpionfish. The next day we tried another wreck further south called the Thai Muang with the same the result and just as many creature to see, fantastic is all I could say. By now the rainy season was starting so it was time to head home but first a short stop in Bangkok and a bit of luxury.
We had nice hotel that was very comfortable and not very far from the monorail, our method of transport would be by the Chao Phraya river as it slices through the city and offers a less hectic method of transport to get to the parts of the city we wanted to see. After a good nights sleep and a swim in the pool we headed off for some sightseeing as we would soon be heading home. We took the monorail to the ferry and up the Chao Phraya river which was a beehive of activity with boats of all shapes and sizes moving back and forth on their daily business of survival. When on the water you got the distinct smell of humidity, waste, rot and pollution. When we got to our stop we had to walk between many wooden houses that line the river where you would also find small markets with a fantastic variety of fruits and vegetables, red, pink, greens, almost like a rainbow. We finally made it to Wat Phra Kaew as we entered the first thing we had to do was put on respectable clothing, as shorts and a t-shirt just did not cut it. With our borrowed clothing we walked into the temple. At every turn beauty and complexity become apparent and we saw the aw and excitement of the people around us as the temple soars to the sky with beautiful detail, the paints and sculpture are amazing and soon we come to the Jade Buddha in all it's splendor to top things off. We soon became weary in all this beauty so it was time to move on to Wat Pho (the sleeping Buddha) where a very large Buddha reclines covered in golden leaf from head to toe (one of the largest in the world), the temple is also known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage. Next stop was across the river to the Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn), reaching high into the sky to meet the dawn, covered in pieces of broken Chinese porcelain and glass. We soon left Wat Arun to seek relief from the heat and seek some nourishment before we headed off into the night for a meal and to enjoy the city's night life. We took a Tuk Tuk to Khao San Road which is a backpacker and shopping area, we sat down at a restaurant with a view of the night and the strange happening when you mix shopping, bar, nightclubs and loads of backpackers. In all it was a great night full of free entertainment and my fourth pair of sandals, before heading back to the hotel packing before our flight home. What a great trip !
Pictures from Malaysia
Pictures from Thailand
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