The Island of Pulau Perhentian Kecil
One of the best things about studying abroad in Hong Kong is how close you are to so many different destinations. During the week break we had between the end of classes and our exams, a few of my friends from here, Andrew and I went to Malaysia. We have been doing a lot of serious sight seeing every time we travel or go into different cities in China so this trip was more for relaxing before our exams. We went to a small island off the coast of northeastern Malaysia called Pulau Perhentian Kecil. This island is known as the “Small Perhentian” because next to it is a slightly larger island. You are able to walk from one side of the island to the other in about 15 minutes, but you have to walk through a jungle (literally) to get to the other side. It made an interesting first trip when we decided to go to the other side for a barbeque one night after it had gotten dark and without flashlights. We were using our phones and cameras to light the path!
We stayed in a small wooden chalet for every night except the last where we stayed in a dormitory. The chalet only had one bed, three windows, a fan, and a mosquito net…the bare minimum, but that was really all you needed. The fan was an especially good thing to have, as the temperature when we first got there was 90 degrees and the humidity usually tops in between 80-95% everyday. All the restaurants, shops and accommodations on the island have to use generators for electricity, so usually they have a certain time of the day they turn on the generators. The chalet we stayed in turned their power on from 7pm to 7am every day. Seven in the morning is very early to wake up anyway, but when you wake up that early because you are sweating because the electricity powering your small room fan is switched off, it seems much earlier! The heat and humidity weren’t so bad after we realized how people cope on the islands is to stay as close to the ocean and go into the water as much as possible! So this is why we spent so much time on the beach, because we had to…Once the sun went down, it was much more comfortable. At night there were a couple places that had outdoor bars with really low tables and beach mats laid on the sand. Everyone on the island was relatively young and there on vacation so the atmosphere was very relaxed, perfect before exams!
We went snorkeling one of the days we were there and got to swim with sharks and great big sea turtles. The coral reefs were amazing and we saw so many fish. I don’t know a lot of the names of the fish but we did see clown fish…when our guide was stopping the boat for the first time he said “and here, you’ll see the Nemo fish if you swim down to the bottom”. Good job Disney! We did buy a water camera so we got some really great shots of the marine life.
After leaving the island we went to Kuala Lumpur and spent the day sight seeing there while we waited for our flights. We mostly shopped in the Central Market, but we also went to the National Mosque and saw some really great architecture. I also bought a few pieces of batik art. Batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique used on fabric. This type of art is very popular in Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur is a huge city and we didn’t have time to see enough of it to give it justice. There are so many different cultures within the city so it is interesting because you get a little feel for each one as you walk around.
The Twin Towers are the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur.
The "Small City" picture is just a shot of Kuala Lumpur.
And the turtle and fish are from when we went snorkeling (obviously..!)
