Pulau Perhentian Kecil, Little Stop Over Island

Next door is Aziela Cafe, another family run this but everyone is good friends. Gigi and family made me feel really welcome and on my first night i sat for BBQ dinner with Yolanda for the first time. It was during this meal that we both appreciated how lucky we were to be here at the right time, in the right place and most certainly with the right people! We both admitted that we could stay longer for sure! And over the coming week we discussed many times the reality of stopping over on little stop over island or Pulau Perhentian Kecil as it is named in Malay.

Meantime we became accustomed to the plentiful animals hanging out and around our new houses. I moved to a front facing jungalow with a superb view and Yolanda moved into mine. So far we regularly see Big Spiders, Snakes, Lizards (from tiny to huge), Bats, Mantis, Scorpions (one was in bed) and a few other unknown creatures. By far the most annoying are the ants though as every night you are guaranteed to stand on one and it will fight back.
Last week while walking up the almost impossible path up to the jungalows another person in front of me stopped and yelled after a few seconds to realise they had stood on many ants. As they screamed i realised that indeed i had now stood on the line of ants and with my torch i saw hundreds by my feet trying to carry some larger insect or animal, it was painful!!! Thankfully the spiders have been no trouble.

I mentioned the lizards but however much i promise it will not matter until i get some pictures. Genuinely though, there are monitor lizards on this island the size of fully grown men and more like crocodiles. They are massive and a bit of a shock when brushing your teeth out the back! The smallest lizards are hilarious because they play dead when you get to close, you can throw them at other people and they just stay dead, then you turn your head and they are up and off faster than you can see. So yeah living in the Rock Garden is an experience just like the island.



Above; my place. Rock Garden is the oldest accomodation on the island and is simply 30 huts or so with no electricity and no hot water. Just a bed in a shack with a balcony and a toilet block that is more natural than mother nature herself! But after a fw days we love it and ther eis now a group of 6 or so people who are staying permenently. Most are diving instructors or girlfriends/ friends of them but then there is also me and Yolanda. Yolanda herself has completed some advanced diving courses and soon will be doing her divemaster so that she can join the staff at one of the few dive schools on the island. Every night for three weeks we catch up either on the beach or back on my balcony in the hammock. We look out over the water through the palm trees and onto the lights of the fishing boats sitting in the distance. The stars are everywhere and we think back to the meal we had and the whole decision to stay. We smile widely!

So what am i doing? well simply Eddy offered me in a no words spoken way to help out at the shop in return for internet time and soft drinks/ chocolate bars and a fwe other essential things. People always come by because it is the main shop on the beach and he has been there for years. So when people come in and ask questions i talk to them. Sometimes they become good friends and often we go on boat trips to swim and snorkel with the sharks and turtles all around the waters nearby. With one group we even spent the whole day on a deserted beach, just some takeaway food and an ice box with cold beers and water. It was a fantastic day with fantastic people! So the shop is rewarding for both parties and it is not hard work as literally i help as is appropriate.
On the other side of things, Gigi offered to take me under his wing, he even offered me to live with his family behind their restaurant. However they all live in a ver y closed space and the conditions although normal to these people are very different to what i could see being my home and private space for a long time. I declined but i did accept something else. In return for bringing people where possible to eat and talking highly (not that it ever needs it) of the place i could eat freely and at will as one of the family. You can't really get a nicer offer than that and ever since i have become very close to the Family including Ila, Sling, Braeme, Boron, Anna, Wannie, Lynnie and Yasmine. Yasmine is the youngest and as seen here the baby of the family, she is such a happy cheerful baby too!!! I am uncle brahim and my Malay name is popular with the locals. I am also learning a lot of Malay with them and we have much fun learning. So i hang out at the two places and gt by each day with my own time to myself too, i meet many people and enjoy a beautiful place.

Well Andy left after a week and i think he was feeling the heat. It is extremely hot here and only the last few days have we had wet weather. This was good though because it made some good surf and therefore i spent 3 days surfing a few hours each day! The temperature reaches forty degrees easily and the fish even use you to hide from the sun. Everyday new people arrive in Rock Garden and complain about not having a fan, i dont blame them but things are really not that developed on the island. Every place runs its electricity limited by generators and agreements with the larger accomodation places. You see how reliant on boat transport and fishing they are. During some recent bad weather ther ewas no fresh fish for the BBQ and thus business was poor. The residents are definately not rich but their dependence is never turned into frustration or anger. They just get on with things happily and are relaxed and thoughtful.



This picture was taken from my hammock one morning, as you can imagine when i woke up after falling asleep the previous night i was quite pleased. As you all probably appreciate from reading the blog i love photography, well im gald to say that hear on the island ther eare plans to most certainly add to the list of images from the trip! Hopefully soon i will make a day of it and post some new pictures!

Staying here on the island for 3 weeks as felt like ages but i hope to seek out some work opportunity in Kuala Lumpur, this is another reason for me staying on the island. Obviously there are benefits in doing so and if needed i can visit KL to see and meet people. I really consider this opportunity as one of the best i have had and can not explain enough the fortune i have in the arrangements on Long Beach. It's just a beach on a tiny island with a population of a few hundred and ther is no pushy tourism or anything, its awesome!

Well thats what i have been doing and so much more. I haven't mentioned about the trips out to collect the fresh fish, the proposed fishing trips, learning to cook Malay style, more about island friends and the random things that happen here. Last night my guest at dinner and my place with frineds was a favourite actor of mine, he starred in Irvine Welsh; The Acid House and Gangs Of New York. It gets crazier and crazier but cooler and cooler! Well i hope to enter another post soon but as it has been a long time i thought the world may like to know what i am doing and where! However the internet is unimaginably expensive on the island and today i can actually write because i am on mainland for the day (it feels so strange!!!)



As ever if you are travelling and nearby drop me a line and i would more than welcome your company on Perhentian. If you are back home then i hope all is well and i promise i won't extend my stay any longer than now planned!

Jumpo Lagee!!!!

written by  50watts on April 20, 2006 from Jertih, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Ending 2005 and Starting 2006
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