DAY 7

On Saturday morning, i woke up bright and early to go to the bus station and return my ticket to Kota Bharu. I had found a guy on couchsurfing who was planning to drive through Terrenganu, to his hometown in Kota Bharu. He was offering to drive people to Terrenganu in exchange for conversation, as he often gets tired when driving and needs company to keep him awake. I noticed that he was friends with Elma, and after asking her about him, she highly recommended i go with him. "He can be trusted", she assured me.

It was definitly a very good decision!

I met Weanu, outside of THE MALL near the PWTC. The 7 hour long ride to Kuala Besut went by fairly quickly as we talked a lot about ourselves and the differences between cultures. The scenery was amazing! Definitly something i would miss out on had i taken the overnight bus. It was also awesome because he told me a lot about Malaysia! The kind of stuff you only learn when talking to a local.

I got the the jetty of Kuala Besut, and luckily they had added a last minute boat to the island for a fee of 25 ringgit. Not exactly the cheapest decision, but definitly made my time more worthwhile! The boat was aboslutely insane though! Think of Halong Bay except in a tiny jet boat. haha It was pretty scary and my back hurt afterwards from all the pounding when the boat hit the water.

When i arrived on the Perhentian islands the first person who approached me was a man trying to sell me one of his rooms for 225 ringgit, which was way over my budget! He told me that Long Beach accomodations are fully booked and that his accomodation is the only option i have. Assuming he was just trying to sell me the room, I decided to try my luck with Long Beach anyways. The path to Long beach consisted of a short walk across Coral Bay beach and a 10 minute trek through the jungle. I was not prepared for this trek and got eaten alive by mosquitoes! As soon as i walked out of the jungle, i saw a guy who was also by himself walking my way. I asked him about the accomodation on the island, and it turned out the man was right, most of the accomodation was fully booked. We decided to scout the island anyways. Theres no way it could be possible! But it was :( I ended up taking the first option, but a cheaper room and at a discounted price of 75 riggit a night.

My beach buddy's name is Johannes from Germany and has been travelling for a year and a half! (so lucky!!) it was really awesome because i got to hear some awesome stories and learn about Germany for the next few days!

Today, i woke up bright and early at met Weanu at the jetty. He had met 3 American girls and offered to take them to Cameron Highlands, which was my next destination!
The three American girls are really amazing and are living in cambodia on a Fulbright scholarship working with the community on several different projects. One girl is working with the community to help them grow and create their own textiles, the other is working with people with disabilities and teaching engineering to Cambodian people and the other is sort of in transition between projects so im not too sure what she is doing.

Anyways i arrived at Cameron Highlands not too long ago, and i was told that if i loved Sapa (which i did) i would definitly love Cameron Highlands. Its sort of the same idea, but with tea plantations instead!