Perhentian Kecil and the horror of Cherating

So I promised to add more about Kecil after my hurried previous post about this wonderful island.

So Perhentian Kecil is absolutely awesome. It is definitely a surreal feeling to get the speedboat from the mainland (which, every 10 seconds or so, lept into the air a couple of metres over the waves and assaulted my backside upon reconnection), then a water taxi (a mini-speedboat effectively) to the island. You get dropped off in the shallows and wade to shore with your backpacks.

Boom. Welcome to Perhentian Kecil.

The water is crystal clear, the sun is continuous. The sky is clear, the beaches are perfect and white, and there is very little building on the beach (something, regrettably, which is being rectified by the government). Nearly all the buildings are wooden huts, and there’s generally not a huge amount of people around. And those that are are, er, “very fine specimens” of humanity. I was drinking cold beer on a perfect beach whilst watching the waves lap by moonlight. It was bliss.

I still miss it. Even if none of the toilets flush. Even if you have to watch Geckos run around and catch cockroaches whilst you take a dump. Even if all the shops add about 15% onto the prices on the mainland. Even if our budget kind of went out the window for our time there. Even if, despite your best efforts, sand gets absolutely everywhere in your bed, in your room and in your… Even if, on the way back to mainland, in addition to the batty battering effects of the speedboat you have torrential rain whipping your face as YOU whip along at 60mph or so.

The biggest downside of all this remote bliss is that Kecil has no ATMs or banks at all, so you have to bring all your cash from the mainland. We thought that we would return and spend a few days in Cherating – a place described by the Lonely Planet as, “one of the best stop-overs along the east coast. Many arrive here and, taken in by it’s infectious relaxing vibe, stay for weeks or months at a time.”

Well, let me tell you, it couldn’t be further from the case. I don’t normally write off places entirely – you’re talking to the guy who can even find many good points for living in Stevenage, Hertfordshire! But here, I met my match.

Cherating is an empty, desolate, depressing, suicide-inducing hole of a dump.

I wouldn’t advise going there either. It’s quite clear that, although the Malaysia Lonely Planet was revised January 2007, they blatantly haven’t been there for at least 4 years or more (a local told me this is when it started to change). This is made all the more interesting when you read this story on the BBC website that my brother, by coincidence, sent me.

Lonely Plant, how I loath thee. Let me count the ways…..

It didn’t help that the only affordable hostel was dirty and run-down, run by a guy who was obviously tired and wanting to pack it all in. In fact, this hostel was a micro-cosm of Cherating as a whole. It DOES seem as though the place used to be great. The beach is actually pretty good (it’s difficult to be positive about this when you’ve been in Kecil, but I’m doing my best!), but it’s deserted. And the whole area is swamped in a thick air of sadness and despondency. We simple couldn’t wait to get out. Undoubtedly the worse place I have been so far.

Moving on then…

We’re now in Kuala Terrengenu, further up the east coast towards Perhentian Kecil (and, more importantly, further away from Cherating!). It’s quite nice and pleasant here, and we’ll see if there’s any sights tomorrow.

Sunday we plan to return to Perhentian Kecil for a week. Four of those days will be taken up with our Open Water Scuba Diver course which we’re both really looking forward to. How do you imagine being able to freely explore the sea and all it’s wildlife? I hope to be able to blog more about the past few days but, if I can’t, I won’t be able to in Kecil (internet access there is very limited and very expensive, so I’ll have to do without) and so you might not see something here for a week or so.

~ by thesynapse on 24 April, 2008.