Honeymoon Part 4 - Perhentian Islands & Cameron Highlands!

After 10 days of luxury, we decided that the reminder of our trip was to be spent “posh backpacking” in an attempt to save our bank balance!

We started our budget travelling in style – a 5am mini bus that was packed with people, had ‘questionable’ air conditioning and NO suspension whatsoever… it was certainly an experience though! After 7 hours we finally arrived at  Kuala Besut – the gateway to the Perhentian Islands.

We had so many recommendations on places to stay from friends back in the UK, we decided we would just turn up and choose a place once we arrived on the island. As we pulled into the shore on our taxi boat, the beach couldn’t of looked more perfect; stunning golden sand, turquoise sea and charming wooden huts. Susie got the blanket out and waited with the bags while I set off down the beach to find some accommodation.

I tried the first place recommended to us but there was no room – must be popular I thought. Undeterred I moved on to the 2nd place, then the third, fourth and fifth – all full. This was soon starting to turn into a bit of a nightmare! In fact, on the whole island there were only two places that had any accommodation available at all, and although it looked nice from the outside, it wasn’t exactly up to the standard we had been hoping; no hot water, dark & dingy and a horrible bed – not exactly honeymoon material

The islands themselves were absolutely stunning - the water was gorgeous and looked so inviting. I think our one regret was that we didn’t do any diving or snorkelling as a few people we met were lucky enough to have swum with turtles!

I think in the end though a few days on the island was probably enough for us – not being able to find any decent accommodation was really getting us down and I tend to get bored just lying on a beach! The food was good, but there was nowhere near the variety that there was on the mainland (I mean how can anywhere follow Penang?), although the banana and pineapple shakes were out of this world!

Despite the setbacks we still really enjoyed ourselves, but perhaps left a bit disappointed that we didn’t make more of such an amazing island. Still, we were excited about our next step of the journey; the Cameron highlands!

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