the bus from cherating to jerteh (from which we would take a taxi to kuala besut, where you catch the speedboat ferry to pehrentian islands) broke down about halfway, in kuala terrenganu. four other passengers and i (one a native) rented a minivan to get us there in time for the last boat. it cost a bloody fortune but at least we got to the island.
Sign at D'lagoon, the first guest house I stayed in on Pehrentian Islands. They actually made their own 'noise' the night I was there, with some of the worst 'music' ever. I believe it was the driver of our boat ferry who had the most godawful voice. Accompanied by a somewhat competent drummer and a group of completely incompetent clappers, if you can believe it. It was seriously painful, and even the beer didn't help. (Beer, by the way, which we thought they didn't sell, since it wasn't on the menu. We didn't learn about the 'under the table' beer selling until after dinner—and after I'd already schlepped several large bottles from the mainland, having been warned ahead of time by my friend Sven who'd arrived first and had, he thought, already scoped out the beer situation, or lack thereof.)
i never saw the two-foot-long lizards, but i did see this massive spider.
the view from the porch of our 'chalet' at Matahari Chalets. Several times a day the sewer smells would waft up (what is on the other side of the cement bridge is the back of the three beachfront eateries. the staff clearly live there and so this is where their 'bathroom' is. the guy you see on the left is about to take a shower.
our little chalet (front view)
also on offer on one of the menus... 'guaranteed to see turtle' reminds me of the slogan in the first place we stayed in a different part of the island, d'lagoon, 'No Turtle, No Pay.' it unfortunately put bob marley in my head on more than one occasion.
every menu in town had 'no name' on it. we were perplexed (and considering ordering it just to find out what the hell it was), until one restaurant was kind enough to explain that they were vegetable fritters. we never ordered it.
me pretending to be able to play pool
the beach. and people lying on it.
remember those little brown pellets i used to find on my desk in phnom penh all the time that i realized must be lizard poo? well, this is what you get when you have BIG lizards. big lizard poo. (there was one that hung out around our guesthouse--presumably because of the swamp-like conditions in what was basically a sewer right in front of our bungalow--that was about two feet long. i unfortunately could never hobble out of my chair fast enough to catch sight of him. i did see the one in our bathroom that i'm pretty sure was the giver of these gifts. he had a blue and red pattern and was really cool-looking. (sorry, no pic.)
lizard on porch (my guess--based on the, um, evidence--is that this one is a bit smaller than our bathroom culprit...)
me and a fantastic sign...
here's the full version. note their version of same same but different enlists the use of the 'squared' sign. way to work with limited space!
ok, i guess *this* is my favorite sign. if you enjoy sex you'll love snorkel(l)ing! (or if you enjoy you'll love / sex snorkelling)
this is the crap i collected while in the sea. doing my tiny little part for the planet, i put it in my pocket and brought it back to land to be thrown away. it will probably get burned and pollute the air instead of the sea but, you know, maybe i saves some fish from choking on the plastic netting, at least.
sven and i chillin on the porch
getting ready to order dinner on the beach (none of the restaurants actually sell alcohol, so you have to purchase your beer separately from beer guy, who must be making a fortune out of his styrofoam cooler on the beach.)
me attempting to order dinner from our drunk waiter (who had quite the literal take on the term 'falling-down drunk')
sven with his camera poised on his beer to take a timed photo of us (playing cards, of course)
Cactus is itself an interesting enough name for a brand of bottled water. But it's really their slogan that got me.
taxi droop!
nicolas, our young chilean friend, who can, apparently, sleep anywhere
