Making the best of the last two weeks
In just over 2 weeks' time, we'll be arriving back at Heathrow. We're just short of our full year away, so we're only going back for a couple of weeks, and then we'll head over to Europe for our last 3 weeks of our full year trip. We decided then to spend our last two weeks in Malaysia 'on holiday' - to laze around a beach, doing very little but recharging our batteries, catching up on sleep and generally washing away the stresses of travel. We've always found that travelling is tiring - you never know what is just around the corner, or what's going to happen when you step off the next bus/train/rickshaw. And travelling with children adds another layer to the anxiety, because you have to always be aware of another two people. Even in Malaysia, where travelling around is pretty easy, things can suddenly pop up that you weren't expecting (like the taxi driver to the airport, who decided that he'd charge us 20% more than the fixed rate the hotel had quoted - it all got very heated when he grabbed one of our bags, and we only got it sorted out by calling the hotel and getting them to talk to him).
We've decided to go to the Perhentian Islands, in the north east of Malaysia. After a quick and easy Air Asia flight to Khota Bharu, we took a one hour taxi ride down the coast to Kuala Besut - where the boats leave for the Perhentians. The flight cost us an amazing 69 Ringgit each - £10 - and the short taxi ride cost us another 50 Ringgit! We chose the Perhentians because we have fond memories of staying here from our last big round-the-world trip, in 1993. Then you got to the islands in 2 hours by fishing boat, and there were maybe ten accommodation options. Now you can opt for a half-hour speedboat ride, and there are dozens of chalets and resorts on both islands.
We went to the wooden huts we'd stayed at last time, Abdul's Chalets, but unfortunately they were full, so we ended up in the Tuna Bay Resort, further along the beach, for a night. The accommodation is in separate chalets, with air-conditioning, facing right onto the beach. Although they're expensive, by Malaysian standards, at £30 a night, it's got a million dollar view from the balcony outside the room. There are a number of separate beaches on the islands, and they are all shining white and sandy, so we might stay on this beach for a few days and then move to another one, perhaps on the second island.
We've decided to go to the Perhentian Islands, in the north east of Malaysia. After a quick and easy Air Asia flight to Khota Bharu, we took a one hour taxi ride down the coast to Kuala Besut - where the boats leave for the Perhentians. The flight cost us an amazing 69 Ringgit each - £10 - and the short taxi ride cost us another 50 Ringgit! We chose the Perhentians because we have fond memories of staying here from our last big round-the-world trip, in 1993. Then you got to the islands in 2 hours by fishing boat, and there were maybe ten accommodation options. Now you can opt for a half-hour speedboat ride, and there are dozens of chalets and resorts on both islands.
We went to the wooden huts we'd stayed at last time, Abdul's Chalets, but unfortunately they were full, so we ended up in the Tuna Bay Resort, further along the beach, for a night. The accommodation is in separate chalets, with air-conditioning, facing right onto the beach. Although they're expensive, by Malaysian standards, at £30 a night, it's got a million dollar view from the balcony outside the room. There are a number of separate beaches on the islands, and they are all shining white and sandy, so we might stay on this beach for a few days and then move to another one, perhaps on the second island.