Day 150 – Travel to Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

July 6th, 2019

Today I figured we would be cruising to the Perhentian Islands by mid-day since we had a 9:30am bus to catch and we were only about 3 hours away.  We checked out of our hostel and got a Grab to the bus station (Grab is Asia’s Uber).  Our driver was very friendly and was asking us about where we were from.  I thought he was speaking English very well at least to be able to have a conversation, but he apologized and said his English was not that good.  Brendan said, “oh it’s okay man, I don’t know any Mandarin”.  I couldn’t help but laugh while punching Brendan through the backseat whispering to him “Malay, they speak Malaysian Malay”.

When we got to the bus station we were told the 9:30am bus was full so we would have to wait until 11am.  We waited and got on the upstairs of the 11am double decker bus.  Luckily all of the buses here so far have been VERY nice with big comfortable, reclining seats and cold AC.  So cold I always get my travel pillow/blankets out.  The problem is you get on a bus that says it’s going to Jerteh (the town we need to go to for the Perhentian Islands) but don’t realize its going to take you all the way around the country before it gets there!  Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration but according to google it was only 3 hours away and we were on the bus for 7 hours.  We didn’t get to Jerteh until after 6pm and were told the next boat to Perhentian is tomorrow morning.  We looked up a place to stay in Jerteh for the night and took a cab there. 

I felt like we hit the jackpot on a room though.  We found a brand-new place just a month old for $15.  It had a nice bed and bathroom and was very clean with cold AC and good WIFI.  Since it was after hours by the time we got there, I called, and the owner said he would be there in 15 minutes to get us checked in.  He was the nicest guy and offered to drive us to a grocery store when we mentioned we were going to find one.  On the way, he was asking us all kinds of questions about what we like or thought he could make better to make his Inn stand out.  He was very sweet, and I could tell he was trying so hard to make it a nice place to stay and his business be successful.  He waited for us while we were in the store and when we came back his car wouldn’t start.  I felt so bad for him.  At first, we were hoping it was just a dead battery but after a little while of Brendan looking around, he determined that it was the starter.  The guy was extremely apologetic, and I felt terrible for him as he was trying so hard to make a good impression going above and beyond by giving us a ride to the store and everything.  He called us a taxi and paid for it to take us back to the hotel.  We tried to tell him he didn’t have to do that, but he already did and put us in the taxi.  We told him that B was a mechanic and would be happy to help him out tomorrow if he needed it.  B said if he had access to some tools he could replace the starter, but the guy said not to worry about it and that he would help us get tickets for the boat tomorrow to the islands.

Once we were back to the room we put our grocery store snacks away and started out walking to find some dinner.  There were a few options right down the street and we picked the one with the most people at it.  When the waiter came we asked if there was a menu and he said “no”.  The rest of the conversation went like this:

Brendan: what do you have?

Waiter: Bread

Brendan: Bread?

Waiter: Yes bread, like grill

Brendan: okay, we will take two

Waiter: cheese or plain?

Brendan: Cheese

Waiter: Chicken?

Brendan: Chicken or what are the other options?

Waiter: Chicken or sauce

Brendan: Chicken

Waiter: Okay, anything else?

Shanti thinking in her head: what else is there?

Brendan: That will be it, thank you.

I was kind of excited about what the mystery ‘bread’ meal was going to be as we couldn’t really tell what they were doing in the little cooking area.

When it came out it was surprisingly much like the waiters’ simple description.  I later found out it was a dish called Roti and is an Indian flatbread.  Reminded me of naan.  I’m actually not sure how it is different than naan but ours came stuffed with cheese since we chose that option.  Then a bowl of sauce with chicken in it.  It was very good, and we both really liked it.  Our two dinners with two ice teas came to a whopping total of $5. 

We went back to the hotel and called it a day.  Hopefully tomorrow we will finally make it to Perhentian Island.