Early morning we were on the 1 and a half hour bus ride to Kuala Besut Jetty. We got there in time to catch the 10 o’clock ferry to the island. Those were some fast motor boats that get ya there, over some really beautifully clear blue water I tell ya.
There were several different places to stay around the island, but we chose to go to Long Beach. On this side there were lots of choices of chalets and bungalows to stay at, not to mention a nice long stretch of a white sandy beach. We chose to stay at the rock garden, which happened to have some very newly constructed chalets propped up on the hill which had a spectacular view from the sliding glass doors that lined the wall facing the ocean. It was truly a great view, and there was nothing like layin in bed and looking to your left through the big picture window and seeing the crystal clear waters and an island off in the distance first thing when you woke up in the morning.
We took a day long snorkeling trip which was really pretty great. There were some amazing corals in the middle of the ocean and all sorts of beautifully colored fish. There’s nothing quite like the sensation of snorkeling, especially in clear tropical waters like this. It truly feels like you’re flying and floating in a completely new colorful world. So many interesting plants and shapes of the corals under the water, and there were tons of truly beautifully colored fish of many sizes. It was unreal. Usually I’d be a bit squeamish to be swimming around with that many fish, but they were so beautiful to look at it didn’t bother me at all to be a part of their world for a bit. Our guide took us to a few different spots throughout the day. One spot we chased after small reef sharks. To be honest, at first I was a bit nervous about chasing after sharks, but apparently these are small and harmless. Sure enough we were able to spot a few. Then later we were taken to a spot where sea turtles swim and we saw three different ones that we were able to swim along with which was really pretty cool …just this big ol turtle swimming along goin’ about his way. The last place they took us wasn’t a snorkel spot, but it was a small stretch of beach with the whitest sand and bluest aquamarine water you’d ever seen. You needed sunglasses to look out onto it, but it was the perfect little spot to end our day of snorkeling with a little swimming and relaxing on the beach.
After we got back we walked around and checked out the different menus that the restaurants had to offer. We were walking up this one path and I heard Will say, “Whoa! Did you see that?” I looked up and just saw the tail of a rather large looking reptile cross the path about 30m in front of us. I asked “ehhh… so are there Alligators on this island?” I guess… we both didn’t see why there wouldn’t be, and neither of us really knew the answer to that question. But still – a bit unnerving seeing the tail of that size waddle across the pathway (and not in a fence or anything). Later on we did find out that it was just a monitor lizard. Which are rather large lizards…that live in the area. (I don’t know if I was supposed to feel better about that or not…but I guess it made me feel a little bit better.) You know.. you’re supposed to feel better when locals say, “Oh- don’t worry, it’s just a monitor lizard.” ……………….. ha. Just.
That night, we went to a place called Bingtang View restaurant (which was on the same path that we saw the monitor lizard). It had a nice atmosphere and pretty good view of the bay and some decent music playing. I ordered a pasta dish and Will ordered Tom Yam soup. The Tom Yam soup (a Thai dish) was absolutely delicious. It had a wide variety of seafood in it with some nice spices and lemongrass and we both thought that was the best meal of the entire trip. We finished off with a banana bread desert that was covered in custard; which was a very nice way to end the meal.
I’m so very glad I thought to bring our head lamps for our walk back to our chalet. (This was the same walk that we saw the monitor lizard on earlier that day, and I was feeling a bit leery of walking that path in the complete dark.) Anyway, half-way back to the beach, I was shining my light down on the ground keeping a keen eye on things, and then all of a sudden I caught a glimpse of Will stepping on something that sort of looked like a stick. It was very dark, maybe an inch in diameter, but it clicked in my brain that it was a little shiny, or at least my light caught a slight reflection off it. About a millisecond later as my light shined closer, I noticed the yellow stripes on it and immediately jumped three feet in the air and yelled “SNAKE!” and in the next millisecond, no kidding sprinted about 50m away, road-runner-cartoon-character style with nothing but a cloud of dust behind me!! I think I could’ve won nationals in the presidential fitness awards had someone been timing me. Seriously!
Apparently it started wrapping up Will’s leg, and I yelled at him, “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR…GET THE [insert really loud swear word here] OUTTA THERE!!!” Then he yelled, “My flip flops, I can’t find my other flip flop!!” -- (While these red-flip flops were a steal at 6000r (USD $1.50), and they were the first pair of shoes he had found in Cambodia to fit his size 13 feet) -- I yelled, “REALLY!??! FLIP FLOPS!? REALLY!!? Are you crazy?!? Ditch the flops and GIT over here NOW …. and we can come back and look for them tomorrow!!!! Are you NUTS!?”
Will being Will, was able to find his other flip flop, and then ran over to where I was at. We continued running until we reached the beach where there was a little more light to inspect his leg, and (after our adrenalin settled down) we were able to look closely and find out that luckily the snake didn’t strike. He said to me, “Man, you got outta there fast!”
I said, “I know!”
He said, “It’s nice to know you’d stay and take care of me if I really was bitten.”
I said, “I guess I just don’t really like snakes! It was my body’s instinctive move … I didn’t even think of what I was doing - I just ran. I’m sorry!” He laughed.
Then I said, “But don’t worry, if I saw you go down, I would’ve gone back. I promise.”
He said, “Well that’s comforting to know.”
We have yet to look it up to see if it was poisonous or anything, luckily it didn’t matter… but I guess you should treat any snake like it would be. I am glad to report we didn’t see any other creepy creatures on the island. And that night as I lay in bed, I wondered if I could’ve been a sprinter track star if they unleashed a bunch of fast snakes at the starting line every time the gun went off. Hrrrm. It’s something to ponder I guess.
. . .
Our last day on the island started out with a morning swim in the clear blue waters below our chalet. Then we went for some breakfast and after that, Will went on a small hike up to where they had some wind-power generators, and I laid on the beach to soak up a little bit of sun and the scenery. 4 o’clock that afternoon we were back on a fast ferry to the jetty to catch a taxi to a small town about an hour away to take the night train down to Jerentut which is where we could take a bus to one of the entrances of Teman Negara National Rainforest.
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