Perhentian

Bout time I posted some pics from my island holiday:

Starting off with a coconut-and-sea shot

And then a boat shot

Some fishing boats too...

Like this one steaming into the sunset

The same fishing boat, crossing another one

Judith and Rohene looking at something

Lotsa green too

Rock formation at the edge of our beach, in glorious B&W

And of course my favorite paradise-ey postcard-ish shots

More paradise-ey shots

An absolutely beautiful place

Heavy cloud cover meant rain on our last night there

Long exposure shot at dusk

Sunrise on our last morning. Quay took this

And sharks too. They just had to come in on the morning we were supposed to leave

Sunrise over the rock formation

Yours truly with a slithery visitor on the final morning...

It's an oriental whipsnake. You'd be surprised how smooth its body feels on your skin

Rohene and Quay with the snake

Pictures aside however, the trip was good! 7.5 /10 in my books. The rooms were just like any other resorts' - a simple bed, a/c and hot showers (cos the water tank was heated so much by the sun!) but special praise for the food which was done pretty good, Chinese-style. The ala carte breakfast gets some high marks from me too. This sure as heck was no prepared-at-6am stuff like the one I had at Lang Tengah a couple of years ago.

Comforts aside, the friendly staff get a big thumbs up from me (like the ever cheerful Peisee and our resident cook/snorkeling guide/baggage handler from KL, Ah Wong) and I guess we were pretty unlucky not to see any turtles on the night we were assigned the turtle watch.

What's that you say?

Yes, the turtle watch, where volunteers like us would walk down the beach from 9pm to 4am on one hour intervals to record turtle landings. Usually the white folks volunteering there would do it, but since it was their night off it was up to us.

Anyways, the entire trip would have got a higher rating from me had the coral reefs been alive. I'm not sure what's the problem but the corals everywhere on that island seemed to be dead. In front of the resort, close to the resort, and even on the other side of the island...all the corals were a shade of lifeless gray, which made for pretty disappointing snorkeling trips. Guess coral reefs are more sensitive environments than I previously thought. The only good thing that came from the snorkeling trip? A turtle sighting about 2+ meters deep. That plus my bad eyesight meant it appeared as nothing more than a huge, dark underwater shape. Better that than nothing I guess. Made the seasickness I had to endure a lil more worthwhile.

One thing I'll admit though...my photography on the trip wasn't really that good. Somehow couldn't find any creativity to frame some good shots. But that gives yet me another reason to return to the east coast in a couple of years doesn't it? Haha...