Though I had been dreading the boat ride back to the peninsula, it turned out to be ok.  The boat for Bubu’s tours was getting set to go just as we walked back out on the pier.  Fortunately this boat is much bigger than the more frequent speed boats that ferry passengers to and from the island.  This meant we went faster and more importantly that even though the water was rougher (there were white caps today), the ride was WAY smoother.  As we were a bit higher up on the water, the view of the swells was pretty awesome from the higher vantage point.  More than the corregated wave shape I thought the water had before, it was twisting and rising in all different ways, wrapping itself around our boat as we plowed through the waves.  I realized just how huge the volume of undulating water is and saw its shape as more irregular than what seemed before to just be a series of bumps.

We whisked ourselves away to la la island land so quickly after arriving in Malaysia that we never had a chance to get an idea of the general standard for pricing of things like food and beverages.  Upon our re-arrival in Kota Bharu, we realized how much above normal prices we’ve been paying for food the last few days in Perhention.  For lunch after getting back to the mainland we got a little hotdog on a burger bun and a mango juice—1.5 ringit each.  Definitely cheaper than on the Perhentian where food costs 3-5 times as much.  Granted, food stuffs do have to be transported over to the island, which is no easy feat as I’ve mentioned in previous posts.

Back in a real town, we’ve been working on getting a bus ticket out of here to our next destination as well as making plans for one of our most anticipated destinations, Malaysian Borneo where we will go diving in the reef around the famed Sipidan Island.  Since it is a protected park area, we need to make a reservation with a dive shop ahead of time in order to secure our permits.  Only a limited number of spots are available each day, and we’d forgotten about cross checking our travel dates for holidays (since things can get really booked).  Falling into the whirl of our travel vortex where time and dates get all fuzzy, we forgot about Easter holiday and spring break.  Fortunately we found one place with spots still open, as everyone seems to be pretty booked out there.  I think it’s a good reminder for us (to check for holidays) since as our trip has progressed we’ve had to plan more ahead in terms of specific dates and destinations as flights and specific visa windows are arising more frequently.