Snorkelling coral reefs as Brain Therapy

Marie inflicts herself with some serious therapy.

After some particularly nasty weeks dealing with dysfunctional family issues in Adelaide (a shrivelled and dry liitle desert town in remote outback Austraya) we felt the need to rejuvenate in a more peaceful place. Perhentian Island, off the north-eastern coast of Malaysia - actually not far south of the Thai border - fitted the bill.

Perhentian also served as our annual escape from Thailand's tiresome Songkran Festival where you are supposed to enjoy having endless buckets of water emptied over your person for days on end. And not least, we usually vacate Chiangmai at this time of year for a while at the peak of the smoky season (when northern farmers like to burn off the stubble of the 'dry rice' paddies).

The resort was, let's say, not what we would describe as excellent - the (mostly European) food was quite average and management practices rather inefficient. Still, the beaches and fringeing reefs were pristine, and the water clear and emminently swim-able, which mostly made up for the not-at-all hot shower in the cabin.

A typical fishing boat moored at Kota Bharu harbour.

After the spine-crunching speedboat ride back to the mainland, we decided to ad-lib our way south along the coast then inland towards Kuala Lumpur. Those north-eastern states (Kelantan and Terengganu) are much more strictly "Islamic" than the south, so women have to cover rude bits like hair, shoulders, elbows and ankles. Noticeably more conservative attitudes in this region now compared to our last visits.

Marie, ever the activist, iconoclast and downright renegade, shows 'em how it's done:

...and a couple of decidedly Islamic-style "bas", all fitted out with carved wood trims:

Nevertheless, we were relieved to see a few signs of resistance - some graffiti, and this "boycott" banner in courageously draped over a fence in a touristy part of Terengganu:

The town's main tourist attraction is a small hill with the [alleged] remains of a 19th century fort. To extract tourist dollars, a series of elaborate entrances/ticket offices had been purpose-built, using the state's huge oil/gas revenues. Trouble is, the fort was closed and besides, there were scarcely any tourists. Even so, we had to climb halfway up (past all the shops, naturally) before anyone bothered to tell us the #$&* top gates were locked.....

Exploring the small Chinatown area in Terengganu revealed a number of interesting places and shops with fun names:

(Sin Chew Daily was located right next door to a Cake shop)

Er, which country are we in?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The building or the restaurant?

Apologies for my uncharacteristic emphasis on yukky KFC,
but look closely and you'll spot the Halal sign.

Old shop-houses with character.

Then on by 'bas' to Kuala Lumpur (which translates roughly as 'Town of the Muddy Confluence of Two Rivers'. Great highway systems in Malaysia, but the scenery is pure visual ether - the entire country is wall-to-wall oil palm plantations, an environmentally toxic monoculture:

Accommodation is quite expensive and poor quality in KL unless you go top-end. We stayed near Little India and Chow Kit where the grub ain't half bad. Here we ate curried goat (mostly called mutton in Asia) served with rice on a banana leaf for a plate. Best meal of the trip. Served in traditional style, so we ate with (right-hand) fingers as is proper, disdainfully ignoring the spoons/forks as evil symbols of the degenerate West:

Then on to the Big City and the inevitable Petronas Towers glittering like diamonds:

...and met up with Marie's cousin Ravi who had been working in KL on another consultancy, but was soon to be repatriating to Colombo. Hi Ravi - see you in Chiangmai one day soon.