Ah.. Malaysia - Pulau Perhentian!. Review on Pulau Perhentian

The Perhentians

Turn eastward to the coastand make a visit to paradise. Malaysiais blessed with a number of islands with mint blue water and crystal sand.Although the west coast has islands like Langkawi and Pangkor, they are muchmore commercialised. Langkawi is more known for the duty-free liquor and theplush resorts than its beaches. The east coast is home to the Redang,Perhentian and the Tioman Islands. Of these, I chosethe pair of Perhentian Islands just because ithas no civilisation and hence is the most beautiful of all. The two islands,Pulau Besar and Pulau Kecil are about a 45 minute speed-boat ride away from themainland. The islands have no electricity or water and hence the resorts areawfully expensive. On the smaller island, the Pulau Kecil, there are a fewchalets on the hill, with a fan and a bathroom where one can stay comfortably.

The beaches are so clean that thesand glares into your eyes when it is sunny. The water so clear all through,even near the mainland, that you can see the bottom of the sea from your boat!When I visited, I was forced to leave the islands by the noon, as the weatherturns rough by the evening and no boats venture out to the mainland. Theislands are closed during the months of October to January for the monsoons. Onthe early morning boat ride to the island, I witnessed the sun rise from behindthe mountains and the rays dancing on the clear blue water! My first and lastdesire then, was to get lost on these islands and never be found!

I was told once, that I would diein water. If that has to be true, it has to happen here. I may die, but I wouldstill not be able to close my eyes because of the incredible beauty of theplace. I’ll still not be satiated taking the place in through my eyes. Theboatmen living all round the year on the islands, therefore, are the luckiestof all the beings on the earth! But the sun went high up, the afternoon cameand it was time for me to leave. I had to. And I remembered a dialogue I hadread in Shantaram[i]:

… after leaving the sea, afterall those millions of years of living inside of the sea, we took the ocean withus. When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in.That water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea.It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean, in her body.And not only this. Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almostexactly like the water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, inour blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears.

And just in the same vein as Ihad come to Malaysia,it was time for me to leave the country too. I packed my bags with all mybitter-sweet memories and set out for meeting the witch. There was a joy, thejoy of homecoming, and a sorrow, of leaving a life behind and a dream which wasnever meant to be. I may never utter it out consciously to the world, but thisdream will always breathe with me, and die within me, when I die.

[i] Shantaram is anautobiography of the Australian bandit writer, Gregory David Roberts. Thisdialogue is spoken by Johnny Cigar, a slum-dweller, while sitting on the stoneboulders in the slums of Cuffe Parade at the southern tip of Bombay. It is presented on the page 373 ofthe paperback novel.