An uneventful cross country bus ride brought me to Kota Bharu - the Islamic City. Eschewing the usual backpacker dives I ended up in a mostly empty hotel. Kota Bharu is the through point to the Perhentian islands which are just coming back into season after monsoon. I attempte
d to book a tour of some nearby temples but none were running as I was ruefully told by the tour operator/hostel owner displaying a pile of keys - "they all went to the Perhentians this morning". So what to do? Sit in my hotel room and watch HBO evidently. But these sorts of days happen when you're solo travelling! So now I had a choice - persevere with Kelantan or head for the jungle train en route to the Tioman? I opted for the former spending 3 nights at a self styled home stay - in reality some nice bungalows a few kilometers out of town. It was certainly peaceful and picturesque and I got a lot of read
ing done. I did manage to get to the temples sharing a hired taxi with a fellow guest. Lots of buddhas - standing, sitting, sleeping. One temple had the preserved remains of its founding monk on display. I spent my last night as the only guest with
all the bugs attracted to my solitary light driving me inside to bed! I did eat some incredible home cooked meals getting the veggie fix I'd been sorely lacking. From there I caught the 7.20am train from Wakaf Bharu that would spend the next 7 hours wending its way through the jungle. I stopped off for the night in Jerantut in a hotel that was recommended highly on Tripadvisor but again - where was everyone? So now it was more than time to get to the beach. In one day I travelled
for 8 hours on two buses from Jerantut to Kuantan and Kuantan to Mersing - the jumping off point for the Tioman.
d to book a tour of some nearby temples but none were running as I was ruefully told by the tour operator/hostel owner displaying a pile of keys - "they all went to the Perhentians this morning". So what to do? Sit in my hotel room and watch HBO evidently. But these sorts of days happen when you're solo travelling! So now I had a choice - persevere with Kelantan or head for the jungle train en route to the Tioman? I opted for the former spending 3 nights at a self styled home stay - in reality some nice bungalows a few kilometers out of town. It was certainly peaceful and picturesque and I got a lot of read
ing done. I did manage to get to the temples sharing a hired taxi with a fellow guest. Lots of buddhas - standing, sitting, sleeping. One temple had the preserved remains of its founding monk on display. I spent my last night as the only guest with all the bugs attracted to my solitary light driving me inside to bed! I did eat some incredible home cooked meals getting the veggie fix I'd been sorely lacking. From there I caught the 7.20am train from Wakaf Bharu that would spend the next 7 hours wending its way through the jungle. I stopped off for the night in Jerantut in a hotel that was recommended highly on Tripadvisor but again - where was everyone? So now it was more than time to get to the beach. In one day I travelled 
for 8 hours on two buses from Jerantut to Kuantan and Kuantan to Mersing - the jumping off point for the Tioman.
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