Pulau Ti-Oh Man!

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Pulau Tioman

Saturday March 28th at 3:00AM a group of NUS exchange students and I took off in a bus for Mersing, Malaysia. We were destined for a relaxing weekend of 2 of Malaysia's most exotic islands ("pulau" means island in Malay) It was an early start but it was the best was to reduce the cost of an extra night's accommodation without wasting the whole day getting there. We arrived in Mersing without and Malaysian ringgit to pay for the ferry. We went to go get some and the ferry left without us. Hmph. We had a few hours to kill so we decided to go out for some food. After some much needed coffee and breakfast, we got back on the ferry and took off for Pulau Tioman!

We arrived in the pouring tropical rain, but I guess that's how it goes when you're near the equator. After huddling under shelter for 20 minutes with about 30 strangers, the rain cleared and we walked down the beach to our humble accomodations. Tioman is fairly touristy but not where we were. The little village near our bungalow rooms was very small and quiet which was perfect for a calm get away. We hung out around the beach for a while. It was really shallow so we bought some beers and took them out into the ocean to enjoy. The clouds had cleared and it turned into a beautiful afternoon. We got a bit of lunch after that and went back to the beach for some more snorkeling.

That night we had a bit of a party for the guy who planned the trip. It was his birthday and we had quite the feast. After drinks and fun with friends, we called it a night. We were getting up pretty early for Pulau Rawa...the best kept secret in Southeast Asia!

to be continued...

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