Island!!!?

---

Finally we are on a tropical Island... my first time but not Jenna's.

Pulau Tioman is mountains with lots of jungle and is fringed on all sides with small beaches. We are at the one with the best cheap accomadation, called Air Bantang. There aren't really resorts here just lots of clusters of 10 guest houses that line the beach so everyone gets a good view. There are 6 restaurants here but they close many times daily and sometimes just close all day. Its quite relaxed to live here i suppose and as well Ramadan is beginning soon so the locals just take days off work to be more religious or something. The mosque (masjid here ) really cranks it for prayer time too with these huge loudspeakers on the minarets so we get to hear all the action but it is not intrusive much. In any case its very peaceful here and there are massive amounts of wildlife, the most we've seen since Canada as India is rather ecologically destroyed.

There are no volcanoes here, but the butterflies, birds, fish, monkeys, and giant Monitor lizards make the area quite wonderful. The lizards are scary but slow moving and at 2 meters long and toothy, they are wuite a sight. I try to get close and make them my friend but they always run away. Yesterday we went on a jungle hike for 7 km to the otehr side of the island to a secluded beach called Jahru. The whole way there was dense, lush woods with tones of cool trees, giant vines, colourful plants and cool insects. We saw a lizard that jumped like a frog, monkeys lolling about, and an ant the size of a loonie. It was hot a humid but we made it both ways pretty well and got to swim in crystal clear waters with lots of corals.

We went on a little snorkle trip just off the beach and it may not be a barrier reef but for us being inexperienced in the ways of the deep sea it was constantly engaging. I don't know much about fish, plants are my specialty, but we saw lots of purple ones and blue ones and even some bright yellow ones. The highlights were coral that looked like a forest which i think is the burning kind, as well we saw an eel, a polkadot stingray and piles of giant urchins. Right as we exited the water to get out of the sun the wind picked up and blew everyone into seclusion with its mighty blinding force. This had the unfortunate effect of increasing the turbidity of the water greatly so our plans for more fish-watching were squashed.

The beach is surely a beach but nothing lasts forever and after a week of being bums we jumped on a ferry back to mainland. While we were docked and boarding piles of singaporians one of the windows of our cabin smacked against the dock and exploded glass shot everywhere. Aside from a small scrape on jenna we were fine but it shook up our shipmates. I was tired but all the comotion woke me up and the ferry ride was very enjoyable. On the way we passed through the siberuit archipeligo that consisted of dozens of uninhabited islands that would be perfect places for a secret lair... but we will leave that for the future.

Safely back on mainland we grabbed a bus to Kuala Lumpur so i could get an xray to prove i don't have tuberculousis to the australian government so they will give me a visa. We had been through all this before and Jenna got her visa jsut fine but the hospital screwed up my image the first time. Apparently it was too crooked or something and the aus. government rejected the image and my visa but hopefully this time it will suffice. We are in a ... quirky town called Ipoh right now 3 hours north of Kuala Lumpur. Its gritty and odd with tons of brothels and massage parlors. It is almost nice to see the less shiny side of Malaysia and this palce almost makes Hamilton look clean... almost. Tomorrow or the next day we will arrive at a permaculture farm nearby. We found out about them by picking up a discarded newspaper in the airport when we first arrived in KL. The first article we saw was about their farm and the folks sounded really nice plus they have goats and sheep and fresh veggies. We miss farming and fresh food and they need volunteers so for the next week or two we will be up in the misty hills gettin dirty the fun way.

I guess that is enough for now; i saw a very distiguished rooster mascot on a truck that i feel a need to describe but i'll leave that hanging for now. Happy Ramadan! Love Brian and Jenna

---

Photos

monkeys
i caught him off gaurd

monkeys
this one attacked me just after this pic. and brought 3 of his buddies. close call but i yelled at them and they left me alone.

Comments

[Dean]

Tropical Island Photos?
Did you get any photos of the lizards? Sounds like an interesting place to visit. Where are you headed in Oz? (There is a neat crocodile farm near Darwin.)

[Dale Fox]

Ipoh
Hey Brian, Great blog. I was just reading it with a girl I work with. She was born in Ipoh. One of her uncles lives in Kochi and her aunt lives in Kuala Lumpur. She also has an uncle that lives in Brisbane. You could have stayed with all of her relatives. Dale

[beej]

hey i'm reading your blog!
check it out! i'm gonna go through past posts one of these days, but from pictures it looks like you both are having a splendid time. i finally started watching battlestar. i thought you should know this. au revoir mes amis!