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Pulau Tioman
Chilling with Carlseberg Thailand- (Just crossed the border from Malaysia)
Nibby- Wow, It's been a while since our last entry, but what can I say, when you're lazing the days away on a sunkissed golden beach sipping freshly fallen coconut juice its hard to drag yourself away to sit at a computer for a couple of hours!
Our time in Malaysia has come to an end, but we had some adventures on the way.
Our first stop was at an Island called Pulau Tioman on the east coast about 200km North of Singapore. We spent 5 days there sunning it up on the tiny beach. According to Times Magazine this Island is in the top 10 best Islands but it doesn't actually have a proper beach! We still loved it though. Spent a day on a snorkelling trip and got to see some sharks and turtles. I was pretty scared but the sharks were harmless. There was so much sealife it was amazing and the water was ultra clear! There is an artist living on the island who specialises in Batik. You can pay him and make one yourself. Obviously I was well up for it! Dragged Matty along too and
he made a sarong with the world on it and all the places we are travelling to written round the border. Ricci (the artist) helped with drawing it on but Matty painted it. It's such a nice thing to have. I was feeling brave and decided I wanted to tackle mine on my own. Did a cool underwater scene (with a little help!). Apart from lazing around on the beach there wasn't a whole lot more we did while there.
Next stop was Taman Negara the worlds oldest rainforest. I was a little apprehensive about it at first because I didn't know what to expect. I imagined having to go on a 3 day hike and staying in snake infested shacks in the middle of the jungle. Luckily it was nothing like that. It was all very tourist friendly, with different activities you can do like half day treks into the jungle and a cave exploration with a guide. The jungle trek was pretty good. Really tiring but once you get to the top there's a rope bridge you can walk amongst the canopy of the trees. Matty was quite scared but like the brave Bailey boy he is,
Pulau Tioman
Hammact Time he over came his fear and got the whole way round. There was an amazing view over the jungle, couldn't believe how high we'd climbed.
We also did the cave exploration and luckily we had been given the heads up from some fellow travellers that we should wear clothes that we don't care much for because you get filthy! They're weren't kidding. Guano everywhere!!! It stank! Again Matty had to get over another of his fears here as he rubbed shoulders with all the bats. There were hundreds of them! They didn't bother me if I'm honest but the giant toads... sorry, giant POISONOUS toads did bother me! Especially when we had to climb through a tiny little gap and there was a massive toad sat on a rock right where we had to climb through just watching us! I was not lovin it! I actually found it pretty tough because the rocks were all so slippy with all the bat crap on them. Well, we made it out in one piece.
We did one final activity while there, it was called rapid shooting. They say "prepare to get wet" and when you hear that you think you might get
Pulau Tioman
Painting Batik wet like you do on the log flume at Alton Towers, but no. There was not one part of either of us that was dry after our exhilerating rapid run. We decided to have a swim in the river because we were so wet anyway. Unfortunately we didn't get any snaps of the rapid shooting or cave exploration because Matty's super-duper indistructable camera has broken. BOO!!! No more water shots for us until we can get it fixed somewhere, probably Bankok.
That evening we had dinner with a couple we met on the boat ride. It was a lovely meal... or so we thought!!! This is where our trip took a turn for the worst. Well maybe not worst, but it was pretty poo...literally!!! The next day I woke feeling rough. Headache tummy ache and a day of travelling ahead of us. I popped 2 imodiums, then when they didn't do the job a third, and even a forth! Finally plugged. The journey was horrible. We were planning on getting a bus to Kuantan 3 and a half hours, then a local bus which would take one hour to Cherating which is a beach town. Once in Kuantan we decided
Pulau Tioman
Finished Batik to opt for the taxi! Much quicker and much less stressful when feel poorly.
By the time we arrived in Cherating I had a fever. Matty sorted out the accommadation while I sat waiting. That was when he started feeling poorly too. That night was pretty horrific. Both of us had really high temperatures and horrible fevers. Matty was up and down to the loo like a yo-yo, at this point I was still plugged. By midnight we made the decision to try and find a doc because we had no idea what was wrong with us and after having a swim in the river the day before we were thinking the worst! Unfortunately this was just a small beach town and didn't have such a thing as a doctor and the cabby was not answering his phone. That was when God sent an angel to our aid who goes by the name of Nazri. He was driving past on his bike when Matt was out searching for a cab and he offered to get a car and take us to the nearest doctor. We found a 24 hour private clinic which was just what we needed about a
40 min drive away. After telling the doc our symptoms he diagnosed Infectious Diarrhoea caused by Food Poisoning. As I'm sure you can imagine, we didn't do a whole lot for the following 72 hours while all the drugs he gave us got to work. We were actually kind of fortunate. He said that because we hadn't been sick we didn't need to go into hospital. If we had been sick we would need to be put on a drip. Thank goodness we didn't need that!
Still feeling pretty shady, we got a taxi up to The Perhentian Islands. Two islands, one big, one small. We stayed on the smaller island (kecil) which actually was paradise. I've never seem water so clear and felt sand so soft. We decided after our sickness that we were going to stay a few days to chill out in the sun. It has been such a relaxing few days. Although saying that Matty got a bit restless, as he does, and decided to do some wakeboarding. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to do it but he surprised himself and me and was up boarding first attempt. I got some good
Pulau Tioman
Fish & Coral shots from the boat.
We watched a great sunset from the other side of the island which we had to get a water taxi to and from. It was pretty secluded. On our last day on the beautiful Island we decided to do another snorkelling trip. Again we saw loads of reef tip sharks and a massive turtle which we followed for a while.
Now we've reached Thailand, and more beaches. Although saying that, we have a 5 hour wait until we can get our bus which will take 8 hours to take us up to Krabi which is where we get boats out to the different islands around the area. Bring on the green curry I say!!!
Matty -Higlights of Malay some great sea food including Stingray which was lovely, the best snorkelling I have ever done in my life the better was Perenthian Islands but Tioman was pretty damn good to!!! Enjoyed the jungle trek looking forward to doing another one a bit more off the beaten track.
The last of the photos with my camera (buggar it breaking) lots more photos of Malaysia to come.........
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