tioman islands

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I caught the boat from the Perhention islands to Kota Bhau at 7am with the sun rising over the larger Perhention Island. You have to catch a small boat out 20 meters to be picked up by a slightly larger boat to ferry you across, the bay was littered with these as people sadly left the perhention to reach there next destination, everybody as sad as the next to be leaving such a wonderful island. Other than agreeing that we would get the first boat out i had made no other plans with Trina and Maren about where to meet, they were not on the boat that i had boarded, as for the onward journey they had bought tickets and planned how to get there, my plan was to float in there slip stream, as things stood i had no travel companions and no idea how to get where i was going. The boat pulled up at Kota Bhau, i had the feeling that my boat was one of the last ones, had the girls come and gone ? when i left them lkast night they went home to have an early night while i had gone for a few beers, had they assumed that i had stayed out all night and had a lay in? Another boat pulled up, i crossed my fingers, and there they were, i needed to buy a ticket, the girls gave me thiers so i could buy the same ones.

We caught a Taxi to the next town where our bus would leave from, it was almost two hours late, we stood around in the blistering morning sun while everyone else boarded they air conditioned coaches. A severely disabled beggar crawled along the floor of the bus station, the malaysians mainly ignored him, except for a young girl who was with her older sister and mother, they were all dressed in white muslim head scarfs, and looked like a strange cross between a nurse and a nun. i had bought some bread rolls with raisins, and decided to offer him one, he didn't want it, he wanted money. Trina looked at me "its always the same" i know this but i honestly thought that he was genuinely disabled and would have been glad for the food.

Eventually the bus came, i have been surprised at the quality of the buses in Malaysia, the fist time i booked a long bus journey i was full of trepidation about being stuck in a rickety old sweat pit of a bus with had seats that had the stuffing ripped out. Instead they are all news buses with air conditioning and lots of leg room, they would put National Express to shame. After several hours we stopped at a small village to get some food, this is one of my favorite moments while travelling around, the feeling of walking into a local cafe, far from the trail, while the locals look on at you with a mixture and curiosity and no little little humor as they watch you look over the food they have, knowing that we have no idea what half of it is.

After a total journey time of 12 hours we arrive in Mersing the port town where we were to catch a ferry to the Tioman Islands. There is not much to say about mersing, its a non descript fishing town that seems to have been overrun with cats that are probably drawn there due to all the fish. Its a well known scam that instead of dropping western tourists at the bus station the bus drops you off in the middle of town near a 'tourist information center' where you are sold, tickets/accommodation etc, our bus driver did this, except everything was closed, to be honest we could of done with some friendly sales men. Instead the three of us and a german couple, trapped off in search of somewhere to put our heads down for the night. We eventually found somewhere that was reasonably cheap and clean and started to check in, when a malaysian with a mullet that for reasons only known to himself he had died ginger followed us in, he started talking and arguing with the hotel owner, i guessed the subject at hand. I asked the hotel owner if he was trying to claim his commission for taking us here, and if so not to pay him as he had not taken us here at all, and had infact tried to get us to go somewhere else. After we were all checked in i was sat in the girls room talking when a waited malasian appeared in the door way, "can i come in', "no", he promptly walked in and sat on the bed next to me, we kept asking him to leave but he would not, although mostly harmless it was still disturbing, i wanted to grab him, but feared that he may turn violent, and didnt want to explain to the malaysian police why there was an unconscious man in the girls room. We eventually got him to leave, on his way out he looked at me, "you and two girls, you lucky man".

Got up early to catch the ferry across, right opposite our hostel there was a KFC, well thats breakfast sorted. As i strolled down the street the girls remarked that i looked like such a westerner with my KFC, i would have thought that the white skin, back pack and RayBan's would have given this away a long time before anybody took the time to notice my choice of chicken burger, the girls bought one from a street vendor to be more authentic. After another complicated process of exchanging pits of paper over and over again we boarded the ferry. The sea was rough, and the boat rocked from side to side, i closed my eyes and drifted with the rocking, somewhere in my brain the wires were not working property and the boat did a full 360degree roll.

ABC beach on Tioman is more rugged than Perhention, the beach drags on forever but is shallow and for large parts is covered in stones, behind the beach are scattered rows of wooden cottages cottages on stilts. The island is dominated by thick inpeneratable jungle which slows around cottages and finally peters out on the beach, with random scattering of trees growing out of the sand rocks and sea. Although the landscape is more rugged the cottages are of a better standard and cheaper, they are scattered along a narrow concrete path, where there are no cottages you walk alongside the trees and wildlife of the jungle, 2-3 meter monitor lizards, monkeys and snakes, i feel like Moguley from the jungle book all i need is a singing bear.

There is not a great deal to do on the island other than chill on the beach and visit one of two bars at either end of the strip, the bear is cheaper here as it is a tax haven. We visit the duty free shops on the next village, and quickly 'Nates Bar' becomes the third busiest bar on the island.

I didnt think that it was possible to me more chilled than the Perhention, but i was here, if i keep going this way in a week or so im going to be on a cartoon style desert island with my a Palm tree and a coconut called Milky Joe. We planned to walk to the other side of the island, but didnt, we planned to go for a dive, but didnt, we planned to go snorkeling, but didnt, we planned................... we planned...............

Trine and Maren were heading to the west coast while i was going to Borneo, we said our good byes, they were great to travel with, i'll miss them, maybe ill see them in Denmark for J-day in november.

Sorry my camera broke so no photos !

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Comments

[John D]

Malaysia
I had seen the scene with the beggar in Penang. The beggar refused food! I did ask one of the locals about this. If told me a lot of the beggars are part of a syndicate. They are illegal immigrants it seems. It was shown on the local telly. If you want to give something, give food