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Published: November 19th 2006
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Tioman
White sand, blue water, sun, sun and more sun.
I think I'm going to like South East Asia Well, Most of these entries are retrospective looks back, this entry was written in November so forgive my embelishments and exclusions, this is how I remember what I did and for me, my memory is what matters, not reality 😊
The PGP Steps are only so interesting. Lots of nice people to meet, lots of stuff to take in, but even such an interesting place as this gets a bit boring after a while. And so it was that we the brave few (or so we thought) decided to venture off into the great unknown that is Malaysia. Yeah, ok it really wasnt that momentus, someone said "lets go to Tioman" and everyone else said "ok" and then the planning started.
The original group was Alana, Gwen, Dan, Carli (Canadians) Jacob, Alex, me (American) and Kenny (we miss you man!) and we were joined at the last minute by Lisa (Austria) and Lucas (Germany). Little did we know that half of the exchange students from NUS (the National University of Singapore) were also planning on being there that weekend - so much for being the "adventurous" few 😊
We weren't quite sure what to expect and so the
Arriving
I'm going to be here for the next 4 days...ahhh, the life of an exchange student ever present Lonely Planet emerged and phone numbers were called (thank you Skype!) and hotel rooms were booked - 3 of them costing way too much money. "it's high season, you have no choice" - there is ALWAYS a choice. Dont be fooled!
Aaaanyhoo. I'm cheap. A couple of last minute changes meant that some people took the expensive easy bus from Singapore straight to Mersing (the jumping off point) but I have never been one for the expensive or the easy...and so I decided to do my own thing. Fortunately I found 3 of the other NUS-invasion who were willing to go the cheap route with me..."the frenchies" as they became known.
Johor Bahru here we come. A hop skip and a confused jump up to Queen street bus station (right by Bugis or Lavender MRT in Singapore for those who want to get there) and we hopped on the Johora Express for SG$2.40 (You can also take the Causeway Link or the 170 public bus from Kranji MRT station...all 3 leave all the time, just show up) and popped up to Johor Bahru on our first trip outside of Singapore, so immigration was the wonderfully fun
Welcome to Tioman
Sun, Sand, Swimsuits and Friends. confused "what piece of paper do I give at this checkpoint" excitement but went over without much event and in a surprisingly short time (go early and the lines are short, there are 2 checkpoints, on leaving singapore...just hand in your "visitors pass" and go through and one malaysian one, for which you need the form), here we were on the other side of the malaysian border. Now, the plan was to take the bus from Larkin...but seeing as we took completely the wrong exit and ended up missing the connection bus lot (don't go through the tunnel if you are connecting to a bus, at the stairs down, look left, all the busses come through there, just get back on the same colour you got off), we improvised and took a cab. Now cab negotiation is always fun. "hello mersing! Taksi?"...is it that obvious that the foreign people want to go to Tioman? "190 Ringit" uhhh.....isnt it supposed to be 80 ringit? and they wave us off to wait for the next unsuspecting tourist...until one of them physically grabbed me, and wouldnt let go. He wanted to take us and that was going to be that...and he did eventually,
Dinner time, and the livin' is easy
Everyone except Lisa...not sure where she got to. Food was less than easy to find for a vegan, but you make do with what you have. for 80 Ringit. So SG$12.40 later we are in Mersing...long before the $24 expensive easy bus arrives. A quick semi-scam depriving of us of 5 Ringit each for "conservation" (yes it is "official" but only half the people pay it, and who knows where it actually goes...I didnt see a single conservation-esqe project on Tioman...just a new marina being built) and an expensive "express" boat ticket later and we are sitting on a speed boat...but wait, what's this...even the cheap "non-express" people who paid 10 ringit less are on this boat too. And the ever Cheap me decides I want the difference in ticket price back...and so I go and kindly ask for the 10 ringit difference for me and all my friends...I only get 7.50 each, but hey, it's better than a stick in the eye.
Tekek beach, and the Frenchies leave, Air Batang and most of the other people on the boat leave, round the point and the boat captain and his friends start to drink...always a good sign. I ask where a good bar is and they give me this funny look...and say "try the 4 s's and then maybe the beach bar" So I ask
Alana on the beach
The gorgeous beach, at sunset. That would be Alana. if there are any others...always the one to try to be prepared...and they give me another funny look and something along the lines of "try those out and work from there" and then we pull up to Salang. I see what they mean...there are only 2 bars here...and not much else. Perfect. Other than one ugly eyesore of government construction, it's relatively "primative" looking with only one abandoned, overgrown resort that never opened because of some permit issue...and it adds some character to the place...nor were there those annoying umbrellas and beach loungers with fat men in speedos on them. After starting at 7am, I'm on the beach by 1pm, alone...the expensive easy bus group didnt arrive for 3 or 4 more hours.
The rest of the trip can pretty much be summed up as...relaxing. sitting on the beach, reading, frisbee, snorkelling, more sitting, more frisbee, a nice sunburn after my first day, some swimming, eating (not so much vegn food to be had, but such is life), drinking (although I didnt do so much) people running into the room at 3am shouting "the bucket! we're doing the bucket!" and then running out...still not 100% sure what that was
"Doing the Bucket"
I'm only guessing...but I'd say that was "the bucket" that I heard so much, so loudly, about at 3am. all about, our neighbours complaining about the noise, more sitting, eating, drinking, and then it was time to go.
Again, not being the kind of person to do things the normal way, and because people told me I couldn't, I decided I wanted to hike from Salang to Air Batang..."you're going to die" was the general theme of the conversations I had when asking, but one person said "yeah, just follow the powerline" and that was that, how hard could it be to follow a powerline? So Alex, Jacob, Lisa, Lucas had and I a breakfast of about 20 roti prata anb set out into the jungle with all of our stuff planning on picking up a boat in Air Batang about 4 hours later. The first hill was by far the hardest and Alex turned back, hiking is supposed to be fun, not torturous and that first bit was a bit rough. But the empty beaches and jungle made it all worth it. Great fun, great company, and we made our boat. So anyone who wants to do it...4 hours from Salang to ABC, 2.5-3 hours to the first resort after Salang, begins with a P or something...Don't
My charming self
Moi...yes I'm clearing my ear...it had water in it ok! quite remember the name, but basically the last 1-1.5 hours you are walking through resorts and tourist "towns" which isnt much fun, but the rest is gorgeous. Give yourself some extra time to go swimming and cool off during the hike...and take plenty of water.
Back on the mainland by 3, maybe 4 and on a bus 30 minutes later back to singapore. Brilliant.
One trip down, many more to go.
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