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Published: September 29th 2007
Juara
Bliss!!Well it's not a week and a few days into the trip. We arrived on Tioman (an island off the east coast) 6 days ago and leave today. It has been a deserted bliss here.
On the whole, the island is undergoing a government driven over-haul which is destroying the very things that the majority come here to experience. There are huge runways being built on reclaimed land and numerous hotels and duty-free shops being buiolt at a hasty pace. Unfortunately the increased pollution, sewage, litter..etc that is being created is far anbd above anything that the island's infrasturucture can cope with.
We did however find the last remaining paradise here in JUARA. It was the stero-typical experience of a tropical island- a wooden chalet over-looking the sea with hammocks and coconut palms everywhere. There was relatively little to do other than engage in some serious relaxation (only interrupted by one night of on-going construction of a road across the rugged inetrior of the island). Speaking of the road - it was a 4WD drive experience through the night to arrive with 1-2 foot holes in the road and sheer inclines. The driver was anything but calming saying 'very
X factor!
tucker burns his donated lantern......what a mess! scary, very scary' all the way there in a very nervous voice!
There was a very random moment on day 2 when the winners of the malaysian x-factor rocked up to make their first video! They were so friendly and invited us to join in their celebrations of the 'chinese lantern festival' and a seafood bbq at 11pm! we obviously didn't have a clue who they were but was mildly star-struck if not amused when they started showing us their new dance moves! unfortunately it was not another girls aloud and instead was 4 young lads!
The rest of the time there was the joy of sea swimming, kayaking up a mangrove river and walking across the island - this involved sweating out half my circulating plasma volume but we did see 2 4ft monitor lizards, squirrels, loads of butterflies and some very whacky fungi!
The final night in Siongapore steve experienced the first of the tremendous rainfall that will follow us for a while! luckily we weren't out in it, although the fair
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James and Joanna
non-member comment
X-factor!
Hey hey! Well done for getting to the islands before they get shut off to the world by the monsoons again - can't wait to see photos of Tioman cos we missed out last year. Your x-factor evening is truly impressive - will we see you in their video then? Squirrels in SE Asia? Surely not?