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We took a 40 minute bus from Singapore to the Malaysian border then another 3 hour bus from the border town, Johor Bahru, to the coastal town of Mersing. We met up with some other folks from the US and we all booked rooms in the same hotel. We were getting ready for bed when two of the girls we met knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to go out for a drink. Of course we said sure. We found a little chinese place (Muslims don't sell alcohol so it was harder to find a place) and had a few beers. We got to know the girls a little bit and even met some locals.
The next day we took the 10 o'çlock boat (which actually left at 11:45) and were on our way to Tioman. We got off the boat at a town named Tekkek, where we hired a 4WD to drive us through the jungle (45 min). And since the road isn't quite finished yet, we had to swith trucks half-way through. The truck took us to a town named Juara, it is an isolated stretch of beach on the eastern side of the island.
We were looking fpr a room at the first place we found and it just happened to be the room right next to Hels and Rob (the couple from Scotland). It was perfect. They showed us the best restaurant on the beach and joined us for lunch. The place is called Bushman Cafe, and we swear it is the best food we've had on in a long time (and the least expensive).
We spent most of our time in Juara swimming, eating, drinking, reading, and laying on the beach- it was the closest either of us has been to paradise. We spent a lot of time with Hels and Rob and another couple from the UK named Olly and Lucy. Even though it was only a few days it was perfect; it was a very relaxing experience, especially after spending so much time in cities. We spent 3 days and 2 nights here before heading over to the western side of the island.
We convinced Rob and Hels to stay another night and the four of us shared a room with 2 double beds for a night. We hired a 4WD to drive us and then hiked for
about an hour to our destination. We quickly discovered that this side of the island was the party side and we were glad we were only there for one night. The town we were staying in was named Air Batang (locals call it ABC). We drank at a local bar (complete with a straw hut and reggae music) and met another 2 couples who ended up joining us for dinner. At dinner we joined our table of 8 with another table of 6 and had a huge 14 person party. After dinner we headed back down to the bar and stayed until past midnight. As others filed off to bed we stayed with a couple from Australia, James and Claire. It was great fun but we felt a little quesy on the ferry the next day.
We missed the first couple of ferries, and along with Rob and Hels, took the third one @ 1pm. We rode the ferry back to Mersing an then hopped on a late bus back to Singapore. We arrived in Singapore at 12:30 this morning, found a hotel and slept for a while before heading out to the airport. The plan was to go
to Thailand for a few days and then figure out what we wanted to do but instead we decided to buy a couple of tickets to Cambodia instead- we didn't even touch Thai soil.
So now here we are finally in Cambodia. It's funny cause they take US dollars everywhere we go (the exchange rate is 4000 riel for $1). So far we found that everyone we meet is very nice and food, beer, and accomodations are pretty inexpensive. We have a nice big room w/ a balcony overlooking the street for only $15 a night. We plan to stay here for a few days, visit the temples of Angkor, and explore a little bit of Siem Reap before heading back to Thailand to meet up with our friends from Beijing, Justin and Chris.
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Dawson Darling
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Pic-ophilia
Great stories. When you get the time we'd love to see some pics :)