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Published: March 9th 2009
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Boat rope
Just liked it! Everyone in India has moustaches it seemed to me it's just that the men make more of a spectacle of them. Consequently, when we arrived in Goa I let my face hair grow until I settled on a natural bushy top lip and a semi Brazilian bottom lip.
As time progressed I found that the length allowed me to twist the ends at the corners of my mouth achieving a kind of Salvador Dali effect. Sue didn;t like it and when George first saw me she laughed but I soldiered on.
With no forward travel booked we arrived in Singapore early in the morning jumped into a cab and arrived at the bus station effortlessly. Except it was the wrong bus station and we endured a 15/20 minute route march with full packs trying to find the place. We got there in the end and even managed to buy bus tickets to Mersing the set off point for Pulau Tioman.
When we arrived in Mersing we were immediately enticed by a friendly travel agent into his shop where we bought ferry tickets, rooms on the island and bus tickets from Mersing back to Singapore. This actually
was contrary to our tentative plan of landing on the island and wandering around looking for a room but we had walked enough for one day and the 5.00 pm ferry actually didn't leave until nearer to 7.00 so when we arrived at Panuba our resort it was almost 9.00 and dark.
Tioman is everything you would expect of an island voted one of the top 10 islands in the world. Clear waters of green, then azure blue shading to indigo, sandy beaches of gold, corn yellow and coral white, lush green jungle climbing up into pretty verdant rolling hills filled with the music of indigenous wildlife and a world of creatures beneath the sea as keen to see you as you are to see them. They have a dive school aptly named Bali Hai divers as this was the location for the film South Pacific.
It took George 5 minutes to decide to sign up for her PADI course and us 2 minutes to dispel her doubts.
Sue spent time while George was off practicing to shepherd me up and down the shore line in rented snorkel and mask while I worked on regaining my confidence. On day 1
Bali Hai is calling...,
Tioman emerges in the distance George saw 2 turtles and a couple of huge Cuttlefish even the dive instructor was impressed.
After 3 days of hard work and revision and a dreaded nail biting final exam George passed her course and we went out in the dive boat the next day for George to have a celebratory fun dive and for me to have more advanced tuition snorkeling with an instructor.
Eventually the only problem I was encountering was water seeping into my mask and up my nose due to the hair on my top lip preventing the mask from sealing, so, much to Sue's delight I had to say goodbye to the moustaches and abandon or perhaps just postpone that particular experiment. I bought a new, state of the art, GT, air injected...erm, well a new snorkel actually...cos I deserved it.
Panuba resort sits on the popular west coast of Tioman between Air Betang to the south and Salang to the north. It is a cluster of mostly wooden huts that seem to cling to the huge boulder strewn slopes on spindly wooden legs as the land rises abruptly from the sea.
There is a restaurant and bar overlooking a sandy beach
Panuba
View from the sea. Our hut to the right and behind the centre red roof and a jetty reaching out into the sea and a web of wooden walkways and concrete paths connecting everything. The restaurant and dive staff soon felt like extended family as their good nature and good humour was warm and infectious.
It is possible to walk to the resorts north and south although sensible footwear and a bit of preparation are advisable as is a fair degree of mobility. We walked to Air Betang and then on to Tekek the biggest village, lured by duty free liquor and the islands only ATM but sensibly took the water taxi back (probably blowing any saving we made on the booze!).
There is wildlife abundant and we spotted a black something... (it was like a monkey with a long tail and white rings round its eyes but I can't find any info about it!), lots of monkeys 2 monitor lizards, one of which had the Panuba staff nd guests yelping as it ventured into the restaurant and was ushered through and back out to its usual habitat. trees with bats pendant from their branches, myriad butterflies and insects and if you ventured further even more to see I'm sure.
If there is one
Panuba
Divers shop, bar and beach complaint it is that Panuba has only one restaurant and you soon tire of the menu's limits. We hooked up with the family Moody from Canada and enjoyed some fun evenings culminating in an evening walk into Air Betang for a superb meal and several drinks. Sue and I along with Kiana and Camden (the Moody's junior) got the water taxi home taking our mind off the inky black water inches below us by wondering at the impossibly starry sky above. Keith, Carol and George hiked back through the jungle in the dark with any apprehension I might have had on George's behalf dispelled by Keith's military background and action man demeanor.
Sadly Carole succumbed to a particularly lethal Margarita and we didn't see her again to say a proper “goodbye a pleasure to have spent time with you” but hopefully she is reading this!!
We spent the remainder of our last evening at Panuba sitting in the restaurant drinking and chatting to friends and strangers George being the last to bed left chatting to Tizam and Black (not a cocktail) on the beach.
It was an early start the next day to catch the 7.30 ferry back to Mersing
Panuba
Wooden walkways and catch the 12.00 bus to Singapore and the clouds rolling in over Tioman should have served as a warning. Because when we arrived in Singapore we drove into the eye of a tropical storm with torrential rain and lightening seeming to crash within feet of the bus as it crawled back to the bus station. Nobody wanted to get off the bus and we got wet in the attempt but not as wet as I did when I had to go back out to the bus 3 times to retrieve our rucksacks. I then found and donned my plastic poncho (not used since Yangshuo) and ventured out to the main road to find a taxi. Luck once again was on our side as a taxi pulled up and took pity on me after only 5 minutes standing in the rain he came into the bus station close enough for us to load the bags into the boot without the girls getting too wet and the ankle deep puddle I waded through to climb into the front passenger seat a minor inconvenience to my already soaked shoes and feet.
We emerged from the taxi and dripped our way into the
Sundown
Sunset on Tioman terminal straight to check in as time was tight and relied on the aircon in the airport and the plane and our body heat to dry our clothes.
The flight was a little bumpy but otherwise routine and we arrived in Bangkok at 7.00 pm in 30 degree evening humidity on 1st march, cup final day but that's another story.
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Dick ansell
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Hello Kitty! not
Hi Watch out for adults wearing Hello Kitty armbands, it's a punishment imposed by the police for minor offences, a bit like community service in the UK. Except maybe they will turn up and maybe there will be someone to supervise. (with more than one GCSE grade F qualification in social studies) Hope you guys are lapping it up, I am so envious I cannot say. ATB