Our Malaysian leg is finally coming to end following our return to KL after spending 4 nights on Tioman Island. Ok, ok, for those reading this and still stuck in the office, it is true that the island is as beautiful and relaxing as they say. We spent pretty much the whole time snorkelling, swimming, swinging in hammocks, lazing on the beach, dining, and watching sunset on the beach. But it was a challenge getting to the island.
The bus trip from Melaka to Mersing was very uneventful. It was however pretty frustrating as no one could tell what time the boat runs from Mersing on the mainland to Tioman. When we got to Mersing at 6pm (5hr bus ride), we discovered that the ferry terminal had also changed since the publication of our LP book. After we harassed 3 locals and 30 minutes later, we arrived in the ferry terminal that would have only taken us 10 minutes if we were correctly directed.
We were pretty lucky that we got there at 6:30pm and found out that there was a boat leaving at 8:30pm after a few very helpful locals told us that there was no boat after 5pm.
We got off the boat on Tioman and were warmly and loudly greeted by patrons at a beach-front bar next to the jetty. We instantaneously felt like we were at the right place!
We stayed in a standalone chalet that is 20 seconds from the beach. There was no hot water, but then again, who needs hot water when it's like 30+ degrees outside everyday??? We got air-con and 2 big beds and a great view of the sea. What more could we ask for?
We slept till mid day the next day. After lunch, we got on to one of the most important things. Yes, that's correct – duty free shopping!!!! We emptied our day packs and hired 2 bikes on our quest for duty free goodies.
To our dismay, there were not as many cheap items as we hoped. In the end, we just purchased some chocolates (at Naomi's insistence) and some cheap drinks. Naomi was very disappointed that Baileys only came in 1L bottle and it would be too heavy to carry around....
For the next 3 days, we pretty much just relaxed and enjoyed the last bit of Malaysia before we left. The snorkeling was awesome - I saw stingrays, octopuses, millions of coral fish and of course, coral. I found the coral in Tioman a lot better than on the islands near KK. Coral gardens here were everywhere. For the ones that werestill alive, there were absolutely beautiful. One tour operator informed us that “you come to Tioman to see what's under the water”. It was amazing to be snorkeling with millions of fish and watching live coral in such close proximity.
The water was awesome too. It was so clear that you could see 10-15 metres to the bottom of the ocean floor. I snorkelled all the way out pass the coral rim and could still see all the way to the bottom.
It was pretty funny that local kids love to hoon around the village in motorised scooters. We saw this young kid who looked as if he was 8 years old driving a scooter with 2 people on the back. One night I even saw a whole family of 7 fitted into the scooter and an attached small luggage box. Efficient and environmental friendly I'd say. Perhaps they did not want to emit extra CO2 by doing 2-3 trips. Great idea.
Oh, we also made our own coconut juice. We found this coconut on the ground on the way back from dinner one night and decided to take it home and make it our dessert. Not knowing that you actually require a machete or a butcher knife to crack the coconut, we spent 20 minutes using my swiss arm knife trying to cut of the damn thing. I was so frustrated after that and we still couldn't reach the core, so I just picked up the coconut and took it to the concrete pavement and smashed the thing. To my amazement, it actually cracked the core and after a few more smashes, the coconut was ready to be eaten. Sweet as it was, it was the most labour-intensive dessert that I have ever eaten.
We got back to KL 2 days in advance before we head out to Cambodia. Malaysia has been a pretty good country as it was easy to get around and people were generally nice. We had a blast visiting all the different sites across the country. Borneo has been particularly interesting. I really liked Melaka and Cameron Highlands too. I am sure we will be back in the future. - P.
No comments:
Post a Comment