I went to Malaysia from Thursday morning until now (Sunday afternoon). Sorry I didn’t mention that I was going before I went, but things got a bit hectic and time didn’t permit it. It was a really cool experience, with beaches and jungle, bats and cats. Read on for more.
At 0630 I left NUS with a few friends in a taxi bound for the bus station. Sam had found a route via the 170 up to JB , which is a city on the border of Singapore and Malaysia. When we got to the station we found another bus was going there that only cost a little more and didn’t stop, so we took that instead. Customs and immigration took a while, and then we were there. I changed S$ 100 into RM 219.70, then we took a taxi to another bus station. After eating at McDonals (yes, they are taking over the world) we discovered that there were no buses going to Mersing until 2230 that day. We didn’t like that much, so we decided to take a taxi, which we bargained down to RM 80 (20 per person). It took about two hours to get to Mersing, and we were dropped off right in front of the place to buy tickets for the high-speed boat to Tioman. We bought round-trip tickets and a ticket for the bus back to Singapore.
The boat ride took about 90 minutes, but it felt a lot longer. When we finally got to Tioman (our stop was ABC ), we found the place we’d made arrangements to stay at and learned that the price was RM 25 per night for two people. We got our rooms and decided to explore. Tioman island is small (about 1/4 the size of Singapore), and most of its people live on the coast in distinct villages (like ABC ). We discovered restaurants and places to go snorkling etc. We had a really late lunch at about 1630 and then just relaxed until about 2100 when we got dinner, which was seafood bbq. I got tuna, which was quite tasty. Sleeping was pretty easy, though I woke up a few times. The mosquito net prevented many of the bites I otherwise would have suffered - though it didn’t stop me from getting them while at dinner. The bad thing about wearing sandals all the time is that it leaves your feet vulnerable to insect assault. The good thing is that it prepares your feet for that kind of rough treatment, so it’s not that bad when it does happen.
The next morning we set out snorkling by hiring a boat and gear for six hours. First, we went to Coral Island where we saw lots of cool fish in the water. Here’s an interesting trick: bring bread, then slowly dispense it to the fish. You can hold it in your hand but the fish will probably bite you, though not too hard. The fish go nuts for bread (try to avoid nuts… Wonderbread is probably ideal) - you’ll easilly attract a large number within a few seconds. For some of you (Sarah) this might not be desireable, so you can sit back and watch me do it. For all the times you hear the recommendation “put on sunscreen”, it never seems to sink in quite enough. I put it on everywhere but my back, and now I’m paying for it. My burn is not that bad, but it’s redish pink and hurts if too much pressure is applied. I’ll have pictures of all this up soon enough. I was not the only one who got sunburned. From our group, all of us were in some way, and three of the five had been previously sick, which the sun didn’t help. They all went back Saturday morning. That left only Sam and I, but we joined with some other people from NUS.
Saturday we hiked through the jungle over the island. It was about 7km from start to finish and it was tiring work. The humidity makes it much harder, so without even going very far most of us were sweating. By 3km we were drenched in it. When we arrived at Juara on the other side we all stripped (to our bathing suits) and went in the ocean. The east side of the island is less protected, so the waves were bigger (slightly less than the Newport Beach average). Sam and I had brought along a loaf of bread with some peanut butter and jelly, so we ate about three sandwiches each. We then sat down for lunch, which was served by the most apathetic waitress in the world. I have a feeling it was the family business and she really didn’t want to be there. I ordered iced Milo (similar, perhaps even identical, to Nestle Quick) and a bottle of water, neither of which I received after waiting about 30 minutes - I cancelled the order after that. We were told by several people that no sea taxis were running that day because of the rough seas (which looked fairly mild to us), but we eventually were able to find a guy willing to do it for RM 250 for the 10 of us. We suggested RM 150, and he laughed. We then offered RM 200, which he accepted. Two hours later (30 minutes waiting, 90 minutes travelling) we were back at ABC . After that we simply swam and hung out at the beach (we being 10 of us from NUS, me and Sam the only ones from the states) until a bit before dinner, when we took showers. Dinner was excellent. The service surpassed anywhere else on the island and the food was great. The language barrier, though never a big deal on this trip, caused a problem for those of us that ordered fish cooked in garlic. We wanted it to be cooked in garlic, but they interpreted it as served with garlic sauce - not the end of the world. Dessert was wonderful: strawberry and vanilla ice cream with rambuttan stuffed with pineapple topped with whipped cream and some sort of chocolate stick (as might be served with coffee, but it wasn’t biscotti).
The way back was similar to the way there, only less eventful and smoother. I’ll definitely go back, though perhaps not to the same place for variety’s sake. While reading the Lonely Planet Guide to Southeast Asia today I discovered that Cambodia looks like an awesome place to go. I’ll try to fit that into my agenda here. For the curious, this whole adventure cost me US$95 for everything from Thursday morning to Sunday night. I stayed in a place that might not be acceptable for some (particularly any generation older than mine), but for those poor, starving college students it does the trick (US$4 per night). I recommend you go and have a great time! Check back soon for pics!