~ Tioman Island ~

Date of my Trip: 21st - 24th May 2009

This is my only holiday trip for 2009 thus i am really excited and look forward to taking a break... Since the Redang trip, i miss snorkeling...

Garfield & I woke up super early to catch the 6.30am Five Stars bus at Golden Mile Complex. Being the early bird.. i persuaded Gar to take cab earlier so we could reach Golden Mile at 6am (as told by Five Star the time to reach). In the end, the cab was fast... and we reached at 5.35am. I was 'dio' by Gar dun know how many times,hahaaa....

It was a 4 hrs bumpy bus ride to Tioman! Their road is horrible or should i say the driver is very hiong..... 晕车的人肯定受不了！



Initially, we tot that the ferry ride will be at 11am but was informed that it had been changed to 12.30pm. GOSH! Have to wait for 2 hrs.........to pass our time, we went to a nearby malay food stall to have our lunch.

Lunch was a funny experience. I was totally in a loss on how to order. People seems to scoop up food on their own plates? I looked left and right and finally a malay guy faced me and say:" nasi?" Then i nodded. He passed me a plate of rice which i assume that i will have to chooose and scoop my own food since everyone is doing the same. Fear of them charging me a lot if i scoop up a lot, i dare not scoop much. Done and i was blur blur again... where do i pay? No one was at the counter...... i gave up and went back to my seat, thinking that probably we will only pay after eating?? To my surprise, a malay lady came to us with the amt to pay written on a small slip of paper. 他们真的很随性。。



12.30pm: We boarded the ferry to Tioman~




Gar's fav tibits during the journey..




I wanted to go updeck to view the sea but were not allowed to.. ~_~

Clear Blue Water surrounded the Jetty that we arrived at! Right in front of us were hills and along the beach were our stay - Paya Beach Resort...






however, we were both lucky and unlucky. Lucky us escaped the rain but unlucky us were unable to go according to plan due to the heavy rain that poured down right after we stepped into our chalet. Speaking of our chalet, i was not harbouring hope that the chalet will turn out great. I expected it to be quite run-down and 'sandy', probably similar to Costa Sands Resort. Wow.... it was not what i expected. The standard chalet was well-furnished with a double bed and 2 single beds. There was a tv too (although the reception is very poor with only one workable channel). Most importantly, the room is clean and we are just footsteps away from the beach! Even the white chair outside our room is clean.. I felt proud to choose this resort over Berjaya and saved $100,hehehe..The only problem we faced is the room key which Gar has to push and push and really PUSH to get the key completely into the keyhole. (Well.. they are already looking into changing the key lock to card lock)




Stuck by the rain, we stayed in our room until it was near to dinner time. We took a stroll by the beach before dinner... hmm... unlike Redang, Paya beach does not stretch out endlessly but is blocked from other resorts by jungles & huge boulders. The sands were not as soft as Redang too.. similar to East Coast but cleaner though. At least the water is still clear~





Our Chalet Resort..

Dinner was a surprise too!! The theme of the buffet area is a ship.. there were both clean & neat indoor and outdoor seats. Most of the buffet food were quite delicious too~ On one night, there were fried squid.. on the other, there were lamb chop & chicken wings!! I regretted not eating more though Gar ate a lot..=P




After dinner, there was nothing much to do hence we had an early sleep & prepared to rise up early for a snorkeling trip on the next day.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*The 2nd DAY

After a good breakfast buffet (hee, i like their tea), all who have signed up for their snorkeling package has to meet at the jetty at 9am with their life jacket & snorkeling mask.

Happily, we dragged my bag pack with water bottle, bread, camera etc & life jacket & snorkeling mask and waited at the jetty. We could see familiar faces who boarded the ferry together with us to Tioman.

Our full board package includes a snorkeling excursion to Coral Island & Marine Park..



My Batman~ keke..




First stop is at Marine Park. Boy... we were shocked by the amount of big fishes swimming near the jetty!! Gar & I tried to squeeze bread in our pockets and hold it on our hands so we could enjoy feeding the fishes while in the water...... Kong bu lor!! The moment we stepped in, all the fishes surrounded us until i felt 'squeezy'. Not knowing how i could feed them underwater (fear of all the big fishes rushing to my hand and BITE it off! haha...), we threw breads in front..在那一瞬间，那些鱼全部冲向面包的方向。。

Mischevious Gar even threw the bread towards me so that fishes could rush forward to me!! Hate him for doing that! Hehe...

Somehow accident happens when i'm snorkeling. The last time i touched the barnicles on the pillar, not knowing it is untouchable. I think i ended up having itchy and swollen hands...

This time round, a fish (i guessed) created a cut on my sole.

Stupid me should not have pushed back my leg so hard when i was doing frog style swimming towards Gar... caused me pain for the rest of my swim in Marine park and for the rest of my day..

But seeing the colourful fishes is a compensation for the pain =D
It's cute to see some of them swimming in a group..

Although i was in pain and my sole was swollen, i wanted to snorkel at the next stop as i know the swim will allow me to forget my pain. At some point, i really felt like crying......

The second stop is at Coral/Reggis Island. As the name said, this place is more of seeing the coral than the fishes. Our guide has offered to lead us and so we followed him to the right side of the island... 哪里知道，美的珊瑚却在另一边!

It's a pity that i did not really enjoy myself here because
(1) I was using my energy to snorkel ard the island......
(2) I was desperately swimming against the waves to prevent myself from getting closer to the rocks...
(3) Due to the above, we were the last to board the boat... the last part where we were snorkeling towards the boat were the most beautiful area to view corals but where got time when everyone is waiting on the boat!!

Gar got a cut on his hands when he bumped into one of the big rocks. Luckily it was not swollen or else i will have felt guilty.. as he was trying his best to protect me along the swim..

We had a good wash before we had our lunch of fried rice & drumstick~

Both of us have considered to keep the snorkeling mask and continue to snorkel at the beach in the afternoon....... owing to our cuts and tiredness, we gave up the idea and decided to feed the fishes at the jetty with our remaining breads



Tons of small fishes under the jetty!


A closer look



View from the jetty

We also trekked to the rock fall.

Late afternoon came and we proceeded to trek after we took a nap/rest (my sole is killing me + my 贫血 'attacked' me during my bath!)

After walking some wrong ways, we headed towards the right direction (thanks to the guidance of the locals) behind our resort..

Well...................the trek was a disappointment. The rock fall is not a waterfall. It is simply a stream that flows between and over the rocks. However, it is a good way to get some exercise if not for the mosquitos that have been constantly bitting us during the trek!

Seems like a bad day with fish cut and mosquitos bites? Neh... i felt the most horrible wounds are from the bed bugs we 'enountered' on our first night. While i am typing this, i could still see the bite wound on my hands... i really hate bed bugs because they are very hard to spot and their bites can last for many days !!

We ended the day with a scrumptious BBQ dinner by the beach at a pub...


BBQ Chicken Wings. . . Satays . . .Stingray . . . Sotong. . . .Hooch. . .青岛beer. . .



Heaven~

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*The 3rd DAY



We conquered a harder trek in the morning - The Bunot Trek!

It was not like any trek i had trekked before.. totally natural and rocky!!
As the locals call it - trekking through the jungle.

For me, it was adventurous and fun. But for Gar, it seems like any other NS training,haha..




At the start of the trek, there were piles of big brown shit everywhere..
"what is that?" i was wondering.
"could it be dangerous big animals?"

To my delight, we saw a family of COWS~ hehe..





So they are the shit culprits... it's interesting to see the local fencing up their residence to block off the cows from entering.

Further down the path, we went through a 2nd bridge..

and trekked on soiled jungle grd. I feel so proud of myself for completing the trek to another 无人beach!! This trek is unlike the trek i walked in Blue Mountain.. it was truly natural pathway of soil and rocks. There was even a steep pathway which i had to touched the rocks and support myself up and down. Thanks to the electrical wire and red cloth markers, we were able to follow the right trek and successfully reach the next destination.



If i'm not wrong, the deserted beach should be called Bunot Beach too. There was really no one in sight when we reached. I regreted for not bringing my swim suit along as the beach was really beautiful and serene with clear waters....




Can u see how clear the water is?

By the way, we were 'heng' again. During the trek, i could hear thunder sounds (though the sky is blue).. if it rains during our trek, i could not imagine how difficult and dangerous it will be for both of us to trek back. Rain god is good to us and only started the rain when we reached our chalet~ hehe..

I took the leisure time to read a book and sat outside our chalet... enjoying the cool and fresh air while waiting for the rain to stop.

Lunch... nice~



For the rest of the day, we simply rest and relax...
Playing poker cards in the room with Twisties as rewards..
Lying under the hot sun on a mat....
Dinner by the beach again....
(oh, i like the last day dinner buffet!! There is bbq sotong, lamb chop and chicken wings!! I wonder if it's because of the big group of NUS divers hence the difference in food..)
Strolling with Gar along the beach at night...

Some more photos of Tioman...when the sun sets..








*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*The 4th DAY

Time to go home! We checked out at 10am and waited till 12pm in the resort cafe..

This time round, we had the chance to sit on the upper deck which is open. I love to see the sea and enjoy the sea breeze......


8 hrs of ferry and bus ride & we were back at Golden Mile

Home Sweet Home~

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* A Special Corner For...........

1) The Cats in Tioman Island



Because they are soooooooooo adorable.........
Have you ever seen a Singapore cat walking around your 2 legs and simply sit down between your legs so you can sayang them?
Have you ever been followed by a cat so as to get attention from you?
Have you ever see a Puss-in-boots look-alike cat stretching onto your chair and look at you with pathetic big cute eyes?

Yes.. i did =) They are the cats from Tioman...

(This cute cat is concentrating on the hole in front of him.. waiting for a rat?)

2) Mr Snail



The snail whom i tot will die cos someone told me i cannot simply pull him up from the plank...
The snail whom we saved from exhaustion and landed him on his source of food..
The snail who has been a photo model for Gar...



---End---