Nadine's Blog

Mersing and Pulau Tioman (east coast Malaysia)24.07.07-27.07.07

Taking the bus in Malaysia is always a great experience thanks to the comfortable busses and the beautiful landscape next to the highway. The last is the reason for me not being able or being really reluctant to fall asleep, since I’m always afraid to miss ot on some of the pretty view of the jungle.
The not so great thing about taking the bus in Malaysia is that there are sometimes ants (and I’m talking about a lot of ants here) crawling over the window or even over the seat (I have to admit that it only took two looks at them to get used to them- I mean after coping with bats and rats (and I had quite a few more rat experiences during my stay in Malaysia), ants don’t seem like something to worry or even et upset about), the other thing is the ac! I have to say that I like the ac for about the first hour of the journey but after that (when you start feeling like being back in the ice age) I usually can’t wait to get back out in the humidity and heat of the day!
On my way to Mersing it wasn’t any different from what I just described so that I was freezing while watching out of the widow so that I wouldn’t miss any of the jungle scenery. (You have to know that the landscape here is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen in my entire life- and yes all you critics out there I know that I’m still very young and it might sound weird to hear that from somebody my age- but I really have seen a lot of beautiful sceneries for somebody my age)!
After a 5 hour ride I finally arrived in Mersing a small fishing town, which is usually used as a jumping point for Pulau Tioman ( a beautiful island). I only stayed there for the night since I had already missed the last ferry to the island. So I stayed n one of the few backpacker hostels. The owner was quite the interesting guy ( a travel addict like myself) and I ended up talking to him quite some time at his bar about his traveling. I just can’t help but feeling a great amount of respect for people in their sixties or even older who ae still taking any chance they get to backpack and travel around the world.
I spent the first part of the next morning in desperate search for an ATM, since there weren’t any n the island. After being sent 3 times in different directions I finally managed to find one.
After that quite stressful event I grabbed all my luggage and dragged myself to the ferry station and was quite relaxed and happy by the time I put all my stuff on the ferry and settled down on the upper deck of the ferry. The ride to the island took about 2 hours and was really nice since the sun was shining and the view of some smaller islands was jut amazing.
When I finally arrived at Salang beach (the most beautiful one on the island) the search for an accommodation started which wasn’t pleasant at all since I finally found a bungalow but on the other end of the beach o that it took me a while to get there with al that weight on my shoulders.
I spend the next days lying on the beach enduring the short rain showers and watching the monkeys, that came to the beach from time to time, fight for the coconuts. Although the cloudy sky and the rain showers weren’t pleasant at all the worst thing though were the cruel mosquito attack (I’ve never been bitten before I came to Asia at all but since I’m here I seem to be eaten alive- 15 new mosquito bites a day, and that is with using mosquito repellent, is something I’ve found to have to deal with on my trip!) which at some point got unbearable.
Being an optimistic (which surprises me every day since there are just too many unlucky event that I have to face) I thought that it wouldn’t be a problem to leave the island on the 27th at 7.30 in the morning. And since I was feeling so sure about this great idea I decided to get up really early in the morning to pack my stuff, check out and taking my time to get to the ferry. Well, but reality it me right in the face when I woke up looked at my watch and had to realize that it was already 7 o’clock. I have to say that I’m quite proud of myself about how fast I got everything packed and at what pace I can walk carrying over 30kg of luggage with me (usually I need t least 40 minutes to get ready n the morning since I hate to rush while not being awake yet- it just messes up the whole day). Anyways I made it and I was lucky enough to get a bus ticket t get to Kuala Terengganu after arriving back to Mersing as well.

posted by Nadine @ 5:56 AM