Pulau Tioman: Day 1 (Friday, 23 July 2010)

Our long-awaited vacation was here at last and to be frank, I didn’t know how the weekend would turn out. Call it curse or luck, the short getaway turned out to be quite interesting, very tiring but rather memorable. =)

We were supposed to meet-up at 6.30am at Woodlands MRT and as expected, most of us were late. Hon Yiong was probably the only one on time! When everyone else turned up, we took SMRT 950 to the customs. There wasn’t much of a jam at both the Woodlands Checkpoint and Complex Sultan Iskandar but we spent quite some time waiting for the buses. Nonetheless, we still arrived early at Terminal Bas Awam Larkin. McDonald’s was our usual wait-zone. Our bus (S&S International, RM11.50 per pax) arrived on time at 8.30am but I was surprised to see a 42-seater bus. Two years ago, it was RM8.80 for a 24-seater coach!

Arriving in Mersing just past 10.45am, we were only able to get tickets for the 11.30am ferry (Bluewater Express, RM35 one-way). Anyway, the walk from the bus terminal took some time – the new bus terminal was a distance away from the ferry terminal. There was a crowd waiting for the ferries. We bought water and some snacks, paid the RM5 marine conservancy fees and settled down to wait for our ride. By 12.30pm, we were still at the jetty!

When we finally got onto the ferry, we had to settle for separated seats. I tried to catch forty winks and when I was all awake, we were still not at Tioman! It was only close to 2.30pm when we finally reached Tekek. At first, the surroundings seemed so unfamiliar. Then we realized that the jetty at Tekek was undergoing renovations and we had actually docked at the marina, just a short distance from Monte chalet. Unfortunately, Monte was full and so were most of the other chalets in the area. Persona and a couple others still had rooms (Friday night only) but we decided to make our plans over lunch.

The first plan was to stay a night at Persona before moving to Air Batang the next day in search of accommodation. The second plan was to call the agent whom we had purchased our ferry tickets from to book rooms at Salang. We went for the latter but the agent was out of rooms and  could only offer us the 4-star Berjaya Tioman Resort at around RM280 per room. In the end, we settled for that and had to rush down to the Bank Simpanan Nasional (outside the airport) to make a cash transfer to the agent’s account. That settled, we had two rooms booked to my name and checked in without a voucher. Interesting.

We caught the Berjaya Tioman tram outside the airport and “hijacked” it to the resort lobby. The mass disappearance act was quite unsuccessful but nonetheless we got the rooms (apartments far from the main compound!). The deposits were a hefty RM400! Incredible.

The tram took us to the apartment suites (we had passed them on the last trip), and we were relieved to settle into our rooms which were great. There was a refrigerator and balcony even, what more can a simple person like me ask for!

The weather turned bad but when the rain subsided, we decided to trek to Paya beach. Obviously, we were all under-dressed and the girls probably got a “pleasant surprise” when we entered the jungle past the turtle sanctuary on the beach. =)

Memories of our last Tioman trip came flooding back as I took in the humid jungle air and attempted to retrace our path via the overhead power lines. We had to climb up a knoll before the trail took us on a descend towards Paya Village. We made cautious progress but at the top of the knoll, I led them down the wrong fork and we ended up trapped by huge impassable rocks just a couple of meters from the beach! Hobson’s choice, we had to retrace our path and locate the correct one. We left markings (for our return trip) and managed to reach Paya beach as the sun was setting. It was certainly a beautiful sight as we strolled along the beach and waded in the shallow waters.

Dinner was at the “famous” Ramly burger stall which opened only at 8pm. It was fifteen minutes to time hence we treated ourselves to some ice-cream at the provision shop nearby. The shopkeepers were shocked to hear that we were from Berjaya Tioman and planned to trek back at night! They were discouraging us and the girls were visibly worried. Alfred was super confident though and that was a good sign!

Lightning lit up the skies and it soon started to pour. We were having dinner and decided to return only when the storm died down. I was too indulged in my chicken burger and satay to care. We had all the time in the world! =) Indeed, the rain died down when it was close to 10pm. We bought more water, some food and extra batteries at the provision shop. By now, more people knew about our "folly” and they made fun of us by giving us false hope (telling us to wait at the jetty).

I was pretty excited. As I had told them, this would be a great team building activity! =) I took the lead, followed by Hon Yiong who was taking care of Jia Yi behind him, Hiang Ling next, Alfred, Jessica, Mandy, then Lim Hwee who brought up the rear. The going was slow, we couldn’t see much in the jungle but the moonlight was sufficient to make our progress easier. It was a relief to hit the downhill and finally emerge on the beach at the other side!

Back in the comfort of our rooms, or rather, the girls’ room, we played some card games till we were just too sleepy to continue. I found our makeshift bed rather difficult to sleep in and elected to move to the couch. It was damn cold at night and I had to wake up several times to adjust the temperature of the air-conditioner before shutting it and the fan for good! What a night. Alfred slept like a pig though! =P

Trip expenditure: RM410
Participants: Hiang Ling, Jia Yi, Jessica, Mandy, Alfred, Hon Yiong, Lim Hwee, LSH