I'm BACK! luved Tioman. i wanna be back there now, n i just returned yesterday nite... Day 1 taxi up to mersing. took speedboat from Mersing. arrived at ABC (actually the village is called Ayer Batang but somehow it became ABC) late afternoon. at the jetty, i looked down n cld actually see coral n fish! the water was wonderfully clear n blue, just like in picture postcards, only this was real. many sea urchins too. dangerous if stepped on. settled down in our 'hotel' room at Nazri's Place. the beach was just several metres from the chalets. we left our luggage n went for a quick swim. the water was so clear n shallow, i was only knee-deep in water before i reached a whole bed of coral. after dinner, went for a walk along the entire length of ABC, which took abt 45 min. most of the accomodation on ABC are small wooden huts called 'chalets' which cost less than 100RM, some even as little as 20RM. most huts are just small rooms with one bed, one bathroom n one porch. pretty cool. not a single proper hotel on the entire village. the nite sky was beautiful - cld spot many constellations like the big dipper n the cross, unlike in S'pore when u can hardly see any stars cos of the lights n traffic. on ABC the onli modes of transport are bicycles, motorbikes n boats. no cars or vans. below - the beach directly outside our accomodations during the first few days on ABC. beautiful, ain't it?  n this photo was taken by me on the first day we arrived. the two heads bobbing in the water (left of photo) are yy2 n my dad):  Day 2 went on a hike across Tioman to the village on the opposite side of the island, Kampung Juara. the hike was up a mountain which had no proper steps or roads (unlike Bukit Timah Hill) n took 3 hours. very tiring but interesting to climb up rocks n over fallen trees:  had lunch at Juara, then took a four-wheel drive back to Tekek, which is the village neighbouring ABC. from tekek we walked back to ABC as cars cannot reach ABC. tt evening we just strolled ard on the beach, went snorkelling, had dinner. very relaxing. Day 3 my dad hired a boat n got a Malay fisherman to bring us out fishing. my dad loves fishing. anyway we got out into the open sea, where the waves were wonderfully rough. once the engine was off the boat started pitching like crazy, sorta like when one's surfing on the waves. my mom n Lyn got seasick, yy2 felt slightly queasy, but my dad and i enjoyed every bit of it. caught 2 relatively large fish, which we barbequed tt nite for dinner. (they were delicious n fresh) Day 4 my dad had to go back to work so he left late morning. we moved out of Nazri's place n moved to Nazri 2, where we booked a wooden hut tt cost onli 80RM a nite (at Nazri's Place it was 160RM a nite for a room, not a chalet). the hut had a bed, a bathroom, some chairs n a porch. very cool. tt's me studying for a quiz on buoyancy n equipment:  first day of the Open Water Diving course. yy2 n I watched some videos, took a quiz, then did 3 confined water dives in the pool at the diving centre. leant basics like buoyancy control, ascents n descents etc. quite fun. below - yy2 n i filling up some forms for the course. tt bk on the table - we had to study it for the quizzes n exam:  our instructor was Sarah, a Canadian who's lived on Tioman for 2 yrs n previously worked in Japan for a yr teaching diving. she's getting married to a Malay guy, a local. according to the village gossip (an old man who stays rite next to the jetty) the statistics so far are : approx 20 than 20 ang moh women haf married Tioman men n either stayed on the island or returned with their husbands. 5 or 6 Jap women haf done the same. n 1 ang moh guy has also settled down on Tioman with a local woman. interesting, don't u think? Day 5 2nd day of our 4-day course. did confined water dives 4 n 5, learnt more skills like hovering n fin pivot, etc. afternoon, went out to sea for Open water dive 1. had to carry approx 18 kg of gear (12kg oxygen tank, 3kg weights, plus BCD, mask, fins, regulator etc) on my back frm the dive centre out to the beach n into the water. very heavy. went abt 12metres in depth, saw lots of fish n coral. sea urchins too. cool experience, since it was my first time diving in the sea:  tt afternoon we walked to Tekek n had dinner there. Day 6 took the final exam for our course. then did open water dive no.2, this time using 2.5kg weights n not 3kg, so it was better and easier to achieve buoyancy. not so overweighted. did some of the skills we'd learnt at the sea bed. then afternoon, my mom got some locals to take us out to the waterfall at the southernmost tip of Tioman. took a boat there, then walked several minutes to the waterfall. the water was terribly cold, but very fun to swim in cos we dint noe how deep the water actually was. yy2 n 1 climbed almost to the top of the waterfall n sat underneath the rushing water - free massage!  then we took the boat to visit a kampung. then went snorkeling at Renggis island, where i saw 2 stingray! first close-up other than in Underwater World, Sentosa. below - me on the boat to the waterfall:  Day 7 last day of the course! went boat diving this time, not just walking out to sea. first went to Chebeh Island, where we went 18m, the max depth for Open water divers. saw a hawksbill turtle, which was very cool. lots of soft coral, n we even touched one n it was so soft, i cld hardly feel it! then had lunch on the boat, followed by second dive at Renggis Island. saw 3 black-tip reef sharks!!! one came real close (partly cos we sorta swam after it to get a better look, n it swam towards us too) n it was totally fab to get such a close encounter with it. they were abt 1m long n very cute looking! they realli swim like sharks do in movies - looking sorta lost. also saw another hawksbill turtle. below - getting the boat ready:  then evening, walked to Tekek again. visited Berjaya resort, which is one of the very few proper hotel resorts on Tioman. the rms there cost minimum 400RM (compared to the 80RM we were staying in) but dint look tt gr8. i prefer staying in a wooden hut with our own 'space' outside n the beach just metres away. village life is so much more peaceful than staying in a resort wif noisy children n tourists all over the place. Last day - Saturday, 18 June 2005 took 8am ferry (but it came late, which was expected cos the Tioman villagers are very laid-back abt everything. no worries at all, not even abt punctuality) back to Mersing:  took a cab to JB where we watched Mr. n Mrs. Smith (much cheaper to watch movies in JB!) then took the nite train back to S'pore. i'm definitely going back to Tioman to take the Advanced Open Water Dive course! i miss hearing the sound of the waves, which is much more preferable to the traffic noises i can hear rite now. village life is v enjoyable... saw many of these monitor lizards on the island (n snakes too - tree snake n a python).  |
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