Tha Poop Shoot: pulau tioman...

Alright I think I have rested enuff. Damn nose is still runny and I am dizzy from the meds but I think I can finish this post off before I knock out. Let me blog about my wonderful trip to Tioman Island during this past week. As stated before it was a 4 days 3 nights stay in Paya Beach Resort. First we had to get to Mersing from Pee Jay and to save cost I decided to drive up. Went one day earlier so that I'll be rested when we head over to the island. The drive wasn't all that bad except for the constant rainstorm. It was a scary ride mainly because the other drivers just didn't care about the heavy rain. Visibility was like about 5 meters but that didn't stop them from speeding down the highway. I saw about 5 cars who skidded off the track. There was even 2 lorries which turned on its side. Luckily after about 5 hours we reached safely at Mersing. The next morning we woke up and took the ferry to Paya village where the resort is located. We arrived on noon Monday where thankfully the weather was fine which made the ferry ride pleasant although dreadfully long (1.5 hours if I am not mistaken and this is with the speed ferry!). After arriving we (my ex gf and I) settled in our lovely chalet which was located right in front of the beach. It was rather late to do much and the tide was low so we couldn't play by the beach so we decided to hang around in the room instead. At night we had our dinner and chilled at the seaside bar which was very romantic I must add. They had a big screen projector playing XXX2. We had some drinks and enjoyed the night with the sound of waves splashing about.

The next morning (freaking early I must add), we had our breakfast and headed straight for the jetty for the snorkelling trip. The weather was simply amazing with just enuff sun and breeze. The water nice and calm. We could see schools of fish hanging about near the shore from the jetty. It was quite a sight. Now I have never really snorkelled before and was really looking forward to the days event. We got into our boat and pushed off to a small island about 30 odd minutes away. There we got on our gear (snorkel and life jacket). Being able to swim I opted not to have a life jacket so that I can have the freedom to dive about and move much freely but most of the others were terrified of the water. At the begining it was rather tough, getting used to the snorkel and at the same time balancing yourself. But after a few tries it was simply amazing. I have never seen so many beautiful fishes and corals up close in my life before. Heck who am I kidding, besides the aquariums I've been to and own before, I have NEVER seen fish up close like this. I think I must have spotted and touched all the characters in Finding Nemo. It was really magical. Words just can't justify how great the feeling was. I even spotted a single Barracuda cooly swimming past me. Now that was creepy as I've heard Barracuda's can attack humans. After about an hour or so we got back on the boat and went to the Tioman Marine Park to have our packed lunches and snorkel. Sadly the jetty to the Park was under repair and we couldn't dock. So we just had lunch on the boat and moved on to our last site (another small island near our resort) before heading back. To me the last destination was the best. There were more colorful fishes about and the shore quite nearby. So we could even stand on certain spots and enjoy the view below. The whole snorkel trip lasted about 5 hours and we returned to the resort around mid afternoon.

Now here is the interesting part. Knowing that we would be going snorkelling on the trip, I made sure to bring along sun tan lotion to avoid getting burned. But considering we had to wake up early to head to the jetty and my great arse luck factor. We both forgot to take along the lotion or even apply some before leaving for the trip. And as expected, when we returned to our chalet we found ourselves badly burned. Mine wasn't all that bad but my ex had it BAD. She was red all over. We applied lotion to soothe the pain but it did not work. We were in pain througout that day in our chalet. We only came out to get some dinner and ice cream (as you know works in soothing pain, at least for a lil bit).

The next day when we woke up, I was feeling a wee bit better but my ex was out. Her whole body ached. But not wanting to waste the trip we did not remain in the chalet. We went around taking some pics and emjoying the beach life. We were very grateful that the weather on all 3 days were great. Except for an occasional drizzle which was good for keeping it cool and breezy. The resort also has 2 other interesting places nearby, one is when the tide goes down (which last about 6 hours), you can actually walk to an island nearby. This was actually the last destination on our snorkel trip. Then there is also a waterfall about 15 minutes hike from the resort called Rockfalls but we didn't get to visit it due to being in pain and also lazy. After all I am on holiday right. On the final day it was time to leave and low and behold it was the first attack of monsoon. It rained heavily the previous night around 1am or so onwards. By the time we were up to checkout the waves were crashing in. According to the resort staff this is the first wave of monsoon and will last about 5 days. Thankfully it happened on the last day when we were checking out but the drawback was it made the ferry ride back a freaking nightmare! The boat was thrashing about and water splashing everywhere. Lucky all the passengers didn't get sea sick and we survived the hour and half trip. It was such a relief to finally reach land. We headed to our car and started our drive back to Pee Jay which took about 4 hours plus.

All in all it was a great holiday. Would love to do it again. Didn't cost all that much as well which was a relief. Hmmm I think I should start planning for my next trip. I'm getting hooked on this snorkelling thing as well. Miss seeing all those fishies and beautiful corals up close. Maybe I'll hit Pulau Perhentian next. Alright I think I've babbled enuff. Below are some nice pictures of the island. Adios.