I want to be an islander when I grow up

The bus ride made me curse the invention of suspensions and the boat took way too long to strut its way to this wonderful island. It took a grand total of 6 hours and things weren’t made any better when I got to know that it’s only 35 minutes by plane.

But budget was the keyword of the trip for Babe and I.

Redang was a nice experience but Tioman made me feel right at home. We wanted a Deluxe rooms but their unavailability means we had to settle for Standard ones. Apparently most of the Deluxe ones were occupied by ang mohs! Rich bas… people!

After reading reviews online and all, I thought I’d really be thankful if the rooms are equivalent to at least those that we have in Downtown East. After all, we got the cheapest one of the lot.

But oh-my-gawd, look at this. They shame Singapore’s chalets till no end. And we still have the cheek to price ours to highly. Talk about high standard of living here.

What I like about Tioman is its atmosphere. Yes it’s meant for tourists but there are locals living there too. Yet the place wasn’t transformed totally to make it too commercialized. Kids are still running aimlessly, playing amongst the boats docked onshore while the elders chatted their time away at the small eateries.

Food was heaven there, especially Malay food. Having tasted local ones for so long, the feeling is just so nice to taste something so familiar but so much nicer.

Our lunches were settled at this simple-looking coffeeshop. But their Maggi Goreng and Nasi Goreng Kampung were just so very nice (sic). And their Mee Bandung made me crave for more too!

And they had this Ramly burger stall which had the both of us addicted to. First was beef then came chicken and finally we had King (4 patties under the bun!), all topped with cheese of course!

Those stalls at our local pasar malam who always self-proclaimed themselves as the best should take a cooking lesson from the makcik selling there.

Lesson #1 - Be humble and let your cooking do the talking.

Dinner was at the resort’s restaurant on the first night and seafood galore on the second. Dining under the stars and by the crashing waves is love! But damn I think I looked like Po from Kungfu Panda now.

I guess 3 days is sufficient to be spent in Tioman. We snorkeled, sunbathed, played card games, watched Astro channels and did nothing else. Lepak only lah! At night, we just rilek one korner at the beach bar and gazed at the stars.

If there was to be a bad thing about Tioman, it’d be the ever-present flies. But that’s nature and we got used to our little friends accompanying us in no time. We also  experienced blackout several times (electricity is run using generators not power stations), something which was annoying at first.

But total darkness at night equates to a perfect time to just look up and enjoy the sprinkle of stars.

We checked into Paya Beach Resort btw, one of the many resorts on Tioman Island. Yes we gambled but we really couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

When I was lepak-ing at the coffeeshop, just staring into space, I looked at my surrounding… no Internet or annoying PSPs to accompany these locals. Gossip is that shark whale which surfaced somewhere at some island despite not being its season. Entertainment is diving a few feet under the sea.

The sun sets and night falls; come tomorrow the cycle repeats. Wow, I want this life.

This trip is the first overseas trip for me for 2008. Perhaps the last too before I enlist. And what a wonderful one it has been for me.