Puala Tioman - Juara

This leg of the trip proves to be exhausting and relaxing.. It took 5 hours to get from Singapore into Malaysia, it took 3 hours alone to get through the Malaysian Customs, with a 20 KG backpack on my back in a 40 degrees room without airco and lots of people, some of whom fainted...

Apparently Good Friday is a holiday in Singapore as well: many Singaporians fled their city state to Malaysia which caused a lot of dismay. When I finally set foot on Malaysian soil, I had to fight my way to get a bus to Mersing, the same place from where I am writing this story.

Mersing is the kickoff for trips to the island paradise of Tioman, 50 KM offshore in the south Chinese sea. As soon as I arrived I quickly got tickets for the last ferry and a ride to the other side of the island: Juara.

Juara is magical, it is an oasis of relaxation, good food, very nice sea and a lot of doing nothing at all. I had a hut on the beach, meaning that when you wake up the first view you see is some sleepy palm trees full of coconuts, a white beach and a very deep blue sea. The water in the sea is amazing, exactly the right temperature!

I basically dived my time between swimming, snorkeling, reading a book in a hammock and eating delicious local dishes (curry!). I also made a trip from on side of the island to the other as saw monkeys in the middle of the jungle and beautiful waterfalls.

There was even a place with Dutch ties so I also had some cheese sandwiches, it was a great unforgettable adventure!

This morning I took a 4WD taxi to the other side of the island from where you can take the ferry, unfortunately the car got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by another car. Due to this I missed my early ferry and had to wait for another one, causing me to miss my bus to KL as well... Now I have to wait until 6PM if the bus departs in time this time... and arrive 11h30..

Tomorrow a last days of sightseeing in KL and than off to Hong Kong!