Day 5 - 6 Tioman Island

I was never expecting Tioman Island to be quite like this...and its still hard to explain in words. Breathtaking, crystal water, a humid jungle teeming with wildlife, simplistic & relaxed. An island that has one of the most beautiful backdrops in the world yet you don't have to compete with other tourists for a glimpse. The slight & fit  locals are pleasant but not overly friendly and allow you to explore every inch of their backyard without batting an eyelid. We stayed at The Impiana Inn in Genting (one of Tiomans smallest villages) we had a little cabin at the edge of the jungle and 50 meters from the beach. We shared our home for 3 nights with quite a few noisy geckos, they actually turned out to be quite good flatmates as they caught all the creepy crawlers. Mike & I decided to walk to Tekek (the main village on the island) on our first day in paradise, a walk that spiraled through Genting Village, past little home made "food & drink spots" featuring plastic chairs, hammocks, and an array of noodle dishes, hamburgers & juices. We then climbed a steep bank up into the jungle greeting a few locals on the way who had managed to haul their motorbikes up the cliff. After a few awesome viewing spots we made our way down to Turtle Cove (a turtle nesting beach) it was by  this point in the journey that we realized what was supposed to be an easy 2 hour walk was going to be dam hard in the heat. We soldiered on though as I kept thinking about those little 60 year old men who managed to climb up the hill dragging their motorbikes along with them.  15km later, 2 Liters of water each, not enough sunblock, and some noisy monkeys attempting to steel golf balls from the beautiful golf course that lined the entrance into Tekek, we had never been so happy to sit down & eat fried rice in our life. Tekek hosted one of the main resorts on the island which was huge & walking through it almost felt like you were in another country. It was grand, majestic and had  one of the most amazing pools I had ever seen however it wasn't an authentic representation of Tioman. There were many duty free shops (Tioman doesn't have any tax on alcohol & cigarettes) and shops selling an array of souvenirs. After our little adventure to Tekek we caught a boat taxi back to Genting & enjoyed a seafood BBQ, with tiger beer & cold milo around a beach fire. Day 2 in Tioman we went on a full day snorkeling trip that took us on a little fishing boat to 4 different dive spots...Tulai Island, Long  Beach, Monkey Bay, Regis Island. They say that people come to Tioman for whats under the water which we found to be so true. The water was the clearest & bluest I had ever seen, their were so many tropical fish, coral, and plants and we even saw a shark. We stopped off at Salang for lunch (the main tourist village in Tioman) and we decided there was so much more to see on this beautiful island so we took the opportunity to organize a couple moe nights accommodation (follow up post to come on this experience). The day of snorkeling was awesome and a little exhusting so we spent the rest of the evening lying on hammocks drinking $5 cocktails and watching the sunset......ahhhhhh I'm really rubbing it in, sorry you cant be here!!!