Tioman (still)

Fitst things first- sorry to all of you for sparse Internet lately, it's 10RM in the island for an hr which is one nights accommodation on the mainland! So despite my promise, I failed miserably at keeping it. This also means I still haven't booked flights yet. Tioman is just so nice, it's easy to spend longer here than planned!

Monday night I went for dinner with Andy and his friend Villa (pronounced 'Villae'), over to Tekek, the main strip of civilization here on Tioman (meaning it's a construction site with a small airport). We ate at a Chinese restaurant, had the most amazing butter battered king prawns (melt in your mouth style) along with chili squid and mutton pot. Mmm it was so tasty! Then we went to a bar which was v cool. It had a climbing wall on the outside (but I passed the chance to climb since there was no rope...) and hammocks on the inside with chilled out music playing. A few cocktails later and I'm on the beach watching fire dancing!! Andy, who I should prob also mention is my dive instructor, starts joining in with two other guys from the bar wafting these flaming balls on chains around. I say wafting, actually it was more spinning, doing tricks, very hard moves that left all the crowd in awe. And I didn't take my camera cos it had been raining gutted!

Tuesday was dive day, Andy took Villa n me through a 12m sink hole leading to a swim through (tunnel). This basically means you swim down head first into a vertical tunnel of coral, which then horizontal out into a triangular tunnel which was actually quite tight. I went last and came out alive. It was fun. Once we did that, there was more swimming through coral undercrops and tunnels, so much fun!! And the fish that are here are amazing, you get to see all their hideouts. I saw blue spotted stingrays and at least 3 turtles on that day :D mega!

Wednesday was spent on the beach tanning and teaching Andy how to play sudoku (it was his day off and the season is winding down so not many new ppl turning up to hang out with), playing cards and having a few beers before a BBQ dinner.

Then today (Thursday) I cycled across to Tekek, I mentioned earlier it's the main commercial strip, to visit the duty free shop (everything is cheaper there) n the doctors since I have an ear infection - this happened in Thailand too, I think it's a dive thing. Anyway this means no more diving for me until it clears- I have 5 days worth of tablets, ear drops, antihistamine tablets and insect bite cream (this was a handy add on, not something for my ear!) Then I pushed the bike uphill and rode it down the otherwise (weee!) to get to this resort with a lovely golden sandy beach. The main gate had security so I went round the back of a restaurant to get onto the beach, spread out my stuff and enjoyed the scenery. No one seemed to mind. After about an hour and a half it suddenly turned to thunderclouds and started spitting so off I went pushing the bike up the hill and cycling down again (weee!) back into Tekek. A visit to the cash point, then back to duty free then home to ABC to have some afternoon lunch and a beer, as well as some more beach time. Now I've got to go home to freshen up, and decide when im leaving and book my flights outta here :s sigh...

Friday was spent sun tanning on the beach, I am turning a slight golden brown now or at least the white bits seem very white compared to the rest of me! It was a hot hot day so went in the sea a fair few times. It's gorgeous turquoise blue getting a deeper shade of blue the further out you go. Sigh... And listening to the surf is just mesmerizing. I am actually beginning to wonder if I need someone to come rescue me from this island since I don't seem to want to leave! Ha ha

Today (Saturday) I have down as my admin day. This means I WILL book my flight, Internet and book hostels and diving in Sipidan etc...then I will sun tan in the afternoon. Perfect. Then I need to pack and pay bills etc...ugh! And tomo will be a travel day for sure, arriving in my next destination (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo) at midnight :s

Until then...