To be honest, my friends and I initially planned for Bangkok. But since the oil price hike and all, things had gotten rather expensive and way out of our miserable student budget. Hence the island trip. Affordable and guaranteed to bring loads of fun! And Tioman it was!
On the 14th of July, we took the late night bus from KL to Mersing after a delicious dinner by Naima's mommy. Yummy! It was a 5-hour bus ride and we reached Mersing at the ungodly hour of around 4am.
Zhen and Mel in the bus
Maria (on the left) looking very happy despite no sleep
Zhen reading his mag while everyone was sleeping on the bus. Siao. Erm, I shall not post up any pics of me in the bus cos I was told that I looked ugly. And that was the first thing that was said to me as I woke up at 2am in the morning for a toilet break. Who uttered those words to me, u may ask?
HimHis name is Alex, the handsome passenger of the Mersing-bound bus. His pearly whites are like sunrays in all its UV goodness. Gawd. He's rumoured to be the next Colgate model, replacing Mel the Smile. And since I looked like shit, u will not get the privilege of seeing my shit face.
Moving on, everyone was groggy as we got down from the bus. It was freaking dark and the only one happily awake was the bus driver. He was a nice fella and directed us to the nearest mamak stall which was like, 30 minutes away. But because everyone was not mentally awake yet, we couldn't understand what he was trying to say. We just looked at him with this confused look on our faces and I supposed we must've looked like retards from KL. Thankfully Maria was smart and alert enough to realise that Mr Bus Driver was speaking Malay.
So then, we walked according to direction in hopes of finding a warm cup of coffee. It was damn dark and the streets were practically empty and the shops haven't even opened yet. It was eery but enjoyable cos frankly, the early morning walk along with the chilly, unpoluted morning air was refreshing. Personally, it signified the start of our adventure! The adventure to seek a mamak stall!
The journey to a mamak stall
All our walking did not go to waste cos we found a lone mamak shop. Finally! A place to fill our tummies. The food there sucked but beggars can't be choosers.
Posing with a metal fishy after breakfast at a mamak
Mersing Jetty
We reached the Mersing Jetty to wait for our 7.30am ferry while it was still dark. It was tiring to wait for the ferry so a few of us walked around and witnessed sunrise. It was beautiful.
Sunrise at Mersing
Trying for the 2008 Olympic high jump
This is how u do tai-chi
The I-slipped-on-a-banana-peel pose
While a few of us were enjoying the sunrise, the remaining few camwhored in the jetty. Sigh. Once a camslut, always a camslut. Hahaha...
*coughcamslutcough*
In the ferry
We didn't know where to stick the stickers
The ferry ride from Mersing to Tioman took almost 2 hours. By the time we stepped foot on the Tioman jetty, we looked like haggard old-timers.
To be honest, Tioman did not give us a good first impression. Firstly, the weather was gloomy and it rained earlier on, so everything looked bleak. Secondly, we were told that we needed to walk quite a distance to our chalet and it was the farthest one from the jetty! Then, cos it wasn't peak season for tourists, the place was kinda empty and it was just the 8 of us in Tioman. Naturally, everyone had this devastated look on their faces. I was thinking, "And I paid for this??? There goes my island trip."
We had to walk to Genting Bayu Chalet; the last one -_-"
Gloomy Tioman weather
To make matters worse, we were informed that the generator was down, which meant no electricity. No electricity meant no air-con for our rooms. Whoa! I was surprised to hear that our rooms had air-cons! I expected ceiling fans at most. So, I was pleasantly surprised but was frustrated at the same time cos, of all times to not have electricity! Damn!
Anyway, here's some of the things we saw on the way to our chalets.
The most creative Slow sign to date
Puffer fishes make good tree decors
Poor dude was only Bendahara for a year!
Silverhead the eagle *cough cough*
Luckily, things started picking up by afternoon. The generator was fixed and the sun started shining! Everyone changed into their beachwear and hit the beach which was directly in front of our chalet! Yeah!
We boated, played sand frisbee, and chilled in the sea water. Ahhh, words simply can't describe how relaxing it was. After we got tired of the sand and water, we rested at The Hut. The Hut quickly became one of our favourite places on the island mainly because it had a nice Balinese feel to it. It was a great place to just sit back on those long wooden chairs, feel the breeze in ur hair and watch the sunset. Oh man, I miss it already!
*tears*
Our chalet!!! ^_^
We love posing under the sun!
No prize for guessing who was the yummier one!
David, Ah Ma and Naima looking good together! ^_^
Beach babes in red
Yes, David. U love Pringles. We got it.
Mel's smart idea to get 4 people on the boat -_-"
Yeap. Water was flowing into the boat cos it was too heavy. Thank you, Mel.
And Mel had to drag the boat. LOL!
Needless to say, it sunk. Zhen is evil ;(
Posing with the oars
Erm... What the hell are they doing?
Clown on a board. Hahahha!!!
We also walked to this wooden jetty which was practically at the other end of the stretch of beach. The walk took us quite awhile but it was worth it cos the water there was a clear turqoise color, and the corals were still alive! We could even see schools of fishes swimming around! But I didn't dare to jump into the water because the sea urchins freaked me out and the part of the jetty which was immersed in water was very slippery thanks to algae. It would be extremely difficult for me to climb up the wooden poles, but as u would all soon see, it did not deter the boys from making a splash!
The wooden jetty
Beautiful waters
Can u see the fishies?
Zhen having second thoughts about jumping in
Splash!
Just posing and not daring to jump in
Serenity
Clinging on for dear life
Looks fun but it was a scary experience >_< 
Ready...set...jump!
The Hut!
Looks romantic, doesn't it?
A rape? O.o
Sunset - breathtaking.
David the poser
Maria in the hut
At night, the islanders cooked us dinner and it was delicious! It was traditional Malay kampung style cooking but it beats a lot of city food! However, we had to eat dinner by candlelight cos again, the generator was down. Yeap, it looked set to be a miserable night but u know what, screw the blackout! We created our own fun! We fooled around with the candles and we gathered at The Hut, darkness and all, and played Truth or Dare. It may sound childish but oho! It ain't childish when ur dared to do certain things and asked questions which puts u on the spot. A lotta secrets and embarassing moments were leaked and shared, I tell ya. And it was awesome fun! Yeah, baby! And the beauty of it was, what goes on in The Hut that night remained in The Hut. You'll never know unless ur one of the 8.
*winks*
Dinner time!
The 'ayam masak merah' was damn good!
Someone's ding-dong was on fire
Ur future attorneys
Thankfully, when it was about time for us to hit the sack, electricity went back on! And we slept like babies in our queen-sized beds, with air-conditioning to make us comfortable.
Thus ended Day 1.
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