Tioman islands

Once we had left Singapore we headed by bus to the fishing village of Mersing, a non descript town with only one purpose for us and that was to catch a boat from there to the islands about 2 hoursaway. We spent a couple of days in Mersing catching up on e-mails and getting little bits and piecesbefore heading to the islands.

The morning of the boat ride the weather was great and the sea was like a mill pond making the whole trip very quick and easy. As the boat approached the islands they loomed out of the heat haze and we were faced with these towering rocks that were covered in jungle going up and up and up. Once we had docked we had made the decision to head to the far side of the island to the most remote beach because it sounded like the best for us. To get to this beach you must hire a 4X4 to take you across the island on the mounting road, we met another couple that were also wanting to get to the other side, so we all took one 4x4 and it worked out cheaper for us all.So we all hoped in an old 4X4 and set off, and as soon as the road started to head up the car coughed and spluttered to a stop with smoke coming from the engine. The lad try to start it but with no joy and said that we would have to get his other car for the ride, but this time the rain had started and the less time spent out of the car the better.After limping back to the village we got the other 4x4 and it was allot better but an open back one, meaning that are bags would get very wet unless there were covered , luckily the diver had a large supply of big bags and the problem was sorted and we set off.

The road the crosses the island has been under construction for years but is nearly finished and is not really a road but just a strip of concert that is reinforced with metal and in some places clings to the edge of the mountains. The 4x4 have to work really had to get from one side to the other and we had lots of wheel spining and the whole drive was done in the lowest gear possible. 30 minutes later of driving all up and then all down we arrived in Juara and what a place.

Juara consisted of one very long beach split by a small headland and had a large pier for boats on one side, there was only one road and this ran the length of the beach. Scattered along the beach but mostly the pier side were basic beach huts and small family restaurants.Away from this side at the other end of the beach we found a beach hut to stay in, very very cheap and nice and peaceful and out of site from the pier, the sand was clean and almost white and the sea as clear as glass.

Over the next week are daily routine consisted of deciding which restaurant to have are meals at, this was a hard decision to make as they all served amazing food for so little money. Reading and going for swimming and snorkels around the rocks at the side of the beach.Our routine was only broken once when one day we decided to walk to a water fall, the first one we walked to the path was soon block due to a fallen tree but was no problem because there was another one nearby that we could also walk to. The second walk we tried was uphill the whole way, and was some hill, it took us about an hour of climbing to reach the falls and we both needed a dip in the cool water pool after the hot, steep and sticky climb.

After just over a week we decided to make the trip back to the mainland, the time we spent in Tioman was so relaxing and peaceful, we met some great people and got a real scene of island village life and it will always have a special place in our memories.