Tioman Island, Malaysia

After using the week to settle in and make friends, we decided to head off to tropical weekend in Malaysia. Not knowing the first thing about how to get places, we decided to fluke it and attempt to get to Mersing, Malaysia, which is the docking city to get to Tioman Island. After an hour long MRT ride and a 5 hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Mersing. This bus ride was definitely more of rollercoaster since the driver would go 150km/h , take turns at 150km/h and pass cars while almost driving into oncoming traffic. But after 4 hours of clenching onto my seat and making very nervous facial exchanges with the other passengers, we arrived alive. Its never a good sign when everyone getting off the bus sighs with relief. We then took the hour ferry over to Salang beach. The water was a perfect blue, the sand white and tropical palm trees for miles and miles in the distance… We have officially entered paradise. The first thing we did was get accommodations and then jumped into the water with beer in hand. The water was perfect and glistening in the sunset. The rest of the trip consisted of us eating, swimming, tanning and drinking on the beach. On the last day, we decided to go out to the other islands and snorkel. We went to 5 different stops at different islands on Tioman and snorkeled for 4 hours. The coral was all different colour’s and shapes and there were fish of all types and sizes. I felt as if I was on a Planet Earth episode and could hear David Attenborough's voice in the background... “And there’s Finding Nemo, the clown fish, peddling around in his exotic pink fungus that he calls a home”. The boat ride back from snorkelling was another near death experience, as the waves had picked up and boat was almost unable to ride through them. Other than the endless amount of stray cats, the sketchy toilets and lack of toilet paper, Tioman Island was a perfect kick-start to the school year. What more can you ask for than a beach weekend with new friends and beautiful weather.

The Perfect Sunset