Tioman

Supposed to go to Perhentian for a short getaway but since there were no bus tickets, we headed to Tioman. Instead of going to Salang (where we always go when we go diving in Tioman), we headed to Kampong Tekek. The bus ride was ok. Can't go too wrong with Transnational. Got ourselves ferry tickets when we arrived in Mersing. There must be a major lack of control on the number of tickets sold cos' the ferry was overloaded and Anita and I had to sit along the aisle on portable stools.

As for return tickets, we made the mistake that the speedboat would be better cos it costs RM$45 than RM$35 for ferry. More on that later.

The ferry ride was really horrid. The sea was really choppy and I almost threw up. I don't usually suffer from motion sickness anyway. The degree of choppiness is determined by how much and how often the horizon moves out of the sight from the window frame. For this case, it was really really frequent. Nonetheless, I survived the trip.

Diving was not so ideal this time round too. Visibility was really bad because of the strong winds. Learnt a lot of new things about dive sites in Tioman too. Like the many swim-throughs that I had never done before at Tioman. Didn't realise the variety of nudibranches there as well. Not bad afterall! That's why I'm going back again next month. Hee hee!

Met 4 Malaysians at the resort where we were staying. Made friends and exchanged contacts. We're meeting up for a photo-viewing session next weekend in JB! Wah so cool...

Anyway, the 6 of us went trekking together. Quite fun lah... They brought maggi and hot water and 100 plus and stuff when we went trekking. So we had hot maggi mee and 100 plus by the waterfall, after having quite a bit of fun catching freshwater shrimps and scaring the catfish out of its shelter. After that, we took the 4WD back from Juara to Tekek. Boring lah...nothing special about 4WD rides, so I......fell.....asleep......heeeeeee

Anyway, the photos are out on http://community.webshots.com/user/platyplat7. Didn't realise that I have exceeded the 250 photos. If you can't see the photos (including the Ride On folder), pls drop me a comment! Also, the video on Anita feeding the fishes at the marine park is uploaded at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa-HWgdkJOY.



The speedboat journey back to Mersing was a terrible experience. The speedboat was overloaded and the seats were so cramped! I think my knees were bruised after the 1-hour ride cos' of the bumpy ride and cramped seats. Since there weren't enough seats for people, let alone our bags. Our luggage were left to soak in the goodness of seawater for an hour, which left me really pissed. Next time, it'll be Air Bejaya. Hrumpf!

Screw you guys @ Bluewaters Ekpress!!! Screw the boat!!!! I mean literally!!!!! The water was coming in from the windows even though they were closed. Anita was half drenched when the water poured in from the windows. Still, she was unfazed. She must love the place and the people a lot. I don't.

Oh well. It's back to work tomorrow. Dear's still cycling in Taiwan and the typhoon has died down. Hopefully he'll take up diving in the near future...