Malaysia update - finally!

I wrote this on June h, but I haven't been on my own computer since then, so I'm posting it now. More posts to come soon, because we are in Singapore with free internet in our hostel! Amazing!

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Here I lie on my bed in the hut I share with Christine, and I feel the need to update you loyal readers on the adventures I have experienced in the past three weeks.

Tonight marks exactly three weeks that I have been in Malaysia. I flew here on May 13, met Christine in Kuala Lumpur, and we traveled together (a harrowing day!) from mainland Malaysia, on two buses and a vomit-inducing ferry, to this island off the eastern side. We left our KL hotel on the morning of May 16 and caught a bus to Kluang. We were supposed to get a bus right to Mersing, which is where the ferry departs, but there was only one seat left, so we asked for bus tickets somewhere nearby! We spent almost 3 hours in the bus station playing cards, scrabble word games, and talking, until our bus departed. Malaysian bus drivers are nearly as scary as Chinese ones, I note. Many times Christine and I had to close our eyes, clutching each others' hands, because we thought an accident was inevitable, and we didn't want to see it happen!

When we got to Kluang, which was a bus station in the middle of nowhere, random men kept asking where we were going -- potentially they were cab drivers -- but we asked at the bus station window, and it turned out that there was a bus leaving for Mersing in 5 minutes! They didn't even have time to open the luggage area so we could put our massive bags on, so we lifted them onto the nearly-empty bus seats and sat near them. That began our second bus ride, which was even scarier than our first -- windy roads taken at a very high speed. At one point a large number of schoolkids boarded the bus, and our luggage was taking up needed seats! There wasn't much we could do, but the kids were nice and helped us figure out where to get off in Mersing. As soon as we got off the bus, someone asked us, "Tioman Island?" Why, yes! We went into a little travel agency sort of office, and were told that the last boat to Tioman left in 5 minutes. Perfect! I was so glad we'd get to the island that night and not have to wait until the next morning.

We bought our ferry tickets, and the woman asked us about accommodation, but we weren't sure if Chris Ketner had indeed reserved us a hut on the island as we had hoped. The woman said that there was only one room available in the whole place (it was a big holiday weekend), and it was on the 5-star resort and very expensive! We decided to take our chances and hope that Chris had a room for us. We ran into the store/restaurant next door for snacks, and found only water and soymilk (for energy?), then came back and got on a van that took us to the jetty.

We boarded the ferry, which was so crowded (again - holiday weekend) that we had to sit on Christine's soft duffel bag in the AISLE! The boat started moving ... but it wasn't a forward movement -- it was a deep side to side dipping motion. I immediately began to feel bad, but not exactly queasy. I think it was a combination of extreme jet lag and little sleep. This was really one of the worst transportation experiences I have ever known. At one point a little girl and her dad got up (probably to vomit in the bathroom), and some schoolkids moved around, and there was an open seat, so Christine put me in it in hopes that it would make me feel better. Then she got a seat herself, and we were all set. I spend the 2 hours on that boat with my eyes closed, slowly counting backwards from 1000 to 1. It worked! Shortly after I got to 1, I opened my eyes. Two children had vomited near me, in front of me (on other peoples' luggage, lovely). But the island was there! We could see it! Our "resort" was the fourth stop, and we got off. It was about 8 by then, and we had no idea if we had a place to stay, or how to find the other people we knew on the island, but we started wandering around with our luggage along the road/path, world-weary. We asked some people if they knew where Greg and Maddy were, but they didn't, but they did recognize Analisa's name. Finally, as we walked back and forth even more, someone at a chalet reception desk said, "Christine?" Yes? "Christine, really?" Yes! Well, Chris HAD booked a room for us! Thank you, Chris, you saved us. Johan's Chalets had been told to look out for a tall, pale redhead, so they found us! (That refers to her, not me...) We put our bags in our lovely hut and headed to the restaurant for the most amazing fish dinner I've ever had. Later, we found Greg and Maddy, and Michael and Priscilla, and everyone that we know who is staying on this island, and had a number of good talks with them.

Well! That was the first day, and now it's been three weeks. How have I spent my time? The first week was pretty busy experiencing everything there is on the island, trying different restaurants (there are only a few), biking and walking to Tekek, the next town over, which has a bank and some more stores. I also got open water (scuba) dive certified, which took four days and was very exciting and a little scary! We did a lot of snorkeling, which I particularly enjoy because the salt water just kills my eyes, and a snorkel mask protects me - to some extent. Every evening we all meet at Sunset Cafe to - what else - watch the sunset, eat pizza and drink beer or milkshakes (that's me!), and talk. It's so peaceful and easy to be here!

I got to celebrate my birthday here, and we spent the day having meals with friends, snorkeling, making batik sarongs, and having a bonfire on the beach. John Baker (Uncle Max) designed my batik, then it was waxed onto fabric, then I painted it with color, it was soaked in a special wash, and then I got to take it with me! Maddy and Christine also made ones that day, and John made his own the next day. It was so much fun, even though we were absolutely dripping: 97 degrees in the shade, not to mention the humidity. We are 200 miles from the equator, so it gets quite hot.

I've been struggling a lot with sunburn. I hate sunscreen, but of course I wear it every day because I absolutely have to -- and I burn right through it! I sweat it off, even though it's sweat-proof, or it comes off in water, even though it's waterproof, or something else ... and I've gotten some interesting sunburns! I have a really bad one right now, but that's because four of us had an adventure in the last two days.

Maddy, Analisa, Christine, and I decided to trek over the mountain that covers most of this island and separates the west side (highly populated) from the east side, which is very sparsely populated and has one village, Juara. The trek goes through the rainforest and takes about 2 hours. We set off yesterday morning and walked to Tekek, which is where the road starts, then headed up the mountain. Some of it was real so-called bushwhacking, walking along a tiny path mostly overgrown with greenery, but much of it was cement stairsteps going up the mountain -- so tiring! Of course, we've all been lazy on the beach here (except Analisa and Maddy sometimes go running, and Christine will too when the sea urchins in her foot start to behave), so none of us was used to an exhausting uphill hike in the heat! It was quite nice once we got into the rainforest, which was shady and almost cool. We saw wild (?) cows, and had a view of the Juara beach from the top of the mountain, although most of the time our view was obscured by the trees. Finally, our hike ended in a long, steeply sloping downhill road, where we were overtaken by a number of vans (where do they go in Tekek? Not down those stairs!). We got to Juara and walked around trying to find a place to stay and a place to eat. It's so unpopulated, compared to ABC (where we live now) and our entire side of the island, we had no idea if we had walked through the "town," or if we needed to walk to it. Finally, we were tired of walking, so we found a cute place to stay and booked two chalets (nicer than Analisa's and Maddy's here, but not as nice as Christine's and mine, since we splurged on AC). We ate lunch there and met the woman's tame pet monkey, then played in the water most of the afternoon.

After a few rounds of cards, we walked back to the "center" of town (or so it seemed) for dinner, and got delicious and expensive fish and french fries -- a bit of a splurge. It was so beautiful and peaceful there! It's peaceful here, too, but there are just more people around, all the time -- not crowded at all. Just people. Juara was much more desolate. This morning we woke up early because of the heat in our hut, got breakfast, and hiked back home, which seemed much harder, although in this direction we were walking UP the steep road and DOWN the cement stairs, which was probably less tiring -- not counting the way our muscles were already feeling after yesterday!

We were dripping with sweat after about 5 minutes of walking, and made it home completely drenched! As I said to Christine, "Why shower? We're all wet!" Then I promptly took a shower. Now I'll have air-conditioning (aircon, which is its own word here) for one more lovely night, then I will move to Johan's, the "resort" where we spent our first two weeks, and I'll live in my own private non AC hut for the last week here. Next Saturday our plan is to leave Tioman and head to Singapore for a few days, just for the fun of it. (Christine and I took a two-day trip to Singapore last week, which was so much fun! We got to see Indiana Jones and have real movie popcorn and root beer, and we bought -- wait for it -- double stuf oreos!) This time it will be Analisa and Maddy with me, and possibly Greg. After Singapore, we'll make our way by bus to Kuala Lumpur, where we'll stay for another few days before we fly to China and return to tour -- again, a few days early to allow for any travel problems. Then the tour begins again! After this extended hiatus, though it has been amazing, I think we're all very excited to begin performing again!