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We arrived on the island after dark... not a good idea. The ferry ran late and we still had to find a place to stay, lucky for us everywhere had rooms available. We looked at many places but chose the cheapest option, a small run down bungalow on the beach, didn't matter we weren't gonna spend anytime in the room. We dropped our bags and found a beach bar called sunset.
Over the next 12 days we spent all day laying here on the beach and at 5pm happy hour started and we spent a good portion of the night there too. The beach here had the best swimming, beautiful coral for snorkelling, and friendly staff who we got to know very well. Another bonus was the food... and it wasn't asian. We had pizza and french fries and made this our home.
Our first day we were sitting on our bungalows patio relaxing when we saw a pack of monkeys comming our way. At first they were all over and very cute so we were snapping a few pictures when they noticed we had food. A terrifying moment was when they charged at us and Dean had to fight them off with our broom long enough for us to lock ourselves inside. While we were looking out the window watching them climb all over our place we realised they were trying to figure out how to open the windows. We held them shut and waited for them to move on, and couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Being locked in our hut by a group of monkeys was unexpected to say the least.
Everything is bigger on Tioman Island... That same day we had a meter long iguana walk right past us on the beach, turantulas in our room, and a couple very large bunny rabbits running around. These aside there were also cats, bats, butterflies, and bugs the size of birds everywhere. The wild life really kept us on our toes. Dean became quite the bug killer, cockroaches the size of a golf balls became common prey.
We spent everyday laying on the beach, swimming and playing games. A few times we went snorkelling and it was gorgeous. We only had to swim out a few meters and we were at a colourful coral reef. There were huge fish in very bright colours, and giant sea urchins everywhere. We even saw an eel.
Most of Malaysia is very muslim, so unlike everywhere else in Asia alocohol is more expensive and harder to find. Only a few bars exist, and one store to buy from. Unfortunately that store, and the islands ATM was past the next beach, about 25 minutes away by bycicle. We did the trip 4 times, and it was well worth it. The store was a duty free, so beers were half the price from anywhere else, and they had alot of souvenirs as well.
Tioman Island was the perfect way to wind down our trip, although we do regret not being able to stay even longer. Never would have thought 12 days on an island wouldn't be nearly enough.
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