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Saz and Dave's travels
As we had to make our way across town this morning to catch the bus to Mersing at 9am, we got up pretty early and had showers. The night at Wheelers backpackers had been pretty uncomfortable but not too bad. The worst bit of the stay was when I got back from the shower to find Sarah standing on the bed pointing at the bags. Apparently a massive black thing moved across the floor as Saz looked in her back. When I moved the bags, nothing moved at all and as I checked under the bed I did see something black running out of the door but didn't see it again so I couldn't really comment.
Having checked out we made our way across town in good time and got to the bus station early enough for a big coffee and a doughnut. After breakfast and a quick shop for supplies we boarded the bus., again it was very spacious and comfortable, we can't believe how good the bus services are around Malaysia.
The 6 hour journey was going really well as we made steady progress down the Super Highway. It wasn't until 1 1/2 hrs into the journey when something went wrong. Sarah's coffee had made its way through her system and was presently pressing against her bladder. She was fairly patient for another 1/2 hr but after that she started to writhe around and fidget in her seat and after another 1.2 hour of not stopping, Sarah had a very pained expression and looked as though she may we herself. Eventually the driver decided to stop and Sarah ran off the bus and barged her way to the front of the Queue and during the course of the stop, went to the toilet twice!
After he break and with Sarah settled down, the journey was great again and passed a lot quicker than some of our previous, shorter, rides have been. The journey was so good in fact that by 2pm, an hour quicker than expected, we arrived at the pier in Mersing.
At the pier we booked straight onto the next fast boat to the Island and waited for 1/2 an hour. While waiting, we got chatting to a really nice Scottish couple who were also on a trip around the world. We spent the majority of the journey on the boat chatting to them and although it was called a fast boat, the journey took 2 1/2 hrs!
Eventually the boat pulled into Air Batong pier and he four of us alighted. Our first impressions of the Island were very good. It consisted of a main path flanked by a line of wooden houses and shacks and palm trees, all he locals were really friendly and the middle of the Island was covered in dense forest. We didn't think the guide book did it justice to be fair as it said that it was over developed, but short of overdeveloped meaning a constant electricity supply the guide book seemed slightly harsh.
As none of us had any accommodation sorted and we figured we would get a better price if there were more of us looking for a place to stay, all four of us started to walk along the path where all the accommodation was at. We first headed to our first choice chalets which happened to be the furthest distance from the pier, and they were fully booked, oh well. We then trekked around for another 45 minutes looking at practically all of the chalets at Air Bating. On our travels we did see a massive (4 -5 ft) Monitor Lizard though, so hat cheered us up a little.
Eventually, after leaving the Scottish couple at a 3 quid a night chalet, we stumbled on a really nice resort on the side of a hill with very cosy, air conditioned chalets, which after a little bartering were very cheap. The chalet was right at the top of the hill and backed right onto the edge of the jungle and looked like a scene from a horror movie at night it was that foreboding. Inside though, apart from the old fashioned interior, the bathroom was really clean (despite having no hot water) and the blankets were bight pink which pleased Sarah no end (she was even scheming some way of smuggling them back to England at one point).
That night we went to the hostels restaurant for tea as we felt a bit knackered and met up with the Scottish couple. After a lovely meal, we spent a couple of hours watching some ridiculously cheesy American when things go wrong show and playing cards, before heading back to our creepy chalet for an early night.
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