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January 17th-19th The sun rose on the layed back, friendly city of Mersing. Four little Whittens got out of their beds ON TIME to go catch the boat to the Tioman Island. There was an awesome cool breeze that came off of the ocean water that we all, especially the kids, really enjoyed! It felt so good. There was a funny Malaysian music video playing on the TV to entertain us for the whole ride. Well, it wasn't ment to be funny but the lady in the bright green dress that danced and lip sinked to the music on bright green grass...well, her outfit kept changing color according to the background she was standing in.We arrived and were in total awe! Wow this is a beautiful place! We were invited to come to this man and his family's village called Air Batang on Tioman Island. His village is about a mile and a half strip down along the beach. There is one paved bike/motorbike path that goes through the whole village. No cars on this part of the Island:) Lots of big, gorgious pink flowers and yellow and purple flowers that Jade has been collecting to give to the local Malay people that she has been quikly making friends with as she always does. We have been here 3 days and think we want to stay forever.(j/k but it's like what Heaven might look like.) There are fresh banannas and mangos and orange coccoanuts(don't ask:) no actually they say we know coccoanuts as brown and rough/stringy because they are older by the time we get them in the U.S. but they are orange or yellow in color and smooth. I don't know??? There are funny little monkeys with long tails that come to greet you in the mornings. They come walking across the power lines down to our little hut/cabin we are staying in for about a week for only $7.00 a night! They run across the roof and look down over our front porch and try to communicate with Jade and Eva. They speak in "Chitter Chatter". No, not just the monkeys but Eva especially speaks this dialect quite well for her young age of 15 months! Wow shes good. The people are increadibly welcoming. They live in peace and harmony here. The locals who were born here and still reside here say there has never been any crime on the Island. No pocket picking/steeling no violence. Everyone respects eachother...leaves their doors and windows wide open to the beautiful fresh ocean breeze. They say they never have to worry about their children anywhere roaming and playing on the Island ...they say it is a great place for their children to grow up. The whole Island is all jungle beaches and small mountian jungle hills and there aren't even any animals in this jungle that harm you. There are funny monkeys, birds, lots of friendly stray cats that love people, even the large snakes just coil around you or things but they do not bite or have poisen venum. We have not seen the snakes and they kind of stay back in the jungle hills and are rarely seen. We saw an iguana in the beautiful cascading stream coming off the mountian yesturday. The food is awesome! Lots of waterfalls we have not explored yet. We are lucky we arrived at a perfect time. Just after monsoon/rainy season and just before tousist season. It is quiet and peacefull.Oh man! I just got back from visiting Ryan at his 3 day scuba diving class and wait till you hear the story he has got to tell! I obviously was miss informed about there not being any harmful animals on this Island. I just found out that there are two different snakes on Tioman Island. Pithons...which I have been told are harmless. But there are KING COBRAS! Yesturday Ryan and his small class of 4 people were studying their books on scuba diving so that he can be certified to do deep Sea diving. They were studying at a table outside when one of the locals who worked at the snorkal shop was looking under a boat turned upsidedown on shore...looking for some snorkal gear when he sudenly shouted..."SNAKE!"If you are bit by a King Cobra, you are dead in 20 minutes.So it was quite serious for the 4 students and the local. The shop worker local was sweating and adrenaline pumping as he pinned down it's head with a long stick. They said the KING had such a strong body it took the three grown men ( Ryan one of them ) to hold down the snake as they struggled with all their might to put the Cobra in a big cloth bag and tie him up. The local brought it up into the jungle ,away from all the people in the village, and let him free.
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