Tioman

Day 1
(This is one of those stories that you can read by only looking at the pictures. Sort of. Only if you want.)
Woke up early in the morning (5am) half dead, knowing that a headache would be following soon but also knowing that I could sleep it off in the van. Did some last minute packing, stuffing my chargers and batteries into my travel bag which was carrying all my fishing tackle and could've easily weighed 20kg.

Made my signature egg mayo sandwich for my dad and me. This time though, I used double slices instead of folding the bread slice in half. This presented a problem in terms of bread supply so I ended up using wholemeal bread that had expired the day before, with no ill effects I should add.

We were supposed to take the train down to Eunos MRT where the Malaysian van was supposed to pick us up but we ended up taking a cab. One of the Comfort cabs refused to stop for us and I immediately called the company to complain. As I write this, I have still not received an update on the situation as promised by the company. As always is the case, when carrying my fishing rods, there will be those who taxi drivers who drive past and there will always be the eventual taxi driver who will stop for us and will turn out to be an angler himself.

We arrived at Eunos in no time and I headed off to do my morning business while my dad went to the carpark to meet the rest of the guys. Said the customary "Hello Uncle"s (they were my dad's Badminton kaki) before we headed off to Marsiling MRT to pick up the remaining passengers. The driver though, ended up stopping at 2 other MRT stations before finally finding out where Marsiling was.

We finally reached the Woodlands Causeway where our driver told us that he could persuade the Malaysian customs to overlook our bags with just RM40. Thinking "oh what the hey", we paid him the money as we went to get our passports stamped.

After I did more of my morning business at the terminal, we headed for some genuine Malaysian coffee. Sent an sms to cutie as promised just before we headed off to Mersing, and just before I was out of Singtel's range because it turned out my AutoRoaming had been cancelled. Took them 2 days to activate it.

Lean into that curve!

Our driver must have thought he was Schumacher because he cornered at speeds between 100 and 120 KPH and even leaned into the curves but I guess you could also consider it a blessing because we reached there in no time.

Ferry Terminal

Waiting for Ahmad

We had to wait about half an hour for Ahmad to arrive and then another half for the boat to leave port. I watched the inhouse movie which was about a dirty cop who started loving his slut of a wife after he recovered from a gunshot-induced coma. The show had quite a few scenes that probably the kids shouldn't have seen. I was like, "WTF?" and then I was like "Hang on? Isn't this a Muslim country? A country where they won't even let former Muslims change their religious status on their Identity Card". There was one sex scene where all orifices, appendages and the twins were not visible but everything else was! Including "the ins and the outs".

Pirated disc clearly visible.

The journey itself was around 1 hour but because the boat had to drop passengers off at different jetties across the island, by the time we reached ours, slightly less than 2 hours had passed.

Blue Water

I know a few Singaporeans who wouldn't dare go on that.

We finally reached our stop and we unloaded our stuff, helping each other with our baggage as we went along.

Our rooms were right in front of the jetty which had since been converted from a wooden one to the concrete one that you see below.

Rooms	Old aircon disconnected.
Like no Sauna you've ever felt!	Empty Jetty

My dad and me changed rooms thrice because the air con was not working. We both can live without aircon but when there are no windows, the heat gets to you in a way no one likes. Anyway we headed off to a little "restaurant" that some of the guys had been to in their earlier trips here for a late lunch.

Food

The guys

Had a nice late lunch even though the kangkong was damn oily. Stole a bit of left-over prawns and rice from the fried rice to use as bait and berley for river fishing. I had spotted a nice small river with some fish that I was keen to try out.

Over the food, we decided to go for a hike at around 5 plus to fill up our day.

We headed back at around 5 to prepare for the hike when Uncle Robert came out of his room to let us know that Ahmad was inviting us to fish on his boat for an hour or so. I came here to fish so I said I'd go along once I unpacked my gear and stuff, which wasn't long. Since the boat was small, some of us would fish while the rest would go for the hike.

You put the lime in the...

Had a sip of nice cold sweet fruit punch before heading out for my first ride on a speedboat and after riding it, I must say, I WANT ONE! The speedboat I mean. :p

We fished till about 8pm where we returned to the shore where our part of the island had a blackout. My pants were all wet and sandy by the time we reached land because I had been the anchorman, taking turns with George, and then helped to pull the boat up 10 metres from the shore to save it from the tides.

Ahmad

Me and

We had a dinner cooked by Ahmad's mum followed by a mini "peanut-party" and then I headed off to bed with my dad warning me to let the water run for a bit before using the toilet because the first part was black and full of sand. The rest of them went Karaoke-ing with Ahmad in his Karaoke room.

As I was about to turn in, I saw a cockroach crawl underneath my dad's bed but I shrugged it off and just laid my head on the pillow. I figured if it had another dark place to hide besides under my blanket, it would stay there.

Day 2
Today was to be a "full fishing" day. But before we were to head out on Ahmad's bumboat, we decided to go to a "waterfall" somewhere behind the chalet.

Had a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast bread with delicious kaya and margarine, and instant coffee! Tasted just like home. I don't know what it was but it reminded me of civilisation!

Went to the nearby shop to get myself a pair of pants and bought myself a pair that costed RM29.99 (and as I would later find out, was NOT machine washable).

Kua Simi?

Ready for a dip.

We took a group photo before heading off for the hike to the "waterfall". As you can see, the sky was pretty dark by the time we set off and I was actually afraid that it might rain.

"Upper Class" Chalets.	Fat Ass Lizard
March de Triumph	A River Runs Through It.

There were quite a few things to see on the way there. Monitor lizards, power cables coild and stranded like suspension bridge cables, sea coconut plants, rivers. Unfortunately, there was no eye candy but that would have been only a bonus, not the main attraction. I think.

Some of the wildlife, coexisting with humans.

The source.

Thankfully, when we reached the "waterfall" it didn't start to rain. The water was really cold. It must've been at least 10° to 15° C and is not the kind that you can get used to over time, unlike a "cold swimming pool". When you're in the water for a while, your legs start to feel a little numb and tingling sensations move up your leg and although they stop getting worse after a point, it doesn't disappear.

The guys.	"Waterfall" :P
10° - 15° water	Building a dam

The water was much colder than the surrounding air so if you got out of the water for even a few seconds and then hand water splashed on you, you'd feel it. You can ask my dad for verification on that. haha


There was 2 foot long catfish swimming among the rocks but thought nothing of it. In the river there were also Yabi, crabs and tons and tons of insects. No snakes though. =)

Managed to catch a crab with the help of Uncle Robert's croc slippers. He stood on 'em and I grabbed them buggers from the back.


Soon it was time to head back as we had to do some boat fishing and I picked up a few pieces of driftwood that I found along the trail to put into my fish tank back home.

Dry riverbed.

Fallen trees on the same riverbed.

We trekked uphill for a bit to check out what was higher up the mountain. We saw dried up rivers hundreds of meters long. In place, we saw pipes which were used to supply the island's plumbing with fresh water.

Cool plant (Not edited!)

There was a lot of interesting stuff to see along the way. Seeing a dry riverbed was way cool, the plants were cool, the insects were cool. It was all cool.

If this river was deeper, it would have been my dream fishing spot.

Heading back	Armed like Rambo
Fungus	Spot the Monitor Lizard!
Attap Palm (Attap-chee)	3 Brothers - 1 + Ahmad

Headed back to the rooms to get our gear for the boat fishing that we were going for soon.

The fishing was somewhat odd. Size 20+ weights and size 1 to size 4 hooks. For those not familiar with this stuff, we usually use size 1 and size 2 weights (a.k.a the sinker) with size 1 and size 4 hooks. The current was simply so strong that we had to use super heavy weights just to keep our line straight.

The view

Some of the guys

I started using a fishing rod and a reel but the rod couldn't take size 20 weights so I had to use size 5 weights which ended up drifting. Fed up that that was happening, I asked uncle Vincent if I could borrow his handline, which he let me to use.

Schooling

Schooling

That's when the fish started coming in. Using a handline, I could feel every single nibble by the fish and I spent less time reeling my line back in to check the bait. But trying to pull a line without the aid of a rod and a reel up possibly about ~50 metres with just your bare hands was tiring work and I began to ignore small nibbles so I didn't waste my energy just to bring up the small fishes.

Uncle Vince (not Uncle Vincent)

Caught a number of small-medium fishes. They call this a good haul. I suppose it's alright but I was used to bigger fish than this in Singapore. Luckily, the use of the handline made it much more fun.

The catch	Posing (with some strangers)
Quantity

Posed with this Canadian lady and 1 third of the "Indian Brothers". Had a home cooked dinner of Chilli Kangkong, Fried Battered Sotong (which tasted heavenly) some Asam fish and rice.

Managed to catch a live telecast of a soccer match final (Not sure which it was. I only follow F1 these days) while sipping a beer.

Went to sleep shortly after. The simple life. heh.

Day 3
Headed to the gift shop/provision store and bought a few trinkets for the folks back home. Was pretty expensive stuff. The shop lady, as usual, was a bit nosey and poked us into telling her how much fish we had caught and what not.

Most of us headed to the waterfall again, this time bringing ourselves a couple of beers left over from last night which was frozen solid, having being accidentally left in the freezer. lol

After lunch, we headed off for another boat trip. My dad caught a nice sized parrot fish and I caught my first barracuda(s). When we got back I tried to bait the parrot's at the jetty but they were not interested.

All in all, my hands were cut all over because of the handline and the size 24 weights on size 1 hooks.

Good enough for the market.

Not for boasting though.

This one is good for boasting.	Handlines all the way.
Huge schools	My first Barracuda

Home-made incinerator	Cows at night

O 'Rly?

Did you know that monkeys socialise? Yea. It's true. We spotted a whole bunch of them taking turns to jump into a pool of water from the tree branches.

After dinner, we saw Ahmad walking quickly to the jetty for some late night egging (squid fishing). Seeing him catch a few of them got enough of my adrenaline pumping and I ran to my room to go get my rod and my virgin squid lure. Within seconds of casting out, I managed to snag a big one. The water was crystal clear and you could actually see the squid turning and then sprinting to your bait. Snagged on the hooks of the lure, the squid tossed and turned and squirted ink in a blind panic, only to tangle itself more on the numerous barbs of the squid lure.

Good fight

Good eating

Day 4

3 for RM10

Crunchy

Today was our last day on this little island. Woke up and had a cold shower, yet again. You know, someone should build a portable water heater - wrap the device around the pipe and it heats it for you.

Tooks some pictures of the island while waiting for the ferry.






In our rush to board the ferry, we almost left the fish box behind. Then there was some dude who was trying to bluetooth rubbish to me. So I decided to send him/her a picture of me and a huge fish I caught.... and the toothing promptly stopped. =/

On our way back home, our van had to pass through a roadblock but the policeman waved us by with a smile. From this trip I will remember the "peanut parties" and watching a live final of one of the soccer cups on a 20inch TV, 10 metres away. Of course then there's the scenery.

Persecution is rampant	Waterfront property
Crowded	Right out of a postcard
Bullshit	Your dream or mine
Empty but full	Waterfront property

To see more photos from my trip, visit http://www.fusionforest.com/main.php?g2_itemId=213.

Apologies for the poorly written story. You know how when things seem funny or important at that moment, but don't later on? Well this is one of those times. The difference is, I still wrote about it. haha

Cheers,
Shawn.