On the road and boat to Tioman
After an extended stay in Singapore it was time to move on to Malaysia. As the express bus tickets were almost sold out and getting the last ones meant crossing the entire city with taxi to be on time before the ticket point closed, we decided to skip the bus and take a taxi to cross the border. Our taxi driver was the spitting image of late Indonesian president Soeharto and was not the talkative type until we arrived Woodlands Checkpoint, where hundreds of cars queued for the border crossing. Suddenly, our man behind the wheel started calling left and right but in the end couldn’t do more than just sit back and drive at 2 km/hour. The border crossing itself took longer than the drive because of Singapore formalities, first checking the trunk for hidden passengers and then having the passport stamped and a biometric fingerprint taken for the archives. The Malaysian customs before entering Johor Bahru (JB) were much quicker and on top of that did it with a smile.
Arriving at JB we had to get the next taxi to Mersing, an insignificant little place at the east coast where the ferries to Pulau Tioman took off. Abdul, our next taxi driver, made us a special price on the trip but it still felt as a bit of a rip off. He did it with such style however that we couldn’t but smile and gave in. Given the distance, the price was still very low (approx € 30) but it showed the difference in price standards between Malaysia and Singapore as the fare from Singapore to JB was as much as the fare from JB to Mersing, almost 6 times longer in distance.
Abdul’s driving skills would cause him jail time back in Holland but in Malaysia it was apparently the normal thing to do. He was most of the times almost in the trunk of the car in front of him, and overtaking was a question of who had the strongest nerves if a car on the opposite side approached. After the crazy ride we arrived way too early at the ferry in Mersing, so time for some lunch. Seafood Nasi Goreng and a coke for just € 1.50! Sara was again the star attraction at the food stalls but this time made it clear to everyone that she didn’t like to be picked up which is luckily respected by all.
The ferry to Pulau Tioman took almost 2 hours and the first sights of the island were great. Mountains covered with lush green forests and deserted coves and beaches. Tioman was put on the top 10 list of most beautiful islands in the world in the 1970s by Time Magazine and since then it had gone downhill slightly. Fast ferries and an all inclusive beach resort with its own air service perhaps over stimulated tourism in the years after. We chose for the west coast, for a small village called Air Batang. Recommended for families and supposedly not spoilt by mass tourism. Air Batang is nothing more than a 1 km wide strip of land bordered by mountains on one side and the sea on the other. Tourist accommodation lies next to the beach while the locals live in huts against the mountain slopes, a more or less peaceful co-existence. We pre-booked via email a hut near the beach at Air Batang Chalets with A/C which turned out to be a good move as all chalets were booked solid in this period. The chalets are beautifully situated in a nice garden with a fresh water creek running through it. The beach is perfect for Sara as the water is very shallow. With the majority being Australian families, we are the only Dutch one at this side of the village, or Kampung as it is called in Malay. Euro 2008 is the hot topic here and all games are shown live on tv in several bars, even though it is 02h45 AM. I got up for the Portugal – Germany quarterfinal and found myself in a rather strange setting. The sea in the background, Bob Marley on the speakers, a few locals on the floor stoned from smoking a huge joint and a football crazy Australian next to me throwing all kinds of Guus Hiddink trivia at me.
Sara is having a ball here and is big friends with all children but especially with a local kid called Deryan, who is a bit older than her. After his initial shyness he now follows her everywhere, much to the amusement of the locals. Even at this age Sara is already dominating her first boyfriend. Apart from playing at the beach, there are plenty of animals to look out for. Huge butterflies and ants, the occasional monkey (although we still have to spot the first one) and lots of bats which produce squealing pig noises when sleeping in trees nearby during the day. There is also a resident monitor lizard measuring over 1 meter which is supposed to be harmless.
Life is good at Air Batang and we enjoy every minute of it. We could easily stay for another week or more but want to move on to see more of Malaysia. In the last days, we have met two other couples with children who are respectively halfway and at the end of their world trip. Great to see other ‘crazy’parents and to find out the reasons for doing this are more or less similar. Their stories give us even more energy and enthusiasm to continue our journey.
Now that Holland is out of Euro 2008 we don’t have to bother about planning ahead for places with satellite TV. We changed our itinerary and instead of going north up the east coast we will probably head off to Malakka on the west coast to suck in some Dutch history first .
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