I have to give you some background on Tioman. It's very much an undeveloped island; there are no ATMs and no roads connecting the different villages. If you want to get somewhere, you can either trek through the jungle to get there or charter a water taxi. Outside of a dozen or so resorts and guesthouses, the island is scarcely inhabited. Getting an Internet connection is never a sure thing on a day to day basis. In short, Tioman = off the grid.
The 35-minute flight from KL is on a tiny, 48-seater Prop 7. The plane is so small that visible amounts of steam must be released into the cabin on takeoff and landing to maintain the proper pressure. Landing on Tioman was pretty thrilling - in a 15 second span you rapidly start descending and it looks like you're headed for the ocean water, then at the last moment you drop onto a narrow runway tucked into the jungle.
We boarded a water taxi and took a rocky 20 minute ride down the island's west coast to the Paya Beach Resort.
Our chalet was on a pond filled with coy fish, about a 30 second walk from the beach.
Three-foot long lizards...
...and a bunch of little monkeys were chilling around and under our chalet. Our first day, we explored a bit of the jungle around Paya and relaxed on the beach and in the water. Late in the afternoon I led some group yoga on the dock in front of our chalet, so I can cross "lead group yoga session" off my bucket list.
On Tuesday I woke up early for a full day of diving. Tioman has some of the best diving in the world. I did two dives in the morning around the most beautiful coral I've ever seen, and saw some amazing fish as well. No whale sharks, but I did see a giant sea turtle, eels, manta rays, Titan triggerfish, and a tens of thousands of other brightly colored fish. I have some amazing photo/video from the morning dives thanks to a French guy named Oliver who let me copy his onto my flash drive, but I won't be able to see any of them until I'm back home. But the water is so clear and the fish come so close to the surface that you can photograph them even from the boat.
In the afternoon, Brian, Cody and Sam took a Discover Scuba course where they were trained on the basic skills in a pool, and then we all went out for one open water dive together once they were ready. While they were training in the pool, I struck up a conversation with some Malaysians, since it seemed like nearly every person at the resort with us was speaking Mandarin.
It turned out that they were part of a group of 26 Malaysians on holiday together to celebrate a friend's birthday, so we quickly made a lot of new friends. On Wednesday morning we joined them and went on a snorkeling boat trip to Salang and a Marine Park northwest of the island.
In the afternoon a bunch of us trekked to a waterfall and cove nearby Paya to relax and cool off and escape the humidity for a little while.
Later on, at low tide, we swam out to a little island not far from Paya before we had to say goodbye to our new friends and the South China Sea.
Oh yeah, about the gluten, it's really easy to stay g-free here in Malaysia. There is a huge selection of dishes available because of the Indian, Chinese, and Muslim influences in addition to the Malay cuisine which is already largely gluten free. My favorites include nasi lemuk, coconut white rice, and a number of spicy rice vermicelli stir-fries that I forget the names of. But I didn't have any issues on Tioman and for once, I really didn't even need to think about it. You know, like a vacation. This morning we flew back to KL, and now we are waiting to fly to Vientiane, the Capitol of Laos. Stay tuned.
Location:Paya, Pulau Tioman, Malaysia
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