Motoadventures2up: Juara, Tioman Island, Malaysia...then we are gone.

We ended our stay in SE Asia with a bang and a splash, and in one of our favourite places, as it turns out. Tioman Island. We met a fun couple on the bus to Tioman from Melacca, Karen and Peter Hall from the Isle of Wight in the UK. They joined us for a few days on ABC beach and then up and over the island to Juara beach. "I don't know if you will like Juara, it's pretty quiet" people said but it was exactly what we were looking for in a small town, friendly locals and two, one km long, wide and white sand beaches. At the beginning of our stay on Tioman with thought we would stay 5 days or so then move on to the Perhentian Islands, after all "What would we do with ourselves for a full 2 weeks?" As it turned out we did stay in Juara at The Bushman Guesthouse for the rest of our time in Malaysia (except for one last stop in Malacca to connect to KL to catch our flight to Germany) an there was plenty to do. We snorkeled and swam everyday, we saw a turtle, several cuttlefish, eels, rays, many colourful fish and a great variety of coral. We also took several hikes to a couple of waterfalls, once again the cool fresh water was very refreshing after trudging up the hills in the jungle in very high humidity. Another thing we found very interesting was a turtle sanctuary, that gathers turtle eggs from the beach when the turtles come in during the night and lay their eggs. Unfortunately, harvesting turtles eggs is still legal in Malaysia and unfortunately the turtle numbers have declined drastically and only a few are coming back to reproduce.

The Bushman Guesthouse was a great place to stay, at the very end of the beach it was secluded, they had a great restaurant, friendly staff (all family), and our little chalet had everything from hot water, two fans and a nice balcony to sit on and water the tide come and go. The only drawback being the sandflies that loved me but left Ken alone. Sweet blood!

With our trip drawing to a close, we took the boat back to Mersing on the mainland then a bus on to Malacca for a night. Dragging Katie (a nice girl from Canada who is working in Cambodia and was at The Bushman for a little R&R) with us we had a great time showing her some of the sights in Malacca we had enjoyed on previous trips. What fun and what a beautiful city.

Well, with all said and done it is time to move on. After a short bus ride from Malacca Ken and I spent our last hours in Malaysia in the KL airport, spending our last Ringets and looking forward to visiting with our friends in Germany again.

We couldn't believe it, there really is a thing called Kick-a-poo Joy Juice. and we drank it on Tioman. It's good.

Karen, Peter, Ken and I enjoyed a few happy hours at a small bar on ABC beach. Because Malasyia is a mostly muslum country, you will not find much drinking but Tioman is a dutyfree island so we could indulge in a cocktail for a reasonable price.

Fruit bats hung from some of the trees and palms during the day, making quite a racket while they waited for dusk to fly away and feed.

The Bushman Guesthouse, sitting on the edge of the beach nestled into the palms.

Cool surfer dudes! Sieiji, Dale and Ken.

A large water monitor, it had to be close to three metres long from nose to tail.

Ever wonder where rubber comes from? On one of hikes in the jungle we walked through a rubber plantation. The sap runs down the trunk into a container where the liquid solidifies then is gathered and sent for processing.

Oh-So-Refreshing.

There are some very large, old trees on the island and vines hang from most. We kept our eyes open for snakes, cobras and pythons to be exact, but didn't see any.