Pulau Tuba

I wake this morning and have arranged to meet Nilo at Raos. She has invited me to stay over tonight and to say I'm a little excited would be an understatement. Its quite crazy as this lady has only met me yesterday but is inviting me to stay at her home on a remote island. It's a good job I'm not an axe murderer. I suppose this is part of the Lfc family way. I have to pack up my room as its pointless paying the night if I'm not staying there and Dean my neighbour has kindly offered to mind my big rucksack so all I have to take is an overnight bag. The island is totally Muslim so I have taken appropriate clothing to be respectful. When I get to Raos the pick-up point I've arranged with Nilo its closed so I head back to my lodgings and message her I'm there. A short while later she picks me up and we head over to pick up her best friends daughter Zarife They want to take me to a restaurant they love but when we arrive its closed so we head to another place instead and share lunch before dropping Zarife back. Nori and I then drive down to the small ferry point which for its size is really busy as this is the port they are using for the series Survivors so literally everything going over to the island is being transported from here. The small passenger ferry arrives and its £1 to take us on the 15minutes journey to Tuba. We stop off at the jetfor the island of the Pregnant maiden where a fable says a couple who lost their son buried him at the bottom of the heart shaped lake but at tbe same time blessing the water in it for all infertile or childless women. Our next stop is Tuba island which is said to be inhabited by over 2000 people but I find that hard to believe when I arrive but maybe covid has had some impact on this as well. Nori's house is just a 5 minute walk from the jetty and when we arrive im amazed. Nilo and her husband built the place from scratch it a huge open plan building made entirely from wood. The inside is adorned with red accents and lfc memorabilia and she's even baked me a cake. We drink proper tea out of China cups and eat our cake with silver cutlery finished with mother of pearl . I feel like I'm in the Buckingham Palace of Malaysia. We spend the day and evening exchanging stories and literally don't stop talking. We've agreed we'll get an early night as Liverpool play at 3am and we both want to see the game.Read more