Pulau Tioman, Malaysia

We spent the past five days in paradise. After a six hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur, a night in the port town of Mersing, and a two hour ferry ride, we arrived on the small island Pulau Tioman off the east coast of Malaysia. It has thick jungle, white sand beaches, and turquoise clear waters. Our accommodation was very basic, but we had AC so it felt like luxury. There were basically two places to choose between to eat but they are both delicious and super cheap. Andreas and I were both stuffed for around $5 NZD.

Andreas and I decided to get our PADI advanced open water certification. We dived five times over two days. We did a deep dive down to 30m to see a ship wreck. We also learned to navigate with compasses underwater and about fish identification. On our favorite dive we swam through a series of underwater caves in crystal clear water which were packed with schools of fish.

We made friends with everyone at the dive shop and spent most evenings hanging out on their deck. One evening the guys cooked us a huge meal of "chicken rice" and we spent the night playing music and singing. Andreas enjoyed showing off his ukulele skills. We managed to find some wine (a rare occurrence in Asian countries) and spent our last evening drinking it on the beach. Next we move up the coast to the Perhentian Islands.Read more