Getting to Singapore and Tioman Island

I think we left off in the airport in Helsinki.  Wow, that was like 4 days ago...  Well, Bridget is taking a nap, so I'll just start going and see if I finish before she gets up! :)

So, the flight from Helsinki to Singapore was long.  We were hoping it was at least a little shorter that Chicago to Helsinki, but we were disappointed.  The flight was just a hair over 11 hours.  Quite a bit longer than the 9 hours to Helsinki.  Anyway, we flew FinnAir, which I must admit was pretty nice.  The flight wasn't very crowded, so I grabbed the row next to our window seats so one of us could sleep.  The only problem was that I grabbed one of the only 2 middle rows that didn't have fold-up arm rests.  Yeah, slight problem for the sleeping planned.  And by the time I figured out my mistake, the entire rest of the plane was taken.  Bridget asked the flight attendant if we could just hop up into business class because there were plenty of empty seats there, but he said we couldn't.  Oh well, she tried... :)  Anyway, seats were relatively comfortable...for sitting.  It is nearly impossible for me to get more than an hour of sleep in a plane.  I have tried bending forward and sleeping on the tray table (provided the person in front of me doesn't recline...that complicates things quite a bit...).  That works pretty well sometimes, but other times it cuts off the circulation to my legs, so I can't do that for very long.  The whole lean back and sleep thing just doesn't work for me unless I'm completely exhausted.  It's kind of like sleeping standing up.  There's times that I could, but most of the time not.

Anyway, the plane had TV screens for every seat, which is cool (the flight over did not - one TV for like the whole cabin.  Not cool for the guy (me) sitting behind the tall guy).  But the coolest things was that you could pick what movie you wanted to watch!  They had like 20 or so movies available.  Or you could play video games, which were probably Atari-quality.  But if you're stuck for 11 hours, it doesn't matter.  I beat the fighter plane game on my first try and made it halfway through the "find your way out of the maze" game.  If video games weren't doing it for you, you could watch TV shows (pretty extensive selection).  So, the in-flight entertainment was definitely top-notch.

While I was playing video games, Bridget was sleeping in our original 2 seats by the window because their armrest did flip up and was (mostly) out of the way.  She was over there quite a while, so I assumed she got lots of rest.  After I tried sleeping over there, I'm not so sure.  Now, I'm not even 6' (but I am very close), but I couldn't find any arrangement of my body that allowed me to fit horizontally without my feet sticking into the aisle.  Which wouldn't work very well with the food and beverage service, which was like every 2 hours or so.  Very much appreciated by a person like me.  And the food was pretty good too!  We got dinner even though the flight left Helsinki at 11:40PM, so that was a good way to start the flight. :) But, as I was saying, I got next to no sleep on that flight.

We arrived in Singapore around 4pm.  We caught the Beesy Bus (painted like a bumble bee - clever) to our hostel and got all checked in and all.  The hostel had a no-shoes policy above the main floor, which made quite the shoe collection at the bottom of the stairs.

Lots of shoes... at least in my opinion... :)

We grabbed some dinner at a Chinese place a few blocks away.  It was pretty good, but the silverware was metal and washed by them.  A little suspect, but nothing I could do about it.  I would have preferred sanitized plastic silverware in the little plastic bag, but out of my control at that point.  We didn't get sick, so it was fine in the end.  We did a little more walking around after dinner, but were still exhausted and the adrenaline of the new place was wearing off quickly.  So, we headed back and planned out the next day.  We would catch a bus to Mersing, Malaysia and then catch a ferry to Tioman Island.  For some reason, Bridget thought a 6:30am bus sounded fine.  I was too delirious to argue at this point, so I agreed and set my alarm for 5am.  The numbers on clocks didn't really mean anything anymore anyway.  So, we fell asleep around 8:30pm.

I was awoken around 1:30am by loud peals of thunder (we were on the top floor of the hostel) and heavy tinking of rain against the metal roof.  "Hope that goes away," I thought and rolled back over.  5am came, but the rain stuck around.  Bridget and I grabbed our breakfast (coffee, 2 hard boiled eggs, and toast) and then gathered our things.  Since it was still raining, we decided to wear our ponchos... over our backpacks and bags to keep them dry too.  So, looking like loonies, we ventured out into the tempest at 5:45am, headed for the bus stop that was supposedly only "15-20 minutes away".  Well, given the fact that it was dark out and the bus stop wasn't marked by any noticeably signage, we missed it.  Bridget pointed to it, but all I could see were a few trucks in what looked like a parking lot.  Bridget didn't have her glasses on, so she had no reason to second-guess me.  We kept walking for a few more blocks and then asked a hotel concierge.  She said it was back the way we came and across the street.  So, we backtracked and made it to the bus stop.  Which was great.  The not-so-great part about it was that there was no 6:30am bus from that bus stop.  The earliest bus that we could tell left at 9am and we couldn't even talk to the bus company until 8am when they opened.

So, we marked out our territory on a bench and waited.  I got a picture of Bridget with her garb on (I looked alot worse with my backpackers backpack on my back and drawstring bag in front like a baby carrier...).

Awful cheery at 6:30am... :)

But we had each other and made the best of it.  Around 8am, we found out that the earliest bus actually left at 10am.  So, we bought our tickets and waited.  Bridget got some Chinese Peacakes for a snack before the 4-hr bus ride.  I had 2 and Bridget had 1, but they weren't all that good, unfortunately.  Our choices were a little limited since we were in Chinatown... :)  Anyway, we boarded the bus around 9:30am and took off at 10am.  After crossing the border, going through customs, and picking up more passengers along the way, we finally made it to Mersing.  We were literally dropped off on the side of the road (the bus station was on the next street over, but the driver didn't pull over there for some reason...).  However, a nice lady was there to greet us and she just so happened to be in charge of the ferry.  So, it was like 2:10pm then.  She said the next ferry was at 2:30pm and was like a 10 minute walk away.  Oh, and we were supposed to check in 30 minutes ahead of time.  Bridget and I glanced at each other nervously, but the lady said to try and make it.  So, we grabbed our tickets and backpacks and headed out toward the ferry jetty.  We make it at 2:25pm and checked in and joined the line.  It was pretty close, but we made it! :)  We didn't have time to stop by an ATM, so we were hoping the only ATM in our city on the island was working...  And we didn't have time to get lunch either, so we were getting pretty hungry by this point.

But we made it to the island around 4pm.  Here are a few shots from the ferry.

Really clear water and clean beaches...

Tropical paradise

Can't wait to get the snorkel stuff out!

A little like Jurassic Park back there...

And some random pictures... :)

A Jeremy-Bridget footprint!  Yeah, we had alot of time at that bus stop... :)

Our bunks at the hostel in Singapore (the closest ones)

And the shoe tally update

Response	Count
Awe	2
Jealousy	3 (including 2 of my siblings)
Curiosity	2
Envy	4
Confused	2

Well, my computer battery is dying and it's past dinner time, so I had better go get Bridget up.  I'll update on today's adventures (yes, plural) as soon as I can!