Tioman Day 3

Today I slept in. :)  Bridget work up around 6:30am, as has become her custom, and I woke up around 9am.  Much better... :)  Anyway, we weren't sure what to do today.  We started with breakfast today, which was coconut rice.  Which was actually quite good.  And definitely more filling than a little piece of french toast.  We talked with the girl who manages the place about snorkeling and she said that we would have to wait until tomorrow to book a trip, but she called a friend and asked if he had room for 2 people tomorrow.  He said he normally likes to have 4, but he'll see if he can find 2 more people to fill the boat.  Since we couldn't really go on a snorkel trip today, we decided to trek south today (instead of north, as we did on day 1).

The new pack mule - Carrying 2.5L of water and matching tan clothes! :)

To the south of our city (which is called Tekek), is another city called Paya.  Between the two is a huge resort called Berjaya.  This monster has several pools, arcade, massage parlor, salon, and an entire golf course!  We were fortunate enough to be allowed to pass through during our trek.  I'm not sure if we could have gotten to Paya any other way, but it was still nice of the security guards to not charge us or something.  Anyway, we passed through - it took 20 minuntes to just walk from one end to the other - amazing views the whole way through!

Beautiful golf course!

Lizard!

The southernmost rooms at the resort...

After finally making it to the other end, we headed down the path, which was blocked by a fallen tree just 50' from the end of the resort.  Naturally, we sidestepped it and kept going.  Removing a side story for lack of interest, we walked through a turtle sanctuary where they raise and care for sea turtles.

See, the turtle is just hanging out... :)

Pretty cool place.  And a nice beach.  But we kept on trekking to Paya and made it there in another 30 minutes.  Our intention was to snorkel in Paya, since the girl at the Swiss Cottage recommended it.  But our stomachs reminded us that lunch was first.  So, we got some Chinese for lunch.  Surprise! :)  Bridget and I both got noodles this time.  Mine were in this grey gravy stuff that was really good and Bridget's were fried in something else.  Both had chicken and this tofu-kind of stuff.  We didn't ask what was in it because we were too hungry to stop eating. :)

Lunch!

After lunch, we re-stocked up on water (see, we learned from the first time...) and changed into our swimsuits.  We hopped in the water just down the beach from everythign else, but there really wasn't much in the water.  After floating for about 10 minutes, we got out after not seeing anything of note.  Maybe we went to the wrong part of the beach at Paya or didn't give it enough time, but since we didn't really have that much time anyway, we pulled out and hit the trail back toward Bejaya to snorkel around the turtle sanctuary place.

The beach at Paya - Cool island, not-so-cool snorkeling...

Once we got back to the turtle sanctuary beach, we noticed some dark spots in the water, which meant there was coral there (instead of white sand).  So, we dropped our stuff under a tree on the beach and dove into the water (figuratively, not literally.  It was far too shallow to actually dive in).  Anyway, there was alot more to see there.  There were definitely lots of fish and lots of interesting coral.

Cool Beach + Cool Water + Cool picture = ....

= Happy snorkeling-Bridget! :)

So, it is really hard to smile underwater without looking dumb...

Some more cool coral - there was TONS of it on this beach

After snorkeling, we walked back to get our bags and a bunch of monkeys came along to watch us.  Pretty sure they were after food, but we didn't give them any.  This beach is frequented by tourists, so I'm sure the monkeys have learned well. :)  While gathering our things, we started to hear thunder in the distance.  The clouds on the horizon looked a little darker, but not very much.  But we put our money in a ziplock back, just in case.  As we were walking back, we could see the storm front pass over the mountains and, almost instanty, the wind went from 0-60 in about 3 seconds.  The trees were bending over, the sky went dark; it felt like a huricane was coming.  (In all honesty, I thought it was kinda cool, since I knew we weren't in any real danger).  It started sprinkling, but since we had just been in the water, that didn't bother us.  We walked back through the resort.  I'm sure everyone was wondering who the loonies were walking out in the rain.  Not that we cared anyway... :)

Once we got back, we cleaned up and headed out for dinner.  BBQ!  Chinese BBQ, but BBQ nonetheless! :)  We got to pick out the meat pieces we wanted and then the chef cooked them up on the coal-powered (literally... :)  ) barbecue.  It got some squid (surprise, surprise) and a stingray (ha, betcha weren't thinking that was coming).  Bridget got chicken (surprise, surprise) and a few prawns (not the effect of stingray, but still out of the ordinary).

My meal pre-BBQ

My meal post-BBQ and ready for eating!

We got some rice to go alongside it and had a great dinner!  After dinner, we got some more water (yeah, we were the heavy drinkers at the Swiss Cottage) and headed back.  We booked an all-day snorkeling trip for the next day, so we hit the hay early so as to save our energy.  So, that's all the excitement we could muster up for another day.  Hope you enjoyed it! :)