From sand and palm trees back to the concrete jungle

After an overnighter in Mersing in a crappy hotel room I got up early for the first boat to the Tioman. The boat stops at various locations on the island with a variety of accommodation options. I opted for Air Batang better known as ABC - the backpacker beach. A good choice - this stretch of beach is quiet, beautiful and has a bar or 2 - just my kind of place. After checking out the accommodation options I found a bungalow which had a large balcony, plenty of room inside with fan and AC, a clean bathroom but best of all a kettle and a small fridge. All I needed for 4 days of sleeping, reading, eating and watching the ocean. So I settled in and did just that. The only real issue I had was the possibility that I was going to run out of books. I'd stocked up in Penang but read them all during my stay in Kota Bharu. Thinking I'd at least find a Stieg Larsson or something I scoured the book swaps at all the places on ABC only to find slim pickings. In the end I was rescued by Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby - not really the sort of thing you find in the "best summer reads" list but at 800 pages would keep me going for a while (6 days)! There's really not much to report about this section of the trip - I didn't even get in the water, outrageous as that may sound. The last day I was there it poured with rain - the kind of deluge that makes you want to break out the plans for an ark. A bit dramatic - it was really just a tropical downpour but it did mean that I didn't leave the bungalow until the rain eased later in the afternoon. Lots of reading. Many games of Solitaire (the old fashioned way with actual playing cards!).

In order to save money, I opted to go back to KL for 2 nights to do some souvenir shopping instead of going straight to Singapore. Possibly a mad plan as it would be adding to my travel time but it made sense at the time! I made the most of my 1 day shopping and eating. Really, food has been the highlight of the trip - so many things to try! Then it was off to Singapore from the shiny new southbound bus terminal TBS. What a weird place - its the size of a small airport and is decked out like one (minus duty free) - with departure boards and everything. Unfortunately this shininess did not mean it was particularly well organised. The bus left without me (and 4 other passengers) as we were waiting where the departure board said we should but the bus left from somewhere else. As it was it worked out better in the long run - we were put on a Nice (name of the company) bus which has enormous seats with TV screen in the back (that actually worked - unfortunately the only English options were old Meg Ryan films so it was left off), tray tables, and recliner chair type footrests. Talk about travelling in comfort! And it terminated in Singapore almost at the doorstep of my hostel. Result!