Pulau Tioman, Day 2

Little R loves baked beans, British-style

We were up bright and early (well, for a vacation) the next day, as little R does not understand the concept of sleeping in. We had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant right on the beach; due to the remote location, we ate most of our meals there (the free breakfast and two dinners). The food was pretty good if not great; B pronounced it "fine" (which is pretty good coming from him).

After breakfast, we played on the beach again. B snorkeled a bit (there is a house reef offshore) and little R investigated the properties of sand (including its edibility: she concluded it was not tasty). Then little R had a nap; once she woke up, we hired a boat taxi and sped off to Air Batang, a kampung to the north with nice diving opportunities.

Whee!! Little R fell asleep: she doesn't scare easily

It took us a while to find the reef. First we ate lunch at a local restaurant overlooking the ocean: the food was really, really good (and cheap! around $5 for everything). Then we wandered along the "road" (a cement track just wide enough for a motor scooter with sidecar), swimming along the way. Eventually we found what we were looking for, and we went snorkeling in turns. I saw my first live coral, anemones, and a wide array of beautiful tropical fish (like really big angelfish, zebrafish, and many more that I am too ignorant to name).

Little R in the kampung

I am a bad swimmer, but was so entraptured I exhausted myself. We had to go to the nearby restaurant and get drinks while I recovered. Little R amused herself by pretending to be a monkey; then she found a little toy car and was totally fascinated. We don't have one for her because I don't like the clutter of large plastic toys; at least her school has a fleet of them.

Monkey baby

Then we walked back to Tekek, the main settlement on the island (where the airport is), which is about two miles. Little R was tired of her carrier by then, so we had to carry her in our arms instead. This was not any fun, especially towards the end of the walk, when she was tired and grumpy, and thus refused to be carried by anyone but me.

Little R and her car

By the time we made it back to the hotel (we rented a boat in Tekek), we were all tired (including poor R, who missed her second nap). She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but B and I stayed up, me reading The Hunger Games and B puttering on the Internet and doing work, alternately.

Reading The Hunger Games

We went to bed around midnight, but did not sleep, as I felt something touching me in bed. At first I thought I was just imagining things, but then I realized it was living and began panicking. B leapt out of bed and turned on the light, and on my foot was the grossest, biggest bug you could imagine. OMGOMGOMG!!! I was dying and shaking in fear. B removed it with a swipe of the blanket and crushed it on the floor (which took some doing, it was hard-shelled and tough).

Then we went back to bed (though I was rather reluctant). But we didn't fall asleep. B said, "The funny thing about insects is that once you start thinking about them, you imagine they are everywhere." I agreed, but then a minute later, he said, "I think we need to turn on the light", very calmly, so as not to upset me. There was a rather large bug (about the size of a quarter) nestling on his boxers. He killed that one too, and we returned to bed, but I couldn't sleep and neither could B. Five minutes passed, and then B felt another bug. This time it was a large moth (the size of half my hand), which somehow had gotten under the covers. We decided our room was cursed and unclean, and went to sleep in little R's room. No bugs bothered us there, but I had nightmares all night in which bugs were trying to eat me.

This reminds me why I am not really a fan of the jungle.