Malaysia - Tioman Island

We went to the pretty island of Tioman, 32km of the south east side of Peninsula Malaysia.  It's 39km long and 12km at its widest point

It's very quiet where we stayed, in Air Batang, or ABC as it's commonly known

Most of the beaches aren't as good as other Malaysian beaches, but the snorkling/scuba diving here is brilliant

Less than 20m from the shore, there are allsorts of fish, coral, sharks and stingrays

Looked like a 2 storey house which had shrank

Some of the beaches were still very good...

This is Tekek, the main hub of Tioman.  This is part of a new jetty investment, much to the annoyance of conservationists

There is a jungle landing strip 'airport' which can only be approached from the north, due to hills to the south, and the angle means this is about the biggest plane you get

There are thousands of these big bats (fruitbats, I think), hanging from the trees in Tekek

and hundreds of these all over the island...

Stiff penalties if you're a Muslim not acting very Muslim..

Nope, this isn't a path, it's the road in ABC

With the jungle behind, there are lots of streams coming down to the sea

Some have big Monitor lizards in them.  We saw 2 such lizards fighting, standing up on hind legs and tail and gripping each other, trying to pull the other down.  The victor then chased the other away and went to a smaller lizard, prob a female.  Like town on a Sat night!

There aren't any cars on ABC, but that doesn't mean that 8(+)-seaters don't exist...

There are also loads of monkeys, esp at Monkey Beach, where one tried to get into our bag whilst we were swimming

Sometimes all you can do to keep cool, is bathe in the clear waters of the South China Sea

Looking back at the pretty island as you do...

Being this close to the equator means that it's an necessary evil....

But we managed...

We went through the jungle to Juara on the east side of the island.  We saw some animals we'd never see before, including this, which obligingly waited for me to take a photo.  We also saw a snake, probably a rat snake, but it got away too quickly.

Shrooms on a fallen tree in the jungle.  This is far more interesting to watch for a few hours, than the film of the same name

Looked like an exoskeletal tree - mad!

A little lizard trying to dash up the slope away from my camera

The bananas here in SE Asia always seem to be small and fat, but taste the same as ones back home, apparently

Just arriving in Juara after a 2 hour hike from ABC at just over 10km, mainly very steep, at 2pm.  To say we were hot....

Juara is a wider and better beach than most on the other side.  It's also even quieter as it's the only village on the east side

Wasn't long after we arrived, that storm clouds started brewing - of course...