Mersing Hotels
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Back in underpants land
Entry 7 of 64 | show all | print this entry |
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Well, finally left the island and here I am back in Mersing. Can't say I'm happy about being here and not on my tropical paradise, but I figured I had better see something of Malaysia apart from sand. Doesn't help that I'm in Mersing - I'm sure its a lovely seaside town, but that night on the jetty is pretty much going ot ruin it for me forever.
Actually had meant to leave Juara yesterday. Got packed, paid my bill and was sitting on my porch ready to go and everything. And then I sort of just didn't leave. Eventually, the others planned a big trip "downtown" to lunch, and that seemed much more manageable. I think it was a better last day anyway. The previous day we had gone on a big (compared to what we usually did in a day) snorkling trip around the island. Quite exhausting really. Kind of hairy ride - we got taken by a mate of Jan's, but his boat was a bit dodgy. It had about a 30degree lean, which is alright for a sail boat I guess, but not so much a speed boat. Every now and then a wave would knock us a bit further and water would wash into the back corner. He didn't seem to perturbed tho, and I figured we had snorkle gear with us so...
Pretty spectacular fish life, but unfortunately the coral isn't what it could be - alot of boat anchors have damaged it. We did manage to find other more isolated spots which weren't so bad, but not as much fishies. They were fairly brave too - was watching them swiming around my face when I felt one bite my leg. Scared the shit out of me. Actually - wasn't a good day for animals. We stopped in a place called Monkey Bay, and left our bags on the beach while we went snorkling. I sort of wondered about the title so I left my bag on a really spindly little branch. Forgot about it and when I got back it had a bit of stuff taken out of it - I thought one of my companions had borrowed my sunscreen, and it was about 2 hrs later that we realised all of our bags had been ransacked (I guess we all thought each other were rude) and every bit of food missing. Considering my wallet and camera were in there I guess I'm lucky they didn't smell of food... Probably wouldn't have been as humourous. Also stopped at Salang which is a more accessible village on the island. Not a good thing - it was hugely crowded and reeked of rubbish. All a bit much for us Juara-types. They fed the monitor lizards there so they had huge 2m beast wandering around.
So all in all that was a pretty darn physical day for us, whereas yesterday was blissful nothing, more in keeping with the place. We had a bit of a bash last night as a few were leaving. However, the cooks had left for the week, so the past few days we had been feeding ourselves. Like I've said, kind of casual. I had taken up crabbing in a stream a bit down from us, but after a successful first day had succeeded in just donating bait fish to the river thereafter. So we supplemented it with some fish. Which were a bit of a mission themselves. They were quite defrosted so me and an Aussie chick had to de-scale them and gut them partially frozen. I was desperately trying to remember what mum use to do (mum is a surprising expert in this area) but failed miserably. Between us we gave those fish such an ignomious end in death that no creature should have ever had to suffer. Went for a dip in the ocean to try to clean off, and then had flash-backs to that Jaws scene at night where the girl gets chomped. Remembering, of course, that at this point I smelled of fish-guts just to entice sharks that little bit more. Topping the fish gutting saga, our coconut-husk fire was a bit of a bust - we succeeded only in getting people close to passing out from blowing, and gave, at best, the fish a severe case of heat-stroke. Talking of coconuts, firmly in island mood I (and others sufficiently robinson-crusoe-dreaming) climbed a few trees to pluck some. I gave up after coming across fire ants on one tree (appropriate name it turns out), but we did have enough coconut milk to keep up with the vodak. That kept us going till the not-so-wee hours of the morning sitting on the beach.
Then we had a slow boat direct to Mersing today. Scorchingly hot, and apparently rough enough to get some people feeding the fishies. But more in keeping with the island life that those jolly speedy things. You had to be a bit careful though - guard rails are apparently optional.
Didn't do a hell of a lot else on the island. Considering I was there more than a week. But just lying around seems to suit the place very well. Went for a bush walk but didn't see much other than big millipedes. Nice swiming hole though, but not so vital when you live on a beach. Heard monkeys but never saw them. Pretty much I appear to be the only one on the island who hasn't seen one. Even that walk to Tekek and back was a bust in that regard. That one kind of worried me - walking back at 6pm with all the locals looking at me like I was a loon as I headed to the track. I sort of humped it over double-time frantically imagining the various wildlife that would eat me at the first sign of darkness. Alas, unless the squirrels were surprisingly vicious and hunted in very large packs, my life was fairly safe as it turns out. I think i did set a new record for the crossing however. But apparently an isolated lush jungle is the safest place from animals. I was biking back to the "resort" in the dark one night when I saw a dog wandering around on the road. This kind of surprised me - there are 4 dogs in Juara, and about 3500 cats, so this dog was more out of place than pretty much any other wildlife. As I turned around to watch the path I saw a bloody snake lying across it. I just managed to swerve it and then turned around to check it out. Turned out to be a 2m python. Very so much the biggest snake I have ever, and ever wish to, seen in the wild. It didn't look very hungry tho, but I imagine things may have been different if I had run over it. Took a brighter torch with me after that. Oh yeah, and I saw a bloody cow.
Bit of a pity to leave it all, but there is the entirity of Malaysia to see. Hmmm. Juara 8 days. Everywhere else, 10 days...
If you're wondering about the title - its a reference to nothing dodgy. Just the fact I've spent the last week in swiming togs.
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