Tioman Island

After a long break, I am back again!

I spent the most beautiful days on Tioman Island and am only now getting around to writing a report.

But let's start at the beginning: I arrived in Tioman and was immediately overwhelmed by its beauty. White beach, palm trees, clear water, and no one on the beach. I immediately fell into relaxation mode, as that was exactly what I had been looking forward to for so long. I planned to stay here for 3 nights and possibly extend if I really liked it. I spent the first 2 days alone and couldn't have been happier. I woke up for sunrise, went swimming, and no one was there except me. I had delicious meals, read, relaxed, and enjoyed myself. At that time, it was the end of the season, meaning there weren't many people around and I had the beach mostly to myself.

On the second day, I met a girl from Belgium who was there for a month volunteering. We quickly struck up a conversation, and I was invited to dinner with the locals and her that evening. That was my first experience with typical Malaysian food, and it was incredibly delicious! Everything was beautifully arranged on a banana leaf, and we had a wonderful evening!

That same evening, I also met the two girls who moved into my hostel room. We clicked from the first moment, and that was the start of such an unforgettable and wonderful time. The next morning, we continued as a group of three, but we did pretty much the same things as I did alone. Swimming, sunbathing, reading, eating, and sleeping. We all got along great with the Belgian girl, and through her, we made contact with the locals who worked there. Near our hostel, there was a café that belonged to the accommodation but was a bit secluded on the rocks right by the sea. That’s where we also had our Malaysian dinner.

We went to this café every day, listened to music, went skating, cooked and ate together, played guitar, and looked out at the sea. It was so nice because we mostly had no plans for the day, and something spontaneous always came up, so we ended up being quite active.

And so the days went by, and for the first time, we extended our stay at our accommodation by a few days; not for the last time, as we didn't know then.

We played with the children from the island, went with the locals to collect fishing nets, and then cooked and enjoyed the fish together. We watched the sunrise in the mornings, went jogging together, and swam a lot.

One day, we went on a snorkeling tour. Here on Tioman, a lot of the underwater world is still well preserved because the island is not overly touristy. I saw baby sharks, turtles, and many colorful fish and corals! The highlight was right at the beginning of the tour. We set out on a boat, and shortly after, dolphins appeared all around us and played next to our boat. That was so special, and even if we had turned back right afterward and gone home, it would still have been the best day in a long time!! While snorkeling, we also went to an uninhabited island north of Tioman. In knee-deep water, baby sharks were swimming everywhere, and I am not lying when I say that I have never seen such a fine and beautiful white beach in my life. The sand felt like flour when walking through it, and it was unbelievably beautiful to see that crystal-clear water meeting the white sand beach.

The next days continued in the same vein; we did a lot with the two locals we met here. We hiked to a waterfall in the morning after sunrise, I cuddled with the baby cats next to the accommodation, and we all celebrated together in the evenings.

It was so special because, firstly, we had each other and understood each other so well as if we had been friends forever. But through the locals, we also had such a different access to the island and the village. We were taken into the local life, and it felt as if we were living there.

At night, after the party, we all lay together on the dark beach and admired the countless stars (maybe we saw twice as many as there actually were, I can't say😉), we sat by the campfire, played guitar, and had many lovely conversations together.

And so the days went by; we kept extending our stay, and suddenly from 3 nights, it turned into 11. That's the beauty of traveling alone. Right where it’s nice, I can stay as long as I want and simply adjust my plans. The nice thing was that none of us had booked anything, so we all could leave together.

On one of the last days, we also got to experience something very special: next to our hostel was a turtle hatchery station, and it turned out that we could be there when these freshly hatched turtles were released into the water. It was so adorable to see how these little beings paddled from the beach into the water and then kept popping their heads up out of the water.

But even in the most beautiful places, it eventually comes time to leave. And so we departed this morning with heavy hearts. However, we celebrated our farewell together for the last two evenings since we had grown very close due to the many times spent together and deep conversations. As a result, the beautiful daily life with all the people I got to meet there has now become such special and wonderful memories in my mind. I am very grateful for the last 11 days; I have never been so grateful and fulfilled that I can call this my life! All the people here, the nature, the food, and the activities have sparked such deep gratitude and happiness in me. That will stay in my heart forever!♥️

Right now, I am sitting on the ferry on my way back to Kuala Lumpur. I am lucky to be traveling on with the two girls from Tioman. I will continue with one next week until my brother comes to visit me. The other is leaving us after Kuala Lumpur and will continue to another part of Indonesia. I will also meet the girl who worked at the hostel later in Lombok, so it is just a