The Amazing Race

At least half the time in Malaysia we feel like we're on an episode of "The Amazing Race." I've never watched the show but that has nothing to do with my credibility on the subject; Em's given me so many play-by-plays of different teams' adventures that I've become an expert and die-hard fan. (If, like me, you don't have cable and haven't seen it, it's a reality TV show where teams compete against each other on a global treasure hunt race...). The Emily-Alyssa team, on the other hand, is on a race solely against ourselves to catch various planes, trains, boats, and buses so that our carefully concocted schedules work out perfectly and we maximize our time enjoying our destinations instead of waiting in various stations.

The latest adventure was the return trip from Pulau Tioman (beautiful beachy island where Em snorkelled and dived and I spent many hours and 50 ringgit finally submitting meds applications). Ok, Tioman deserves more than once sentence in parentheses. It is one of the most popular beach destinations in the area but luckily it was off-season so it still felt peaceful; we only had to share our lawn with a group of large lizards. (They looked like strange alligators when they went swimming in the river - very cool.) Em was a good sport about me being anti-social and writing applications all day; she rented snorkelling gear and checked out some humphead parrotfish just out from the main beach, and did a great dive with more parrotfish and no malfunctioning regulators! The beach was beautiful and deserted, the island mountainous and impressive, the beer was cold, and the squid not too chewy - all in all a nice 24 hour stay in Tioman.

Getting there and away was slightly more of a challenge. Buying boat tickets from our hostel in advance went well until we got to the jetty at 7:30 am to find that our company's 7:30 am boat was nonexistent. After shelling out another 45 ringgit for a different company, we enjoyed the 1.5 hour trip in the large speedboat with not twin, but triple 200 hp motors.

On the way home, we timed everything perfectly. We caught the 3:00 boat from the island (with five minutes to spare), so we would arrive on the mainland and hop on our 5:15 bus to Johor Bahru (to jump on a plane to Borneo the next day). Yes, much 'catching' to do. However, while on the boat and only half-way to the mainland, we ran into some clouds. Clouds turned to wind, wind turned to rain, and the whole thing turned into the biggest storm and largest waves our driver had ever been through. We stood, watching as the boat crashed down on crest after crest, with water at one point pouring through the front window all over the driver and our bags. Em thought about which window she could swim out most easily and I contemplated whether there would be enough life jackets to tie one onto my backpack. One of the motors broke, luckily, which slowed us down so that we were no longer hitting the waves with a force that seemed strong enough to crack the hull, or at least tailbones. We realized we would miss our bus. The only other transportation to Johor Bahru (in time for our flight the next day) was a 120 ringgit taxi ride... we rationalized this option by deciding to get our money back from the hostel guy for the nonexistent first boat, as well as deciding to stay one more night in town to eat really good Indian (mmm roti and thosai).

We were shocked, and our bellies a little disappointed, when we docked in one piece and with 10 minutes to catch our bus. Feeling invincible at this point (or maybe reckless), we hailed a cab to go reclaim our boat money with all our extra time. The conversation with the cabby went something like:

"Selamat petang (good afternoon)"
"Selamat petang... East Coast Hostel, terima kasih banyak (thanks very much)"
"?..."
"Just go straight... ini jalan (this street)..."
"?..."
"Straight... follow my finger!... Forward!!" "We're in a hurry!...Fast!!" (making straight-ahead waving motions with all available hands)

We felt bad for being demanding, exhausting tourists so we tried to smile a lot and chat on the way there, but all we established was that he was from town and we were dari Kanada (from Canada). Our hand signals worked though, and we recovered our boat money easily AND made the bus. And the flight to Borneo. All at ridiculously low cost. Sign us up for The Amazing Race next season.

(Note: This post is actually ironically timed - we missed the boat today to an island off Borneo and spent the afternoon walking around in a mall, although a very nice air conditioned mall it was.)

-alyss.