South Pacific - Tioman

It was always our intention to end six months of endless roaming on a beach and given Tioman's reputation among Malaysians as the most impressive of the east coast islands it wasn't a difficult decision to plonk ourselves here for a week's relaxation.

The boat ride, 51km east into the China Sea, was notable for two reasons: dramatic change of scenery between the mainland (jump off point Mersing) and the small outcrops we pierced heading out into the deep blue and the obscenities muttered by Marit - head between knees - as she struggled with motion sickness brought on by the high rolling waves.

For those of you familiar with the flick South Pacific, it was the remote sandy coves of Tioman that formed the setting for the mythical Bali Hai. Later, in the 1970s, Time magazine proclaimed Tioman one of the world's top ten "most beautiful islands" (it's not difficult to see why!) since when numbers have been on the rise. Fortunately - tourism, as we all know, has a down side in that it eats up and shits out everything in its path - the geographical make-up of this island has deterred development and allowed it to remain relatively untouched since Hollywood producers stumbled upon it in the 1950s.

The island's most northern beach, Salang, was our choice. Popular with divers - step off the beach into the water and immediately you're surrounded by stunning coral - and travellers alike Salang is a world away from other Malaysian islands, like Penang and, to a degree Langkawi, where at times the concept of being on an island is wholly unbelievable. Tioman's means its flora and fauna are markedly different from mainland species. Indeed, on arrival, we spotted several metre-long Monitor lizards - "crocodiles" as Marit so eloquently put it - roaming the shoreline, more than we'd seen during our entire stay in Taman Negara!

After a long hard week lugging backpacks it was inevitable that Ina and Bernard would be overjoyed with the sight of sea and sand. You should have seen their faces! It was as though a huge burden had been lifted from their shoulders! Ina was first into a bikini and onto the beach, where she remained all week long! Bernard meanwhile took to the clear waters, clutching a mask and snorkel, from where he seldom returned - when he did it was to buy a bottle wine and kick back in a hammock during sunset.

For much of the week we all did very little. On a couple of occasions we disappeared on kayaks to explore neighbouring coves or travelled out into deeper waters to swim with exotic fish and turtles. Kris and Bernard attempted some of the rugged trails inland - the sight of Bernard standing naked on Monkey beach, hand on hips, with tackle swaying in the afternoon breeze was truly memorable for all the wrong reasons - while mother and daughter swept through the pages of countless books.

As beautiful as Tioman is during the day it's when the sun disappears below the horizon that the island really kicks into life. Locals - who drift ashore in droves clasping nets teeming with fish - make it near impossible to say "no" to a sea life supper that, in our case, was always accompanied with more wine than the average vineyard could produce in a season - Bernard's side-to-side stagger became a nightly joke to us all!

And, with the "drunken oldies" tucked up in bed (though sleep was the last thing Bernard hinted towards during his late-night sways), it was left for us to check out the island's bar scene! Here big "hellos" go out to Scott and Suzanne, Emma and Beck, Phillip and Jeannette et al...great times, real great times! Thanks also go out to staff, if we can call you that you drunken bar stewards, at Fours and BB! Can't believe you can house so much booze under a thatched roof!