Being a hermit

It's not too bad to be in hermit-mode for a while, which is what I have been doing. I have been at home for past weekends, working on publishing my film photo book about Marseille.

It's a childhood dream of mine to see a book being published, and I'm glad that there were so many kind beings each step of the way, helping me with film knowledge, travelers who showed me a new way to experience traveling and also hosting me, photography enthusiasts young and old who showed me what they knew. Writers and book authors who encouraged me while honing their craft. Finally, this is the final step - I have launched a crowdfunding campaign that would be a great way to validate the idea. I know crowdfunding campaigns are tough but I will put on an armor and fight for my dream!

I can understand a little bit now about the hard-won small successes by entrepreneurs and everyone who is fighting a different battle in life... ... it is not easy to build something for years... Having recently gone through an emotional upheaval, it was surprising that it became a catalyst for me, to really know what I want to try to do. Sometimes, I always get caught up in the hundred things I need to do in work, in my small daily needs that I lose sight of the mountains that are calling me over. I believe I can make it there, soon!

So, I need more support. Please spread the word far and wide about what I am doing, to photography enthusiasts, supporters of the arts, people who love travel.

Click here to watch the video and read more about the project:

www.pozible.com/myeverydaymarseille

=)

15 mins of fame in June

 

It was a lovely start of the month of June for me. 

I wanted to start some regular exercise activity besides hiking every Saturday morning as is my usual routine. For the next 2 months, I envisioned building my fitness level to a peak before I start some travels again; and I was looking for an exercise routine that I could 1. Enjoy,  2. Was easy enough to start, and, 3. Challenging enough to keep me hooked on to it.

So here I am, 4 times already this month, in the indoor rock climbing gym at 100 Guillemard Road, Singapore. I'm really glad to have found exercise activity partners to help me train in these couple of months. Already, I have some minor injuries - a neck strain on one side, and some sudden pain in a knee I had injured previously, but the significant improvement in the climbing ability (well, so far, I haven't managed the entire beginner's wall) plus the place my mind goes to while on this sport, is really a draw for me. I like it when there's no emotion you can squeeze out, just thinking about the next step, just focusing on the next move.

I've also appeared on local TV this past week, it's a show called 'On The Red Dot' where they showcase, (in the episode I was featured) about curated experiences and unique ways to see Singapore.

Indiescapes founder, Heidi, (www.indiescapes.com), had spotted my analogue photos of the old buildings I took, and earlier in the year asked me to be part of their experiential travel-focused start-up website. I am humbled by the experience to be on TV and I was really glad that people who watched the show would be able to know more about the beautiful old buildings with atmosphere, that can still be found in the hidden places in Singapore.

To me too, it's amazing how from dark moments in life, something on a grand scale like this can happen.

I'm always thankful for my Spanish friend whom I'm still close with today. Had it not been for his patience in listening to my doleful complaining about the lackluster situation I had found myself in, and had he not cared enough to gently chide me to 'do something each day that makes you feel happy', I would not have had this experience today.

I decided that taking a photo a day would make me happy, at the very least, when I look at the film that was developed, as a visual record of this chronology of a gloomy time in life. Each day during my lunch hour, I ate lunch for 20 minutes, and walked to this little-known place I later found out to be named the 'Bukit Pasoh Conservation Area'. I captured the conserved, colorful houses at noon-time. And went a little further to capture the same houses with different kind of cross-processed films for different effects.

I didn't know that any person besides myself would be interested in this whimsical hobby. I didn't know that people would be interested in me. I hope that I can be that kind of person like my Spanish friend, positive enough to look beyond a current situation and offer some life-changing tips to someone. It may take a long time for me to become this sort of person, but I believe one day I will!


'What better way to discover Singapore than on foot? Tourists who are looking for a more authentic travel experience join Rachel Lee (in print top) on a walking tour in the heartland. An avid photographer, Rachel is a “host” with Indiescapes, an online platform which connects locals who are keen to share their experiences of their country with travellers. Tune in to On The Red Dot for more!'

Episode Link (fast forward to 18:50):
http://video.xin.msn.com/watch/video/episode-32/2ee0ya4v9?from=dest_hub_en-sg_Catchup&src=v5%253apause%253afacebook%253auuids

Photo Friday: This photo won my first travel photo competition prize!

 ‘Brave Man and Smoking Volcano’ is one of the 10 winning photographs in the photo competition ‘Let’s Take Flight 2013’, organized by Insight guides together with APA Publications, Fujifilm and National Library Board Singapore.

 


In April it was one of the happiest moments in my life (really!) when one of my photos won a travel photo competition. I had just taken this photo in February, 2 months before and only having a year or so into analogue photography, I was taken by surprise when it was selected, one of the 10 out of 300 over entries.

To me this is an interesting journey about learning about photography. I asked many people about the photos they liked and many chose those that I would not have selected myself - photos they said had an atmosphere, a feeling of something magical, a sense of mystery. Personally I like them, I like the gradient of colors captured and I try to take 'clean' photos, making almost the whole area just in one or two colors, not too busy photos. But I also like to take postcard pretty photos that look like it could be an advertisement for a place, and also the quite kitsch photos that make people go 'awww'.

In this selection, a friend who is also an avid traveller and photographer, and another who has a facebook page of travel photographers' selections (nomadasia) helped me to make the choice. I wouldn't otherwise have submitted this photo, in fact.

Also, on some journeys I  had never thought to go - I have never heard of the place, Mount Bromo, until the month before the trip where my well-read friends told me about it, and were so big-hearted that they didn't mind me tagging along. Liking to explore slowly as well, they left me with enough time in one place to be able to take my time to capture interesting shots. One of my facebook friends recently went to Mount Bromo and he said he went there based on the photos I took of the place, he had never heard of the place prior to seeing them on facebook! To me, that is really an accomplishment in my travel journey, to inspire others to make their own travel adventures!

Originally, I had intended to take photos just as a hobby, to sidetrack me from dwelling too deep in the intensity of my dark moods, and also, they serve as an accompaniment to my writings - I felt that travel writings are boring without photos. So it is strange to me still that my photos are well-received.  It has been just a year when I started with my Hong Kong trip. In Singapore, I photographed all the old buildings and alley cats, scenes of my daily life. I hope to share these memories with a loved one someday. =)

Making new travel friends in Penang, and visiting Universal Studios

My absolute favorite shot using film, taking a few images over and over. This was always unplanned as I just like to take candid shots most of the time nowadays. I like the feeling of when the man becomes one with the sky and a tree is sprouting from his neck =)

So my last trip of the year was not to Marseille, as I had originally expected.

Voila, I had a few more days of leave unexpectedly, so I decided to go to Penang, a place I had liked very much having been there twice but only for short stints of time. This time round I just wanted a quiet and refreshing time to myself, enjoying a book and some coffee, taking lots of long walks. These envisioned walks was almost impossible due to the suddenly sweltering weather that even I could not handle, it didn't rain at all (only on the last night I was there!) and anyone would need a respite from the heat after 20 minutes or so. Still, it was good. As always I am blessed to meet kind strangers there and never once felt lonely. Me and my travel friend stopped by a guesthouse on Chulia for a cheap beer to cool off and the owner was a natural entertainer, he even showed me his passport where he spent 'one night in Paris', and some incredible tales. Adding to that, he was waiting for his birthday when the clock struck midnight, so we hung around for a while, and I chatted briefly to a china lady traveller who now also resides in France.

I wasn't impressed with the postcards commonly found and knew the best ones were to be had at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, in Georgetown, a short walk away from my chic hostel, a Japanese inn concept known as Ryokan; they were on Muntri Street. It was in our 4-bed dorm where I found to my delight and amazement 2 Finnish sisters who shared the dorm with me and my travel friend!

The Eastern & Oriental's front porch opens up to a rather unassuming horizon and that was where I had my comforting me-time sitting on the rock boulder, reading a book and waiting for the sunset. And also waiting for the postcard shop to open, because a sign had informed me the staff was out to dinner. My dinner was later a very delicious pizza with serrano ham and mushrooms la' italia, at Soul Kitchen just a few steps down from Ryokan. The folks at Soul Kitchen were kind too; they noticed I was losing the battle with the bloodsuckers of the night and was using one hand to put a slice of pizza into my mouth and one hand to swat the invisible squadrons with their electric tennis racquet shaped swatter (I love that contraption, it makes a satisfying sizzling sound when the enemy has been vanquished) and they kindly gave me a kind of balm to rub on my bites. Now you know why people prefer not to go al fresco at certain times of the day.

I had a very pleasant chat with the lady at the E&O's shop counter who gushed excitedly about Singapore once she realized I was a Singaporean. She was going to relocate for a while with her daughter to work there once again, and regaled many tales, I shared in her excitement for her new journey of 2013. It must not be easy for such a decision as there are many things to consider, for them, it entailed some hard months of savings just for a few months' initial survival without work in expensive Singapore. But they remain enthusiastic about enjoying another culture, a faster-paced one, despite the laborious shift work they would be taking. I wished them well and hope they had a good relocation. We chatted till the sun had set and I walked home slowly, resolving to enjoy what other people did in Singapore, instead of doing the boring old usual stuff.

On my last day in Penang I went with the Finnish sisters to Penang Hill. I was stoked, it was the very place I had wanted to go but did not want to go alone. We took a quite-modern furnicular, swiss-made, up the Hill, it zoomed up speedily and we went early to avoid the scary crowds arriving by tour buses, those we saw on our way back. There is quite a few nice hiking and biking trails, amazing jungle plants and we even saw a giant black squirrel and a large spider, possibly the only two wildlife spotted. I have always wanted to meet Finnish people because I know 2 in the same building workplace as I, and wondered about them at times.

Also, Julien and I had such a bad habit of saying 'finished (sounds the same as finnish)' all the time, we made a rule not to mention the Finnish so often!

I ended up doing the countdown on NYE with 2 Finnish men. Watching faraway fireworks from someone's roof. Drinking 'Finlandia' (Haha, they said they bought it because it was the cheapest at Bangkok airport.) mixed with our local passionfruit tea. The mix, and the fair one who doled out the mix was very popular with the taiwanese-looking girls at the house party we went to! They were really nice though a tad serious for their age being a tiny 21. Watched with glee at their trying sushi for the first time and really liking it, then finally seeing young people when I brought them to the 'young people spot' and met some Couchsurfers, on our famous Bridge at Clarke Quay. They were quite satisfied with the hordes there. They said they had walked around the city for a whole day and failed to spot any young 'uns. A devastating sign of our ageing populace. I liked their company very much, so far I have brought around many people of different nationalities here but I think my preferred type are those who are quietly observant, curious, and serious. Voila! So then I found myself agreeable to visiting the only one theme park we have, Universal Studios, with the two, and they were stoked to be like boys of 10 again and I was stoked to have someone manly to accompany me to rides I was not acquainted to. Surprisingly yes, I too felt like a kid of 10 again, and found I have no fear of falling, I just let myself be turned upside down and swiveled here and there quite happily. The Transformers ride was a remarkable experience and the Battlestar, everyone has to try both the red and blue rides!

I was inspired by the way they travel, it is not like the Singaporean way I am used to and unfortunately tend to fall back upon - the way of traveling and not enjoying the walk or the journey but rather too focused on the destination itself, the need to plan for every single itinerary even in pockets of time where the best is to just wander around and find some cool spot to while away the hours...not to mention the over-compensating of intensive shopping as almost everywhere we travel to, we find things are at such a bargain that it is a waste not to shop... and then we never wear the things we buy, because it would look too outstandingly ethnic. I'm different now, I impress people now with my dispassionate window shopping, mainly because I know my backpack is too small and also my wardrobe still has those dresses I never wear. I'm only a bit obsessed with finding nice bracelets, earrings and postcards still... ...

Meeting the young Finnish, I was reminded about the first backpacking trip I did when I was 19 with my best friend. Though it was only to KL and Melaka we felt like heroes carrying this backpack everywhere, and finally not traveling with our parents! The Finnish men were actually traveling together with one of the sisters I had met in Penang who was attached to one of them, they parted ways for a few days to travel independently, and after Singapore the men parted ways as well; one heading to Bali for 16 days and the other taking the slow train up the Malaysian jungle all the way to Kuala Lumpur. It's nice to travel like that, sometimes I need the independence and sometimes it's nice to meet again and share experiences.  Especially now that I like to take photographs, I may linger for a long time at a spot just to capture the essence of some old buildings or chase down some alley cats. And I think it's good to breakaway from the group for a bit.

They are one of the nicest travelers I've met and this unexpected short travel friendship really refreshes me for the new year as I embark on my own journey. 2012 was incredible, having some surprises and many moments I hold close to my heart. For 2013, I think I am a bit closer to finding a dream come true, and I will have a smile on my face as I remember the last trip of the year.

  If you squint you can see the screaming people...

Walking past street art by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, at Jalan Penang

We explored the streets and the small town's market located just below Penang Hill. She is walking through ghostly people, LOL...

It was a lively morning market 

I heard some locals describing the weather as an 'yin tian', the kind of cloudy-foggy with heat that does not encourage a clear view. Still, it was lovely to be up there.

These street comics are made from twisted metal rods, delightful and informative on almost every street in Georgetown. I especially liked the one on Love Lane, it used to be where wealthy chinese merchants kept their mistresses and the metal rod art depicted a fatso hanging from the wall. LOL!

Quiet and clean, impeccably clean Batu Ferringhi. Quite a long stretch of beach peppered with funny barking dogs, hordes of starfish that only small Western kids bothered to throw back, and a huge jellyfish was spotted too.

It wasn't a popular spot for jetski, parasailing, etc, so the up side is that you can be the lone parasailer.

 My personal favorite and I think almost all Penang loves this street art by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic

 Trying to experiment with doubles and triples on film, here are buildings and boats on/in them. One day I'll be a famous photographer!

I didn't know starfishes had six arms/legs...

Batu Ferringhi beach and some ghostly forests =)

And there were elephants in Chiangmai

The Valencian has an elephant memory.

It was often surprising, and sometimes humiliating.When I least expected it, for instance, while walking on the streets of the Saturday Walking Market in Chiangmai, shopping for unique handmade things, he turned to me in response to my comment that I'm a really impatient person - that, I admit I am - and said that what I said was really astonishing, given the fact that I was late for 20 minutes upon our first meeting. It rendered me speechless to hear such words, not spoken in the manner of someone holding a grudge, but without spite. Spoken out of innocence by a man with a good memory.

A mere twenty minutes, pffft. Was that his first impression of me?

I wanted to write about how this trip was meaningful, and significant to me. Meaningful because, I went there to catch a friend I've met in Singapore 2 months prior, and he became a friend for life after that weekend. And also, it would be my last trip for some months after a variety of spontaneous trips. My 7th trip in the last two months; some people actually think I travel for a living.

Significant because, for possibly the first in a long time, I've actually done what normal people do, actually plan in advance, scan the sky for the best direct flights, and book the tickets in advance, si, two months in advance. I think I actually saved two hundred dollars!

But I am at a loss of words to describe the people I've met in Chiangmai.

The old lady sheltering from the rain, looking like a frail Thai Chinese, she actually bicycles through the old town for exercise. We chatted like old friends for twenty minutes, and upon her suggestion she directed me to a flower market outside of town where I spent a lovely drizzly afternoon, my last afternoon in Chiangmai, surrounded by the scent of flowers. If I had behaved like a normal tourist and just rushed from place to place, I would have never had found the flower market on my own.

The local beauty salon ladies who gave me a shampoo and blowdry, they couldn't stop cooing over the fairness of my long legs throughout and even touched parts of leg... It was unnerving to hear them all say they preferred my skin color. I thought they looked awesome in their bronzy glow and told them so.
The Chinese student who went on a secret trip on her own - people still gasp when I tell them I travel alone, but I wouldn't have been so daring when I was at her age.

The feisty Costa Rican who is living her life on her own terms and whom I immediately liked. I hope she finds  that her dreams come true soon. The one that is written on the palm of her hand.

The young Dutch, the gentle-macho type who immediately took a liking to me - and his mother, too, who regaled me with stories about their first summer vacation to South East Asia. I took a good shot of them, one I really liked.

And the lovely Bangkokian who relocated to be close to her parents who relocated to Chiangmai. She owns a kistch crepe stand and behind it, a very professional photo studio. She was very kind, very pretty, and the crepe was a fantastic, simple breakfast.

And the elephants, the elephants. Those majestic creatures who looked liked they could talk for hours if they could speak.

The Valencian was enthralled too, more so than me. Quick! Take photos of me with the baby elephant, he commanded. During the elephant show, he whispered to me like a small boy asking his mother for permission: I'm going to play with the baby elephant, vale? This baby elephant behaved like a small dog, almost bounding over the wooden posts, and playfully nudging my tiny foot with its massive one... it had prickly hair and its skin felt like... well, it felt like the way it looked. During the elephant ride, the Valencian was overly concerned for our elephant. It was a tad littler than the others and we were overtaken several times. At certain junctures on the arduous walk through the jungle we felt certain that our elephant could not make it. Only when we saw the clearing, both he and the elephant became happier and our elephant even playfully blew some water from its trunk on my shoe. But the Valencian's heart sank again when he realized that our elephant had to make the same journey back, ferrying another round of tourists. At least we aren't heavy, I consoled him. Perhaps we were chosen for this elephant because of our lithe frames.

To catch the glimpse of joy on the Valencian's face as he fed 'his' baby elephant with bananas and sugarcane was a bit like being in heaven where the scene before you was just a little too perfect and joyful to mirror our sorrowful, worrisome lives. He imagined 'saving' his baby elephant, and bringing it back to his house in Valencia, we were told it cost 1 million baht or close to S$40K, and as an adult it would probably consume 100 litres of water a day and countless kilograms of fresh food. Perhaps it could be a mascot for his football team (Valencia FC), and we could make money by offering special appearances... we let our thoughts run wild for a second.

Even though at the very end, I was sentimental because I would probably not see the Valencian again, not ever, or at least, not for a very long time, I printed out the photo of us on the elephant.

And I carried it around with me for a week after I came home. We were all happy in the photo, the Singaporean, the Valencian, and our elephant!!!

All photos on Lomography Chrome Xpro 35mm film taken on Vivitar Ultra wide & Slim (Superheadz).

Battle of the cross-processed: T64 v. Lomography's Xpro Slide 200

Here are some lovely old buildings that I have obsessively taken photos of, comparing the effect of the 2 kinds of films that can be cross-processed, T64 and Xpro slide 200..These photos are mostly taken during noon time, on bright sunny days in direct, overhead sun. =)

1. Lomography Color X-pro slide 200
in general, dark shades and yellow tones, sun rays appear as yellow staining, sepia-ish feel.

2. Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (expired)
the white parts appear in pinkish tones, green plants look turquoise, high vignetting and interesting effects.

3. Also took a 'control' photo using normal color 35mm film (Lomography 800), that may be slightly over-exposed during bright light.

All photos taken using the same toy camera, Superheadz Vivitar Ultra Wide&Slim.

Taken with Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (and cross processed):



Taken with Lomography Color X-pro Chrome 100:

Taken with Lomography Color 800:

Taken with Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (and cross processed):

Taken with Lomography Color 800:



Taken with Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (and cross processed):

Taken with Lomography Color 800:


Taken with Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (and cross processed):

Taken with Lomography Color X-pro Chrome 100:

Taken with Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (and cross processed):

Taken with Lomography Color 800:

Taken with Fujifilm T64 Tungsten (and cross processed):

Camera: Superheadz (an analogue camera) also known as Vivitar Ultra Wide&Slim
Film: all 35mm Lomography Color 800, Color X-pro Chrome 100, Fujifilm T64 Tungsten
Location: Keong Saik Road, Neil Road, Everton Park, Everton Road, Blair Road, Blair Plain, Spottiswoode Park, Bukit Pasoh Conservation Area

Lomography Color 800, Color X-pro Chrome 100, processed at Triple D, Burlington Square

Fujifilm T64 Tungsten, cross processed C41 at Shalom Photolab, Bras Basah

More photos of old buildings at:
http://spiriteddesigns.blogspot.sg/2012/06/old-buildings-along-keong-saik-road.html

Old buildings in Hong Kong:
http://www.spiriteddesigns.blogspot.sg/2012/06/old-buildings-in-hong-kong-monotone.html

Sleeping all the way to Tioman

Snorkeling close to Monkey Bay.

This is how I went from Singapore to Tioman on a budget, with 7 others and it may contain useful information for rich travelers who want to become frugal travelers. Yes! Like me!

The last weekend I had slept in so many places I could not remember all of them...
No, nothing of the sort where I wake in different stranger's apartments - though maybe that's a story for another day...  I had decided a day before, to go on a weekend trip to Tioman. Having the Singaporean mentality of needing a timetable, always getting some telephone number (in case of emergency) and finding out the location of ATMs/moneychanger on the island, and bringing spare singapore dollars just-in-case, and of course, prior to the trip, must-read up on several blogs, lonely planet, tripadvisor, I would say that I was really spontaneous because I did not do any of the above. And also, I only decided to go on the day before the trip!

Okay, I admit I read what was published on tripadvisor.com. =) Hee hee.

So having really dark circles now since the last couple of weeks watching Euro Cup 2012, having went to Helipad for the first time ever (whole of Europe is there on that Thursday night, I feel unique, yay), went to Night Safari, Gardens by the Bay for the first time, a secret shisha place known as Magic Carpet, and did I forget to mention... last weekend early morning bus to Melaka... I really needed some restorative sleep for my liver and kidney function...

So on one hand I would be happier to stay home and sleep through the weekend, wouldn't I?





On another hand... I have not been to Tioman before... (and imagine my surprise when the group of people, 6 of them who I have not met previously, turned out to be super sweet people! Le French!)

And sleeping on the beach on a hammock (I assume there is a hammock) hearing the waves swish by is something I have not done in a long time. I also have not worn my swimsuit for a long time... =D

It was possible to sleep all the way there and back and not be too embarassed because my eyes were closed anyway, though I did notice some who could not sleep noticing me sleeping unglamourously... Heehee! I slept well on a row of blue chairs at the jetty, in the ferry, on a thin mattress where I could feel all the curves of my backside on the floor (but the floor was a good one, no complain there), in a hammock by the beach (yessss!), while sitting on the beach, in the taxi/private car driven by enterprising uncle, sleeping while pretending to be awake after lunch... I think I have accomplished the impossible. If everyone thought I was so chill... so zen... I am actually sleep deprived!!!

And now I have also mastered sleeping in the office with my eyes wide open. ZZZ.

Tioman was awesomeeeeeee!


Snapshots:

Malang Rock - The boat guide told me this was named 'Unlucky' Rock - Malang means unlucky/down on one's luck in Melayu, however no one knows the real reason for such an inauspicious name. Perhaps you will be unlucky if you hit your head on this huge rock. It does look imposing.


Random french girl who was solo globetrotter for 9 months. Salut.


We stayed in the budget traveler area of Kampung Air Batang known as ABC on the ferry stop.





My hammock, everyone should have a weekend lying in a hammock!

Salang Village:

Went to the other side of Tioman for lunch and spotted some Singaporean families, but most of the bodies on the beach were young Europeans on Summer vacation. Here is Salang Village and if you wish, you can easily snorkel from this shore to the left to some interesting spots.








This is my favorite place in the whole trip: Coral Island!!!







Coral Island - this is really a respite, an escape from city life, almost like a slice of paradise to me there were perfect laping waves, the cute brown rocks at the sides (looking almost 'strategically' placed like our fake rocks on Sentosa beach), sandy white beach. A little further in, there was a forest of dense foilage and a couple of large monitor lizards looking for little live creatures to devour. While the rest were enthusiastically snorkelling, I was enthusiastically taking a nap, floating with lifejacket on.

Budget for the frugal. (written by Kai Betrand Elvin on couchsurfing Singapore):

* To cross the border, that's a regular Singapore bus with ez-link,
* 30 ringgits for the bus to mersing, back and forth,
* 80 ringgits for the ferry, back and forth,
* 5 to 40 ringgits per night, depending on your choice, (We landed at Air Batang "ABC" from the ferry)
* 4 to 15 ringgits per meal, depending on your choice,
* Add around 70-90 ringgits for the snorkeling trip.

We took a taxi (actually a normal car driven by enterprising uncle who will agree to a fee), from Larkin to Mersing it was 160 ringgit total and from Mersing to the Woodlands CIQ it was 250 ringgit.

To note, we were exasperated by the uncompromising infrastructure of the small fishing village of Mersing, Once we disembarked from the ferry, we had to walk a distance to the bus terminal, almost impossible to find if you are a first time solo traveller. Then there weren't any seats on the bus for Sunday evening and there were few options for a group of 5. (4 can fit a taxi, 7 people for minibus.) Was told there would be a bus at 8:30pm but that meant two waiting hours of possibly finding it full, plus all the ticket counters were closed and only reopened at 8pm. Thanks to a local lady tour agent who helped us secure a private car to the Woodlands checkpoint we did make it back speedily, but it would be frustrating for those in a smaller group or with limited knowledge of local languages.

I would highly recommend everyone who goes to Tioman island to hop on a chartered boat even if you cannot swim or snorkel, it is amazing just being on the small islands around the area.

 

Photos are taken with an analog camera Superheadz (also known as Vivitar Ultra wide & slim). Film used: Agfa Precisa CT100. Processed by Shalom Colorlab.