#16 Malaysia – Tioman Island and the beauty of humanity

When I first arrived in Malaysia, I was a bit disappointed; I think it has to do with the expectations. I was thinking Malaysia will be modern and organized as Taiwan, eventually they will catch up but I hope there will still some parts that will maintain the simplicity, the tradition and the originality like Tioman Island.
On this part of the journey, I got to see and experience something really different. On Tioman Island, tourism is not as developed as some other parts of Malaysia. Finding a room with air conditioning or hot water might be a luxury. In some way, this probably kept the originality of the place.
The island is around 39KM long, it doesn’t have any streets, and it’s about 6 or 7 villages. To move from one village to another, I had to take a water taxi (a little boat) or to walk through the jungle which gave me the opportunity to see a lizard and a family of monkeys. I also got to see the Malayan culture and the beauty of the Malayan people more than any of the other places I visited. All of these reasons gave Tioman its own charm.
People of Tioman are very simple and much laid back. One day after going on a boat ride with some German tourists. I asked the boat owner if he could take me to the next village which will take about 10 minutes on the boat and he said I had to wait for 2 hours because he prefers hanging out with his friends. I also had a previous conversation with him when I went snorkeling about why he wouldn’t provide snorkeling courses or snorkeling tours and he said he doesn’t like it and he’s not interested in making more money. This just gives some idea about how much the people on the island are laid back. At the Inn where I was staying everyone will stop working around 4PM so they can play volleyball on the beach. It really confirms the idea that life should be simple but we make it complicated and with that we compromise our happiness. I also felt while in Tioman when compared to the big city how money, greed, impatient and mistrust are making us less happy. In Tioman I felt there was a trust, for instance when I rented the room they didn’t ask for any kind of payment while in big cities they will guarantee the payment at the time of check-in. Also in Tioman Island when I asked about using the internet you just sign a paper with the time you use it and they will trust what you wrote on that paper, mind you the internet was availability on the Island was very limited.
I really liked Tioman more than any of the other places I visited not only because of its natural beauty but also because I saw the beauty of good humanity.