pulau babi besar, malaysia (the journey)

travel mates:

• raymond, hoon, alex, joyce, gary, ling

date of travel:

• October 2006

duration:

• 3 days 2 nights

route:

• mersing -> pulau babi besar

accomodation (min 1*, max 5* based on my personal review):

• nirwana beach resort, 3* clean cottage with western toilet & hot water, buffet meals were average and variety is limited

~ mersing ~

• mersing is reachable from many parts of malaysia (kl, jb, etc) and even from singapore. it is the gateway to many offshore islands and the most famous one being, pulau tioman.

~ pulau babi besar ~

• there are a few resorts (3?) located at different parts of the island. it is a lazy island and everything in sight looks so peaceful and calm. there is no late night partying, no huge scale resort operation and definitely no jet ski running all over the place. beach is nice and clean with crystal clear water but there were a lot of jelly fish when we were there. we were being told that the tide/monsoon has actually brought in those jelly fish. apart from that, days appeared to be gloomy due to haze from the neighboring country, indonesia. it was such a turn-off. i would want to visit the same place again but i will avoid the jelly fish crowd during october and also remember to check the weather forecast for the possible haze attack! one more general precaution, bring lots of insect repellent, the place is infested by lots and lots of sand flies and also mosquitoes.