It's not often that one can have it all in one place... well, everything we would want or need anyway. We flew into Tioman following that would have been the footsteps of our friends Trina, Joe (and their adorable daughter Sarah) and Kate who, if all had worked out, would have done this same trip during Chinese New Year. As fate would have it, they never made it with winds that didn't allow a landing on the island. Our luck was better, and so as we approached the runway for the final hard right and bouncy landing parallel to the beach front on Berjaya Air, we were greeted by the smallness of tropical getaways and a tiny runway surrounded on three sides with with lush green forested mountainsides. We immediately understood how tricky landing here would have been in less than optimal conditions. The stewardess, smitten with our girls, had warned us of a "bumpy" landing even in the perfect weather that greeted us.
From there it was four days in our little version of paradise. The each of the girls had medical "issues" during our stay, overall there was something about this destination, this time of year, that was perfect in it's arrival. The resort was a wonderful combination of four different pools of varying depths (from 50 cm for tots to 2 meters for adults) with slides and a long, sandy beach, nearby snorkeling options - including black tip sharks - and scuba diving opportunities, not to mention short car trips to the waterfall or turtle hatching beaches on the other side of the island), westerly facing location by the beach (making for perfect sunset watching) and amazing weather (blue skies and largely cloudless night skies). Though Laurence would be frustrated by the less-than-optimal service and mis-communications at times, the experience would otherwise prove to be simply ideal for those trying to escape the world of urban jungles and hubbub. Cell phones were promptly turned off and all sources of internet connections were boycotted to begin with. Time pieces were left behind. We were on our own for five days of "our time".
Despite the stars aligning to bring us to Tioman, however, various illnesses would hinder us from being able to spend the majority of time together. Amalia spent the first two days with a fever and subsequent red hives, revealing a successful first foray into viral infections (phew). The last two days were spent with Irini having fever and a lack of appetite. It was later determined that she had a middle ear infection and a sore throat (unrelated). Natalia developed a conjunctivitis on the day we returned, just to make sure that illnesses were not confined to the minors.
In there somewhere we met a whole lotta people. First there was Julia, a five year old girl from Brazil and her very friendly father. Then there were Maya and Ania, two young Polish girls and their parents with whom we spent a good deal of time over the middle three days. Then there was Teo, a British girl and her cousins Luke and "no name" (as I called her since she refused to tell me). There was also Marina and Gordon (two international teachers from WAB in Beijing) and their children Alex and Carolina. The list included a number of supporting cast members too, but suffice it to say that it was a whole lot of community building in record speeds, from sitting at adjoining tables to sharing stories to holding hands going up the slide and celebrating the successes of reaching the bottom. Irini, for the most part, took care of herself in the pool and took it upon herself to be the 'bringer together' of groups, even when the others were hardly interested in such comings together. Her favorite pool was the second shallowest (75 cm), where she spent hours going up and down the slide and learning to swim with her head under water. We were proud as could be.
Time and time again she would walk over, take Maya by the hand, walk to the small faucet by the steps where both of them would wash their hands, walk up the steps and allow Maya the first shot at going down the slide. Maya, cautious and a little afraid (2 and a half years old and wearing a life vest) would walk down part way and then sit and slowly be taken by the water to the waiting arms of her parents. Irini would wait for her to arrive and then shoot down the slide to the open arms of the pool itself. If her timing was good she could extend her legs so that, as she shot off the slide, she would stop her head from going into the water. If her timing was off she would fly head-long into the water, with a massive spray, and then shot back up to the surface with a beaming smile on her face. She would then turn to face the steps, put her head down into the water and us a breaststroke arm movement to propel herself toward them. Her feet did somewhat of a scissor kick to help her along. Then, reaching the steps she pushed herself up out of the water, smiled again, and walked over to Maya and took her hand to start the entire cycle all over again.
The evenings were spent often either looking at the sunset or having dinner, where Irini would fall in love time and time again with the three-member Filipino band that went from table to table and took requests. As soon as they were heard singing "Twinkle twinkle Little Star" from across the dining room, they were a hit. On many occasions she would go over to watch them from up close. Sometimes she would just sit from her seat and watch from afar. On a couple occasions she went up and danced by their side (with other kids too). Everywhere she went the locals loved her. They were enamored by her features and impressed that she was lighter skinned but dark eyed and haired. Perhaps it's the Myers-Giraldo exotic gene!
On Thursday, she and Laurence went to do the "glass bottom boat" tour only to find that it was fully booked by a group of tourists who would also be going snorkeling. Too young for snorkeling and realizing that it wasn't going to happen, and after some explanation of "why" from daddy, she retorted with her now signature "it's okay" and we moved back to the pool to play in the slide. On the other side of the resort, in the hotel room, Amalia took a nap and mommy pushed further into her new book.
Amalia's trip wasn't quite so active as Irini's. Much of the days were spent with one parent or another napping in the room. Daddy and Irini even had to go the village to get her some fever medicine from the clinic. Only on Wednesday did she venture out of the room for any sizable amount of time to see what all the fuss was about. She too joined Irini at the second pool, and even tried to crawl up the slide (largely a futile effort but fun none-the-less). Daddy took her down the slide a couple times as well, but she didn't seem to enjoy it as much as her sister did, so we reverted to having her splish and splash by waving her hands about and learning that the amount of water displaced is largely proportional to the power of the arm swing. Eureka!!
Being sick did not, of course, preclude her from being very popular with everyone. She smiled a good deal and was very well behaved. It was as if she knew that if she was on good behavior people just couldn't help but fall in love with her. One many occasions one look at her brought out smiles in everyone, from scantily clad Europeans to conservatively clad Arabs. It was as if she could bring the world together with just one smile and she had lots of them to go around.
When at last we waved bye-bye to the island below us and our place steadily climbed to 16,000 feet for our return to KL, we had that "ahhhh" feeling of having been somewhere where you could take your time, do things at your own pace, focus on the pure joy of being with family and making the best of every moment, even if it was in shifts sometimes. Our bodies ached just a bit because we'd been in bed too long. Our skin was a little stiff from the sun's consistent shine. It had been a very long time since we'd been somewhere on vacation with just the four of us, and we made the best of it.
Our return to KL took us straight to the doctor for a reality check and go pick up the necessary medications (three different ones for Irini, two for Amalia). "Be here at 2:00 pm sharp". Vacation was over.
