Tioman- My First Malaysia Week

TIOMAN

All in all, Malaysia Week was definitely not what I expected, but I enjoyed myself more than I ever thought I would. I made new friends and got to know all sorts of different people, as well as their hugely different personalities. I overcame many irrational fears, and got to know myself a bit better. Right now, I know that I give myself less credit than I actually deserve! I'm glad that I know myself better because self-esteem and confidence is what I really built during the week.

When we went snorkeling I worried about myself and if I could last out in the wide open sea. You see, I'd never actually been that far in the water. That sense of insecurity made me feel small. When I took off my life jacket and attempted duck diving, I felt even more lost because of the tumbling waves and vast stretch of sea. I put on my life jacket immediately! I grew thirsty and felt sick, but as I got used to it, and looked at how far I had gone, I felt better. The water was beautiful and I saw different types of coral and fish that I usually only saw on TV!

While we were hiking I compared myself to my brother, and that's when I realized that comparing myself with others only lowered my self esteem so I tried and compared myself only with hopes and dreams of reaching Checkpoint 5. It was steep and difficult hike, and in the end when we finally had lunch I felt amazed that I had accomplished so much. While going back down, I was scared but I slid on my butt and avoided slippery paths, rocks or roots. I didn't fall or trip at all, I consider a major accomplishment considering I'm pretty clumsy............... I also have fallen many times before
but never have had any stitches or broken bones. So, I was
worried that it would happen during the hike. It amazes me now that
I was so scared but before
it seemed so natural to panic about the hike down and the creatures
in the rainforest.

This wasn't the only difficult experience! I've always had a problem with
going to the bathroom in squat toilets. If there are no normal toilets I can
hold.
It might not be comfortable reading this at this very moment, so
I'll skip over the experience.
The point is, it wasn't very comfortable going to the toilet in a
deep hole in the rainforest.
Especially at night! Going to the bathroom wasn't the only problem.
I had to last two days without a proper shower. The closest we came to
proper showers, was
being splashed by a split pipe. The water was very refreshing and
pretty clean.
The next day I had a dip in the freezing waterfall and washed with
biodegradable soap!
My toes were numb after the walk! Though I came pretty close to showers,
I still felt pretty icky after long hikes, and being all sweaty.
That causes me physical and emotional discomfort!
But all in all, I could learn from this experience, I went out of my
comfort zone.
But that doesn't mean I wasn't glad to be back in my proper
bathroom!

At some point we went jetty jumping, and I was afraid to jump the 15 feet. After I saw others do it, I thought to myself, that I could do it too. I ran and did a pencil jump without much thought. As I plummeted through the air, and landed into the salty and wide sea. It felt great! The water was great and fun to swim in. So, as I climbed up the slippery stairs coated with barnacles, I went over the experience and decided to jump again.

I'm glad that I chose Tioman, because in the overall experience, I discovered myself and met new people. I want to thank everybody who helped make this experience worthwhile!!!!
Eco Field Trips, Mr. Thomas, Mrs. Narsiman and everybody else!
LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!