A three night booking at Juara Beach on Tioman Island has somehow multiplied. By a lot. I can no longer count the days using both my fingers and toes. Oops.
Why would we leave? The scenery is stunning and the lifestyle is what dreams are made of.
But it's the common restaurant area and those who occupy it that really have us hooked. This room unfailingly provides us with daily entertainment from the wide range of international guests and staff who inhabit it.
Let me introduce their quirks them to you:
The Boss-man: He's the owner. For someone who lives outside of his home country of Australia you don't get anymore 'true blue'. An ex-pro surfer he's constantly in wait for the monsoon season where he can surf all day, which is how he ended up here. Extremely personable, I (sometimes) consider myself lucky when he shares a story from his colourful past. He kindly greets his guests in the morning with 'how the fuck are ya?!'. Just now, after trying to nipple-cripple my boyfriend, he asked if we'd ever seen 'R' rated Cinderella, who had a glass... nevermind actually.
The Fridge: He's the hard worker. Local Malay, he's made of pure muscle and has a genuine non-hipster man-bun. He is silently very happy with his life decision to run the place and have female guests of all nationalities swoon over his dreaminess everyday.
Endon: The resident monkey. Rescued and looked after by the boss-man. Like me, she will never say no to a massage. Hmm.. what else can I really say about Endon... Oh wait. That's right. She surfs. She's a surfing monkey.
Blonde Swedish duo: Of course there are two blonde Swedes here. Studying abroad in Singapore, they made the 3 hour trip to paradise on their time off. They break the 'blonde Swede' stereotype by being unashamed fans of rap, and are slightly geeky. Studying food science, they are a wealth of information for snaddicts (snack addicts) like us. They satisfactorily answered our most pressing question, 'is bacon really bad for you?' (we were previously not happy with the answer found on Google). To which, the answer is 'just eat oatmeal first and it's ok'. You're welcome, world.
The Indiana Jones hat-wearer: He's a 30-something Swede. He has some social oddities. We thought his strangeness was a cultural/language difference, but according to the blonde Swedish duo, his English weirdness also translates to weirdness in Sweden. So, when he's around, we talk about whatever TV show he would like to tell us about, whether we want to or not. He taught us a game whereby you take a celebrity's name and say, 'did you know he/she is Canadian?' even if they're not. Then you do it again with another celebrity. There are no winners in that game.
The French couple: Not even a little bit rude, these two are just lovely. She's pregnant and glowing, and he's catering to her every need. One night I came into the restaurant to see him sitting alone in the corner. He'd been sent on a mission by his wife to claim the 'good couch' which was currently occupied. Obediently, and patiently, he waited for the couch to be vacated so he could pounce, all the while updating her on the progress of the situation with his cell phone. Once claimed, she came down from their room and ate two pancakes. One for her, and one for baby. Then he let her win at cards. Aw.
The Irish mother and daughter: These two are a riot with 'wicked' senses of humour. I might have chased the daughter down on the beach and filmed her doing a bridge on a paddle board in a bikini for the #steemittalentcompetition, but in my defense, she agreed to it. So I consider us as weird as each other. Teaching English in China, she has some stories of her own, like the man she used to see with a fag hanging out of his mouth, on the phone... walking his tortoise down the street on a leash.
The waitress: Only helping out, she's not an 'official employee'. Giving her your order can go one of two ways. One, you order your preference from the menu, and something that is not what you ordered is delivered. For (true) example, 'I'll have chicken rice, please'. The dish delivered is beef noodle. 'I asked for chicken rice?' Waitress: 'Oh. I thought you said beef, and noodle'. Easy mistake...
Two - You have no say. She will tell you what is good, and that you will have it. Last night, we ordered banana-coconut shakes but were firmly told 'no, they have too much cholesterol'. We got apple ginger shakes.
They're just a few of the characters in my life at the moment. What's most exciting for me right now, is that new guests are checking in daily. This place is a bottomless well of entertainment and I can't wait to see who walks on stage next.