17th July 2010 - Saturday
Malaysia - Tioman Trip Day 1
oh yeah! another overseas trip with my fellow girls! the planning of the trip was made one month before, but due to overwhelming response and people going Tioman for holiday. most of the resorts we wanted were fully booked! we were so afraid that we might not be able to get any resort.....
at last, we managed to book it at Tropical Coral Inn Resort, just 1 week before our setting off date. pretty rushed!
i woke up at 3.30am that morning, and left house at around 4.40am. since Ginnette, Lisa, Shalee and me lived quite near to each other, we had planned to share cab together to Newton Circus Hawker Centre. Shalee will hailed a cab at her place, and then to Bukit Purmei to fetch Lisa, then to my place and lastly to Depot Road to fetch Ginnette.
it was raining heavily when we left house. we were very lucky to get a cab in this kind of weather. supposed to reach 6am at Newton Circus, but we were very early, we reached at 5.10am! haha.

Lisa, me, Ginnette and Shalee @ Newton CircusHawker Centre
we sat down there and waited for Audrey and Daphne to come. we called them at around 5.30am, and they were still at Toa Payoh waiting for cab. until 6am they were still waiting for cab. it must be due to the heavy downpour, plus it was also changing of shift for taxi driver.
by then, everyone started to panic. it was said that the bus will leave at 6.15am. but looked like it's impossible for them to reach by 6.15am.
and what's worse, we have no idea where is our bus? what's the bus plate number? called the travel agency but no one answered... heard from the stall holder that the heavy rain caused flood at Newton. wow, so happening...
and finally, we managed to get through the line. now we got the plate numer but how to find the bus especially in this kind of horrible weather =/
no choice, we have to slowly search. luckily it wasn't that hard to find, it was parked near the hawker centre. anyway, there's actually 2 mini buses that will be setting off to Tioman.

boarding the bus.
we boarded the bus but it seems like it was not that fair to let others to wait for the latecomers, and since the other bus was also waititng for latecomers, we decided to swap over to that smaller bus. i felt quite bad to ask those people inside the smaller bus to change over to the bigger one =S
and so, the bigger bus set off first leaving the 4 of us behind inside the smaller bus waiting for people.
anyway, on the other hand. Audrey and Daphne gave up waiting for cab and Audrey called her dad to drive them to Newton straight. but unfortunately, they were stucked in the flood. cars were unable to move, so they had no choice but to drop off at Novena MRT and took train down to Newton station. they ended up facing flood again at Newton station, no choice, they have to walk in the flood which was already at their thigh level. lol. ( i believed if i'm the one stuck at the flood, it might be at my waist level. instead of running, i might end up swimming there xD)
anyway, they managed to reach at around 7am!~
but still, we have to wait for one more girl who was late as well.... that girl, a korean girl, reached shortly after and finally we got to set off at around 7.30am. an hour of delay.... and Audrey was all along guiding the driver the way to avoid the flood and get to Woodlands Checkpoint.

Audrey and Daphne finally reached.
totally drenched!!!


the 6 of us setting off to Tioman!!!!!
anyway, the driver fetched a couple at Woodlands. they were actually supposed to board the bus at Newton as well, but they were unwilling to walk in the flood, so they ended up waiting for our mini bus at Woodlands instead. hahaha.
reached Woodlands Checkpoint at around 8.25am. anyway, i personally preferred Tuas Checkpoint more =D. quickly get our passport stamped and rushed for the toilet.. and the queue for toilet was terribly long..

toilet break.


@ Checkpoint
the entire place was crowded with people. we even had difficulty looking for our bus. especially when our bus was so mini next to those 36-seater buses!!!
we stood down there waiting for the bus and slowly, the korean girl and the couple joined us as well. and then, we decided to look for our bus instead of waiting.

back at the bus..

chocolate biscuit and chips xD

Lisa brought a packet of chocolate biscuit, but the chocolate melted and the biscuits doesn't looked very appealing..... BUT somehow, it still tasted nice xD
we continued our bus journey for another 2 hours 15 minutes. we ate, slept and chit-chatted during the whole bus journey. and finally, we reached Mersing at around 11.15am.

Mersing Johor.

1) Map of Tioman Island
2) Boarding Passes
3) Speed Ferry Ticket
4) Ticket to Marine Parks (externally bought at RM5.00 each)
after alighting the bus, we quickly went to collect our ferry tickets and boarding passes. we also decided to purchase tickets to Marine Parks at RM5.00 each.
and then, we entered the gate to board our ferry to Tioman...

entering the gate...

our Speed Ferry.
we boarded the ferry and immediately looking for seats as it was free seating. yay, and we found 6 empty seats, but looked like it's right infront of the air-con, no wonder we were freezing like mad.
it took us 2 hours to reach the first island, which was where our resort will be.

scenery taken inside the ferry!!


inside the ferry, and ready to go!!!
finally, we reached Kampong Genting at around 1.25pm. wahh, very excited. finally after half a day spent on bus and ferry, we finally reached our destination, Tioman Island!!! xD
nice weather to start with, very windy!! the first thing we looked out for was the sea water. and indeed, it was very clear!!! and so looking forward for snorkelling on the next day!

the scenery of Tioman!!

alighted at the Pier!~
walking excitedly!!~
@ Kampong Genting.

and we were entering... woohh~

all the resorts located at Kampong Genting.

walking...
our resort was located quite far away.

and still walking...
*heavy & tired*

the beach..

up ahead...

and finally, we REACHED. yay!!
Tropical Coral Inn
and we were warmly welcomed by the owner of Tropical Coral Inn with Orange Juice. and it was really very coincidence that the whole entire people who came together with us this morning, in the 2 mini buses, were also in the same resort as us xD!~
there were like 12 resorts in Kampong Genting, but we ended up at the same one. haha. it's like we came by 2 different buses today, and we reunited at the same resort LOL. okay, enough of it, i sound like reunited with a long lost friends, but actually we just met one another this morning only =P
anyway, they were discussing with the uncle about the snorkelling and visiting the waterfall for our day 2 plan. we sent out Audrey as our representative to listen and discuss on it, while we sit down and do nothing =X LOL!~
we already settled and paid for our snorkelling as it was included in our package, so we only have to settle about the visiting of waterfall!~

orange juice...
and people in the middle of discussion!~

keys to our rooms!!!

Hotel Voucher!~


resorts in Tropical Coral Inn.

our individual rooms!~
2 rooms in one hut!
and we paid more to have the sea-view from our rooms xD
and i am so glad that Ginnette and my room have the connected door to link to Lisa and Shalee's room!! yay~
anyway, the room was not really as good! no bathtub, no kettle to boil water, no fridge to cool our water, no safe to lock our things, no balcony to relax at... no nothing!~
nah, it's okay as it was the only resorts we managed to book. time to abandon luxurious life in Singapore, learn to experience this kind of living and enjoy my holidays in kampong style xD!
well, one more thing. the remote control for the air-con in our room was spoiled. we couldn't even on the air-con, luckily we can open our connected door to Lisa's room to "share" air-con. lol.

our room =D
very kampong, i know!

and the connected door.
ya, after putting down our bags and exploring of the rooms. we left for lunch. we were hunting for a nice place to have a good lunch as we did not have a decent meal for the whole morning.

picture taken at outside of our resort.

and a group picture.
yeah, and next we walked out to look for food. and we decided to have our lunch at Golden Dish Cafe - Seafood Restaurant.
it was like a home to us because we have to take off our shoes before entering. and there's this old uncle inside, he looked like he's the one who took our order, who did the cooking and served the foods to us.
wow.. the boss who did everything!!!! HO SAI LEI *PRO*


Golden Dish Cafe
and while waiting for our foods to be served. we played around with Daphne's sunglasses =D

lol. we looked like loan shark... or housefly?

Tiger Beer? Cheer!~
no no no.. it was just chrysanthemun tea poured into Tiger Beer cup =X

our delicious lunch xD
which costed RM60.00 for it. pretty cheap!~
after eating, we went over to the local sourvenirs shop to take a look.

Craft Zone.
and then, we went over to the beach since we were totally free for the whole day 1. the water at the beach was really clear, we took off our shoes to feel the water, and it was so cooooooling..

nice shot.
we were all in different colour. so nice =D

our slippers..

some individual shot.

self-shot with Audrey incredibly long hand =D

and now with Daphne's long hand.

but the best is still with tripod + timer.
pretty pretty nice awesome shot ♥

whose is whose legs?!


individually!!!!~

countless of jump shot.

and the best and successful jumped shot.


beautiful beach.
and then, we walked further down. we saw this bridge kind of thingy, and so we decided to climb up to have some nice photos. it was pretty funny that Lisa had already climbed up on the top, but she backed out all of a sudden.
and ya, she volunteered to take photos for us instead.
Daphne and Shalee went down after, leaving Audrey, Ginnette and me still on top. we walked further more to the middle, but it was quite dangerous as some wooden planks were broken, and some were pretty shaky.


the shaky wooden bridge =)

a picture taken from below the bridge and above the bridge.

bridge from bottom view!~

individual picture with some of them...
the rock we were stepping was very slippery with moss growing all over it. *yucks*

SUPER BIG ROCK!!!~


pretty group picture xD
♥
while walking back, Ginnette and me decided to teach Audrey and Daphne the dance we learned from SHINE dance 2 months ago.
and since it was near the sun setting time, we decided to wait for it as well. haha


@ 5.45pm

starting with the dance steps.

pose with shadow!!
after quite some times, we stopped dancing as it was really very hot and tired, especially under such hot sun. we sat down on the sand and waited for 7pm.

lonely backview!
and yeah, since there's still a long time to wait, we decided to take more beach photos. and with the sunlight shining towards our direction. we can take alot dark, "shadowy" effect kinds of photos. haha.
and then, we decided to do yoga on the beach. lol. pretty silly i know, but it was fun xD


with 3 kinds of yoga pose.
do we looked symmetrical? lol
L.O.V.E
Y.M.C.A
@ 7.00pm


settle back to our seat and slowly waiting for the sun to set.
SOON!!!~

@ 7.15pm
pretty disappointed. there's toooo much clouds and we were unable to see one whole "salted egg" setting. clouds were blocking the view and we can only see it through that small little tiny gap =/


time to leave the beach, and head back for dinner!!
we decided to have our dinner at a coffee shop. Audrey ordered 12 sticks of Satay to share. and i ordered a plate of Pataya Noodle.


SATAY!!

Pataya Noodle @ RM5.00

posed with foods xD
after dinner, we went back to our room to rest. while waiting for Audrey and Daphne to come over, Ginnette, Lisa, Shalee and me decided to play Uno.
anyway, we found that Uno game was pretty bored. we played Heart Attack next. from screaming and shouting, we decided to shut ourselves up by changing the game to Silent Heart Attack.
we'll hit the person non-stop if she made any noise. lol. so fun! because Shalee can't seem to stop shouting.

playing Uno & Heart Attack.
Audrey and Daphne came over shortly after. ya, the no-licensed-doctor Audrey came over to help me change dressing for my poor wound on my leg. i was pretty worried for my leg... my legs have to go down the sea water the next day. oh no!!~

Audrey the medic!!

we followed Shalee to clip our fringe up. lol
she claimed that it's a "snail" on her head =P
since the night was still early, it was only 10.15pm, we went out for a walk. we walked past those mama shop and suddenly have the urge to eat ice-cream.
and so Daphne, Ginnette and me bought Nestle ice-cream at RM2.50.

Nestle Drumstick.
Strawberry, Vanilla and Blackforest.

yummy!!~
back to our room after that. to rest, to bathe, to continue Uno game, to dance, to munch, to transfer photos and lastly.... to have a good laugh at the photos.
waterproof camera, preparing for tomorrow trip.

the crackers and keropok bought by all of us this afternoon.
i bought the Twisties @ RM2.80

transferring photos by my mini laptop.
busy plucking in those harddisk, thumbdrive and memory card.
and lastly....OFF TO SLEEP
sweet dream @ 12.55am
::continues my Day 2 on my next post::
Click below:
*
*Day 2 *
*Day 3Labels: HSS friends, overseas trips