Lost in Reverie

After my last trip to Tioman, I had craved time and again to return to that idyllic island on the South China Sea. Well, all it needs is a Planner (me), a financier (BB) and willing friends (Gerald and Mian Mian), and voila!, we have a Tioman trip!

Salang Beach, Tioman Island
1-3 August 2006

On the morning of 1 August, Baby and I dragged ourselves out of bed after a measly 2-3 hours of sleep. But I still managed to be excited, though not as excited as Penang *bounce bounce bounce* Haha. We headed down to Golden Mile Complex (but first to have prata for breakfast at a coffeeshop nearby), to meet Gerald and Mian Mian to catch the bus to Mersing! Lalala!

The bus ride was about 3 hours long, and then we arrived at Mersing!

Got our tickets, waited abit, then boarded the ferry!

The place where they, erm, drive the ferry. Erm. What’s it called? Hehe. Looks fun.

On the way to Tioman! Whee~

Malaysia! Hehe. Home to many beautiful islands, e.g. Tioman.

Me and BB on the ferry. I slept most of the way. This was taken before I conked out. Haha. The seats were comfy enough and I just stretched out and slept.

Woke up just as we were nearing land. Woo hoo! Our first glimpse of Tioman.

Blue skies, blue seas, green hills, trees, beautiful beaches.

Here’s our chalet!

No I’m kidding. Haha. This chalet is now not being occupied anymore.
I don’t know why. Maybe it’s haunted?! *gasp*
But isn’t it gorgeous? Then again, climbing up the hill wouldn’t be so fun.

We checked into our resort, Salang Pusaka Resort, a budget chalet which was surprisingly comfortable, despite my doubts before I saw it. Sure, it’s no Berjaya Tioman, but it had everything we needed, so that was enough for me.

After we had lunch and rested abit, we went out to get our snorkel equipment, and started swimming off the shores of Salang Beach. It was great. We got to try out snorkelling before our actual snorkelling trip. Gerald and I had snorkelled before, but it was new for BB and Mian Mian. So it was good that they tried it in shallow waters, before going out to sea. I got quite a shock when I first went into the sea during my first snorkelling trip. Hehe.

Gerald actually launched into an entire theory lecture on snorkelling, which was amusing to watch, but quite informative as well. Haha. We soon ventured out into the deeper parts, and Mian Mian and I, being quite vertically challenged, got abit scared when water entered our masks, and we had to adjust it, but our feet couldn’t reach the sea bed. Haha! So the guys became our Station A and Station B, and we would cling on to them whenever we found ourselves lost. Or something. Haha! It was quite funny.

Due to the fact that Gerald’s D70s is non-water soluble resistant, we don’t have pics of our afternoon frolick in the waters.

After that, we headed back for our shower, and went out for dinner at the village. But before that…

 
Hahaha.

Seafood dinner! Well, the service at the first restaurant that we went to was quite bad. The food took a long time to arrive, and so we got quite bored. Then we started taking retarded photos.

BB “Paul Frank” Zhang

After dinner, we took a walk by the beach. It was very cooling and romantic. Hehe. Until BB decided to start looking for minuscule crabs in the sand. -.-” Afterwards, Mian Mian and Gerald went back to their room to have an early night. BB and I headed down to the beachside bar, where we had a banana split! It was very romantic. We were just sitting there chatting and enjoying the breeze. And BB hugged me. Aaah. This is the life. 🙂

View of the Salang Jetty at night

Me – not a very glam photo. But nevermind! Haha.

BB and I

After that, we went back to our Chalet (Number 44) and slept!

Woke up the next morning, happy and excited about snorkelling 🙂

We were waiting for Mian Mian and Gerald to get ready. I swear, those two take forever to get ready. Hahaha. But it’s okay lah, cos BB and I were always early anyway. Hehe.

At breakfast at the cafe-restaurant at our chalet. BB imitating the “face” of his cup.

Haha. My BB so funny and cute.

On the boat out, we got very excited! Woo hoo. The speedboat totally rocks.

Here’s Tubby Me and BB. Haha.

All comments about my thunder thighs shall be deleted.

Gerald and Mian Mian

In the sea!

We first went to Malang Rock

Then to Tulai Island

Where we snorkelled in the clear waters, and baked ourselves under the Tioman sun. It was so comfortable, the warmth of the suns rays on our skin. Yumm.

Picture Perfect.

The newlyweds super romantic and mushy new couple

Sand mummies!

The Mummies Return! Waarghh!

I loved that beach! The sand was so fine and the waters were bluer than you’d imagine possible! I wanted BB to buy that island for me. But he said ‘No.’ Boo.

Our next stop was Tedau Bay.

Here’s Gerald, jumping out of the water, haha!

After we were all properly tired out, we headed back to Tioman Island, and went back to the room to clean up. You won’t believe how much sand I found in my bikini top and bottom. Haha!

Later on, we all met at one of the restaurants for lunch!

After lunch, BB and I, not wanting to waste any of our time on this idyllic island, decided to head out to the beach and rent a kayak, while Gerald and Mian Mian were overcome by sleepiness and fatigue and happily counted sheeps in their room. Hehehehe. Kayak-ing was quite fun, my first time with BB!

Out at sea, in our two-man kayak

Super unglam and awful photo of me. But BB is so cute here. Heh.

Enjoying the setting sun

And my tanned back (background: Salang Village)

BB, smiling happily.

I know what he must have been smiling about. During our kayaking trip out, BB encouraged me to get off, and put on my snorkelling gear, and look down and check out what was there. I did so. And when I got into the water, I started panicking. Cos it was all darkness around me. Very very dark. The waters must have been very deep there. And I cried. I wanted to get back onto the kayak but I couldn’t climb back up. I cried and I kept saying, “BB I want to get onto the boat! BB! BB! I want to get onto the boat! Now, BB! NOW! NOW!“

It was only mildly amusing.

Anyway. Moving on.

We found a buoy in the middle of the sea. Haha!

A storm coming up?

It started raining while we were still out at sea, but we were close to shore by then, so it wasn’t so bad. As we got off the kayak to pull it back onto the beach, I realised how comfortably warm the water was. Hehe. Nice.

Later on, the rain stopped, and then BB went to get Gerald out of lalaland, to play frisbee. Haha. I played with them for awhile, then I started feeling like a dog, cos most of the time I couldn’t catch the frisbee, and ended up running after it to pick it up. Not my idea of great fun. Bleh. Left the guys to it.

And I started playing in the sand and making stuff.

Ta-dah! Isn’t this pretty?

Me and my masterpiece

And then the sunset. Gorgeous gorgeous sunset.

R(A) Haha.

Sandy toes!

BB’s and my footprint in the sand

Big foot and small foot. Hehe!

We were sitting on the wet sand, feeling the waves rush up our legs.

It was a good feeling. 🙂

Mian and Gerald

The beautiful skies

Salang Beach bathed in the purple hues of the evening sun

Me

Dinner that night felt strangely sad for me. I was thinking about how we were going to leave our idyllic island the next morning. Still, it was a time for celebration with people I care about. We had enjoyed ourselves for the last 2 days. That night, we had ice cream, seafood, and beer for dinner. Haha. We drank one can each (except Mian Mian, who had ice cream – Kiddy food for kids Haha) and BB and Gerald told more of their lame jokes. Haha.

Gerald and Mian Mian outside Number 18 before we left

At the jetty before departure

Fishies! Can you see them?!

BB and his cousin

One of my fave pics – it’s also the only one of all of us!

Gerald’s look said: “I got kiss leh, Chaoyi. You don’t have.” *smirks*

Buddies and roommates

More fishies!

For the trip home, we took a fast ferry.

Three words: It was horrible. I kept feeling like I wanted to puke. and the seats were uncomfortable too. I’d much rather take the comfortable and spacious ferries which took an hour extra.

At the beginning of the boat ride, when we were all still smiley

BB helped some of the passengers board at the other jetties (ours was the first)

A little girl sitting in front of us

I fell asleep after that, and woke up with the pukey seasick feeling again. Then we arrived at Mersing! Rejoice! Hehe. But we missed the bus. So we had to wait for the next one, which was 3 hours later. So we headed into Mersing town, and had lunch, at a Chinese restaurant, which sucked. The food took forever, and then the dishes came all at once. Bah.

We got bored waiting for the food.

After lunch, we walked around town. Nothing much to see. Then for some reason, which I don’t want to elaborate any further, I got angry with BB, and ended up not talking to him for the next one hour. But we kissed and made up on the bus back to JB. Hehe. *muacks* I’m sorry BB! I still love you!

We arrived at Larkin, and went straight for Dunkin’ Donuts! Woo hoo. They rock.

Then we checked into Hotel Seri Malaysia. We stayed in the family room. Which was fun. Although at certain points in time we all wanted to throw Gerald out of the room. Haha. The room was okay. More comfortable than our resort at Tioman, of course. But the first room we got had a malfunctioning water heater. So we had to move into the room next door. It was a little too troublesome for my liking.

Afterwards, we went to Stulang Laut in JB to have seafood again!

May I present to you, the best seafood restaurant – great food, great service – Sayam Seafood Restaurant! Yum yum yum!

Their slogan “Selera Anda, Tugas Kami” means simply, “Your appetite is our duty” Hehe. Highly recommended! The price isn’t the lowest, but it’s still good value for money! Especially since the service is great. 🙂

BB and I – love the lights, they look like landing UFOs, haha!

Me

After dinner, we went shopping at the nearby shopping mall (Duty Free Zone). To be accurate, the guys shopped, and Mian and I watched. Haha. Okay, so I did buy a couple of shirts. Okay, four. Haha. BB and I bought 2 pairs of matching tees, and I bought another 2 short sleeved white shirts for work. After they closed for the night (yeah, we were the last customers, and they were just hoping that we would leave soon), we contemplated going to RedBox for Karaoke, but then decided that we were tired, and so went back to the hotel instead. It was quite fun just chilling in the hotel room, watching TV, and reading and putting on facial masks (me and Mian Mian) Hahahaha.

The next morning, we had some problems waking up. Haha. Me, to be specific. Haha! I always do. I just wanted to sleep my way through. So tired!

But instead, we all went for breakfast, and then headed to City Square for some shopping.

Later on, BB and I left the other two to shop to their hearts’ content, and we headed back to Singapore, cos I had to go for an interview. That concluded our Tioman-JB 4 days 3 nights trip. 🙂 I still miss Tioman. I always do, after a trip there. But never mind! I’m going again soon! Haha! Yes, believe it or not, I’m going again on 1st of September, with my sisters Elaine and Serene!

Elaine really wants to go very badly, and Serene hasn’t been there before either. So I’m tasked to bring them there. Hehe. I’m so happy! Haha. People ask me, what’s so great about Tioman? But I think it’s just the magic of the totally relaxing mood, the beautiful sands and blue skies and clear waters. It’s really somewhere that I can just unwind! So I’m going again for a weekend. Hehe.

The day after we got back to Singapore, we all met up at Tampines Mall for lunch, and for Haagen Daz chocolate fondue! *love*

Look at how tanned me and Mian Mian are!

Afterwards, we helped Gerald move into Hall, cos the guys were starting school the next day! On the way from his home in Bedok, to NTU, BB forced me to put on those rubbish seatbelts, which I hate cos I can’t move around and I can’t climb into his lap anytime I feel like it. Haha. But that’s besides the point. Hmm. Winnie the Pooh kept me company on this ride, as well as a small rubber car, Haha!

And before Mian Mian left for Beijing, I made her a little present:

I blogged about this before, but I just wanted to include it here as an ending to our Tioman trip, cos it summed up nicely all the beautiful memories we had there.

The End!

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