Sun, sand, dive! - Day 3

DAY 3 : 20-May-2006

Fast, isn't it? All good things must come to an end and this is it. After packing all our stuff and making sure that we didn't leave anything behind (like the previous Bintan trip), we left the room and made our way to the restaurant for breakfast. Again, I ordered the toast while Dear decided to have some fried bee hoon. As usual, she didn't finish her share and I gladly completed the course.

We left our bags near the front desk and checked out. As it was still early our return trip via the speedboat, we decided to hang around at the beach. Dear finally got the highly-coveted beach chairs and was beaming from ear to ear. There are two shelters facing the sea, where there are two beach chairs with cushions on them. Usually, they are taken and most would either read or nap there. It is a nice spot, I must agree; getting a good view of the sea, enjoying the incoming breeze, reading or napping. All these and away from the penetrating sun rays.

We took a last walk down the new jetty to take a look at the fishes. Though we did not venture into the water, we could see a variety of fishes swimming around in the clear water.

I got a shot of the scene. See if you can make out the shapes of the fishes. They are the dark shapes amid the blue patch.

Dear wanted to laze on her newly-claimed prize and we went back to the beach chairs. While she was lazing there, I noticed a weird phenomenon. There seems to be patches of freshly-dug sand that marked the entire stretch of beach.

Here's how it looked like from afar.

I was curious as to why reason behind this occurence. I pondered over it for a moment and got the answer. Crabs! They must have dug these holes as shelters. During our previous outings on the beach, we have witnessed many crabs crawling in and out of holes, either fighting or hunting for small insects. I even told Dear to take care and not to accidentally squash them.

Here's a close up look of how one of the holes look like. Amazing little critters, aren't they? Peering down one of the holes, I saw legs and I wanted to snap it down but the crab quickly retreated further down before I can whip our the camera. One of these days, I'm gonna to get up at 5am and observe them digging the holes.

With my curiosity satisfied, I joined Dear at the beach chairs. Over there, we talked and took pictures. I lamented how fast time seemed to fly while she grumbled about not having enough activities, e.g. snorkelling, island-hopping.

The speedboat was supposed to pick us up at 9.30am, or so I thought. I then learnt from one of the resort staff that the speedboat sets off at 9.30am from another location and will reach Japamala Resorts at about 10am. This didn't come to me as a surprise, as on the day before, a couple was leaving and I noted that their speedboat came roughly at 10.15am.

We didn't seem to mind waiting though. Dear was contend to be lying on the beach chair while I was reluctant to leave. When the time neared 10am, I saw a speedboat skimming across the surface of the sea in a distant. Before we could rush to the front desk to collect our bags, one of the staff had already carried it to the jetty and loaded them on the speedboat. Talk about fast and efficient service! We boarded the speedboat and soon, Tioman island became more of speck along the horizon...

The return trip was not as choppy, as we were sitting near the back of the speedboat. In exchange for less bumps, we were greeted with splashes of seawater. Thank goodness for the windows! There you have it - if you don't want to get wet, sit near the front and endure the bumpy ride; if you prefer comfort, go to the rear but risk having a faulty window that cannot be closed, hence getting wet.

I fell asleep while on the speedboat and when I woke up, we had reached Mersing. Strangely, no one announced loudly, "Mersing! Mersing!". Perhaps there was no need to do so, for there was only 1 destination. We got off the speedboat and went to a nearby eatery to get some food. We saw the Lee chap on the way there and he greeted us. Both me and Dear were pretty impressed by his good memory. He reminded us that the bus may not be on time but it would be prudent for us to go to the terminal a little early. I sweated buckets during the ride and got 2 cans of 100 Plus, while Dear opted for a roti prata.

We made our way to the bus terminal after eating. It was 11.45am and the bus was supposed to be there at 12pm. We waited there and guess what we saw? The kittens! They were the same ones that we saw on the first day. This time round, we caught a glimpse of the other 2 siblings, which are small and malnourished. It is difficult to feed a litter of 4. As they were hiding behind bins, I did not manage to get any good shots of them.

We paced around and waited in boredom. The bus finally came at about 12.20pm. We gave the driver the tickets and boarded the bus promptly. Honestly, it was not as luxurious as the one that we took when we first came but nonetheless, the coach was decent enough for a price of RM10.50 (or slightly less than S$5) per person. During the trip back, there was a 15min break for the driver and passengers to visit the washroom and/or grab a bite at a designated rest point along the road.

I went to the washroom and that turned out to be a big mistake. There were flies buzzing all around and the air was foul but bearable. It reminded me of the time during my conscription days when I had to squat over a fly-swamped hole to expel excrement. I beat a hasty retreat back to the coach, where I snuffed out 2 flies that were buzzing around. Irritating bugs.

The trip back was considerably longer. I think the route taken maybe different. The stopover also made a difference. Before crossing the causeway, the coach made another stop at Larkin, Johor, to drop off some passengers.

Perhaps we were fazed by the long journey. Perhaps we were too hungry (we haven't had food since we left the resort) and it was 3.30pm when we reached the Malaysian checkpoint. We nearly went to a wrong counter but a kind-hearted lady directed us to the right counter. She saw that we looked kinda lost and quipped, "Singaporeans? It's upstairs." We realized our folly , muttered our thanks and quickly went up.

Right after clearing the customs, the coach made its way across the causeway. Even before stepping on Singapore soil, I can see HDB buildings looming in a distance. I told Dear, pointing to the flats, "Sigh... Look. We're back to life* again." "Yeah...", she replied wistfully. Well, not all is crap anyway. Entering the pristine CIQ building, we had no difficulty in finding the right counter, for we are only too familiar with the typical "Singapore" signs that were employed.

As I had ran out of water in my water bottle, I resorted to buying drinks from a vending machine. Unfortunately, they were all sold out. There was 4 vending machines and not a single one had drinks? Not to be defeated, I examined every machine carefully and noticed one of the "sold out" lights was not lit and marveled at my good fortune. I happily deposited the coins and pressed the button. Guess what? There was nothing! Zilch! "This sucks!" I cried out in anger. "The first thing I do when I come back is to get cheated!"

Hapless, we returned to the coach. It was a different one from the one that brought us across the causeway and the driver was out there to direct us. This coach is similar to the one that we took to Mersing. Our next destination was a bus terminal near Lavendar MRT station and we reached there speedily. To be exact, it's nearer to Singapore Casket than the train station. From there, we hailed a cab and we made our way back to Dear's place.

Ta-da~ The end! Well, of course, there is more to it, as in what happened after that but they were all unhappy incidents that I would rather not mention. This concludes the chronology of the vacation but it's not the end of the series yet. I'll do an AAR (After Action Review) to review the good, the bad and the improvements to be made.

*I omitted an adjective before the word "life". The reason for doing so is similar to the one in the post prior to this. Suffice to say that it is not a positive adjective and I leave it up to the readers to fill in whatever negative adjectives they have in mind.

Sun, sand, dive! - Day 2

DAY 2 : 19-May-2006

Finally! After a day of insufficient rest, the night's sleep proved to be reinvigorating. We got up at about 7am. I noticed that the skies were kind of cloudy and it looked as if it was raining. I went out on the balcony to take a better look. OK, it was raining alright. But what amazed me is not my uncanny prediction of the weather, but this.

Over the night, the tide has receded and a good portion of the beach was exposed. As you can see here, rocks of different sizes littered the low tide beach. Alas! I did not not take a picture of how it was like when it was high tide, so, just use your imagination to visualize how it would look like with the rocks submerged.

Oh! You do get to see the two jetties, both old and new, that I mentioned earlier on. The one further in the background with the shelter at the end is the new one.

Anyway, since it was drizzling, there was really nothing we could do but to wait. The frequency of rain drops increased as the minutes passed and what was initially a drizzle now became a heavy rain. Dear grumbled, as we sat by the bed, watching the rain and waiting for it to abate, "See? I told you we should have brought an umbrella. Now we are trapped here and can't go anywhere." I retorted, "But there is not enough space in our bags for other stuff, let alone umbrellas."

Not wanting to continue the argument, she suggested that we watch "Big Momma's House 2", since we did not watch it the night before. I slipped the DVD into the player and boy! Does time fly or what? Before we knew it, it was 9.30am and the rain clouds had vanished, leaving the sun to spread its light and warmth.

We had a quick breakfast, with me having toast and black coffee, while Dear enjoyed a mixed fruits salad with cappucino. The reason why we didn't dawdle is simple - we wanted to maximize the time we spend having fun and not on necessities, e.g. eating. We take a stroll along the new jetty, where I took the shots below.

With the tide at its low point, the waters became clearer than when it was high tide, so much so that it is clearly reflected in this shot.

OK, maybe there's nothing to great about clear beaches but for someone who has never seen such a sight (definitely not in Singapore), it was breath-taking and naturally, warrants a shot.

We walked to the shelter at the end, where we saw a Caucasian couple taking a dip. OK, not so accurate. The guy was in the water but the wife/girlfriend was just standing at the top watching him. There were 2 flights of steps leading downwards into the water and we scaled down one to see if there was anything in the water.

Well, there you have it. Rocks at the bottom. But wait! There are actually fishes feeding off the algae and moss that had accumulated on the wooden beams that supported the structure. Excited by this sight, we quickly rushed back to our room to grab our swimming gear and more importantly, sunblock lotion. When we got back to the shelter, the tide had risen but fortunately, the fishes were still there.

Dipping our heads into the water, we could see the underwater world as far as our eye humanly could. There were a lot more fishes below, all feeding here and there. We even saw a school of fish, which swerved in several directions before swimming off into the cyan depths. I got up and exclaimed, "You see that? It's exactly like we're watching Discovery Channel, LIVE!" Dear agreed, saying, "Ya, ya! It's like Finding Nemo!" OK, we weren't exactly on the same frequency but the general idea is there. C'mon, which couple stays completely in-sync all the time?

For the rest of the morning, we just sat on the benches surrounding the shelter and basked in the sun. The soft morning sun combined with the occasional sea breeze made the stay there cool and comfortable. While lying on my back, I commented, "This is so nice here. It's like a paradise. I wouldn't mind if I can stay here and just relax. It's good to be far away from the hectic urban life. Too bad we gotta leave this paradise and go back to hole* so soon." Dear simply smiled and nodded.

Suddenly, a distasteful sound interrupted the tranquil setting. It was a growl emitted from my stomach. Dear immediately sat up and looked at me, as if expecting me to say something. "Alright, let's go for lunch", I muttered under my breathe, reluctant to leave the wonderful spot.

Look at this. Nice view, isn't it? Greenery and all. This taken from the sheltered end of the new jetty. It would be marvellous if I can just eat lunch there and admire the scenery. Given their excellent service attitude, I guess I could request lunch to be served to us there but that would be make me look overly demanding.

Anyway, Dear's eyes lit up after she heard what I said. She cheered, rattling about what she was going to have for lunch. On the first day when we arrived, while I was eating lunch, she saw fish & chips on the menu but wanted to have it for dinner instead. Unbeknownst to us, the lunch menu and dinner menu were different and she was left sorely disappointed. Her time has finally come.

After a quick shower, we were soon tucking in our respective lunches. Dear got her fish & chips while I wolfed down a portion of Thai green curry with white rice. It's just me to eat rice, otherwise I will feel un-full and empty.

Having satisfied our hunger, we went to hang out on the beach. Dear insisted that I piggybacked her and I relented. All went fine under I chose to step into the waters. The sand beneath the surface was not firm and instead of supporting my feet, it swallowed them up to the ankles. Although I was only knee-deep then, the instability caused me to flail my arms wildly in a blind attempt to regain balance. This, coupled with Dear clinging onto my back, worsened the situation. In all, only about 3 seconds had elapsed from the time my feet went into the sand to the time when both of us made a splashing entry into the water.

Luckily, the loose sand buckled along with my fall, thus, I narrowly escaped yet another sprained ankle. For the record, I have a history of sprained ankles - on both ankles. I guessed we must have caused quite a bit of commotion along the quiet beach with our splashes and laughters. Perhaps the ang mohs are thinking, "What a bunch of fools!" or "What do they think they are doing?" We couldn't care less, for we were enjoying ourselves and that was all that mattered.

With the sun nearly at its peak, I went back to the gangway for another shot. Though the water was not as clear (or blue) as it was in the morning, the sun gave the water a sparkling texture, which sadly, I was unable to capture fully in the picture.

As the afternoon sun grew stronger, we sought shelter under the shady coconut trees. We sat on the straw mats that were available for all to take and chit-chatted. Out of the blue, Dear had a moment of inspiration and wanted to go kayak-ing. There were 2 single-user kayaks near the front desk that was available for loan at no extra charge. All we need to do was to ask for the oars and life jackets.

I decided against it, as I had not kayak before. Despite Dear's relentless persuasions, I refused. Knowing how obstinate I can be, she went out alone, while I remained on the beach, observing her. She came back some 15mins later and exhorted me to try it out. Very sporting-ly (and unlike me), I agreed.

After donning on the life jacket and sitting on the kayak armed with the oar, there I was. For the first time in my life, I'm attempting to propel myself atop a floating plastic craft, that bears a strong resemblance to a misshapen sausage. Rowing is not a big deal but managing the balance is a little trickier. It took me a while to get the hang of it. And no; I did not capsize the kayak.

I rowed back after a few strokes, feeling a little winded from the exertions and thrill from this newly picked up activity. Dear went to get another oar and life jacket while I dragged the other kayak onto the beach. The next wave that came in brought us out on our light blue crafts and soon, we were looking at the resort from another angle. Needless to say, it was fun and the novelty had an exhilarating effect for me.

We didn't paddle much actually, for most of the time we were just sitting there and letting the current carry us along. Think it's dangerous? Think again. The current was heading towards the beach and all we had to do was to row far out enough and let the current do its job. Pretty neat, huh?

From its midday position, the sun slowly moved to its setting position, indicating that it was time for us to go ashore. As I dragged the kayaks back, Dear noticed a pleasant addition to our mat. There was a plate of dessert, specifically some kind of tapioca (either that or sweet potato; I can't recall) cake topped with coconut shavings. The day before, we were served jelly. I guess it's a " daily dessert thing". We savoured the sweet delight before returning to our room.

During our trip to Bintan 3 years ago, we brought too little food along and ended up feeling like half-fed kittens. This time round, we brought 1 bowl of instant noodles, 2 cup noodles, 1 loaf of Gardenia wholemeal bread and a can of chili tuna. Yeah, yeah, call us kiasu but I think it's better to be prepared than to be caught with your pants down. We figured that we didn't want to bring all the food back and decided to finish them as dinner, effectively saving us a trip to the restaurant and some money.

However, we did go out still. One of the bathroom lights went flickering and without a telephone in the room, we had to make our way to the front desk to tell them. Typical flourescent lighting problem; either the tube or starter needs changing. From my experience, it's more likely to be the former than latter. Not wanting to waste our trip, we took a stroll leisurely along the new jetty and enjoyed the cool evening breeze. It was not until when I realized I still had a prepared but uneaten bowl noodles waiting for me, that we went back to the room hastily.

While watching "Shanghai Knights", we managed to polish off ¾ loaf of the bread with the tuna, 1 bowl noodles and 1 cup noodles. Kudo goes to me, as I was the one who was doing the eating and Dear was the one doing the "spreading-tuna-on-bread-and-feeding-me" thingy.

While I was busy transferring components of the backpack weight (i.e. food, for those who don't get it) to my body weight, there was a gentle knock on the door. I gingerly opened it and one of the resort staff greeted me. He said he noticed that we did not go for dinner and asked if we wanted anything. I smiled and politely declined his kind offer. Pretty observant of them, huh? Come to think of it, the resort's guest are just that few people and it's not all that difficult to remember a couples' faces. I checked the time and it was 9.30pm, the closing time of the restuarant.

I intended to call it a day after "Shanghai Knights" but Dear was adamant in watching "Memoirs of a Geisha". Fair enough, I was not that sleepy and I have not watched it before, so I gave in to her. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the show but it was pretty good. Nope, no moths came flying in. We did witness lizards crawling around on the walls and ceilings though, making noises occasionally. In fact, from the calls they made, we can pinpoint their positions. Who would have known, that such small critters can make so loud a noise?

*I omitted a noun before the word "hole". I'd better not spell it out, lest it gets me into any lawsuits or similar sticky situations. All I'm going to say is that it's a 4-lettered noun and generally, but not always, carries a negative connotation.

Sun, sand, dive! - Day 1

DAY 1 : 18-May-2006

I couldn't sleep. For some reasons, I just could not fall asleep. Perhaps I'm missing my blanket. Perhaps the bed's too small. Or maybe the room's too dark. Whatever it is, I just can't fall asleep. Dear let me have the bed and slept on the floor, with only her blanket separating her body from the hard floor. I think I did doze off for a few moments but most of the time, I was awake. She didn't sleep a wink either, with the harsh floor wrecking havoc with her back. In the end, none of us had any proper sleep. Before we know it, it was 5am - time to wake up.

Two zombies stumbled out of the bedroom, not seeking human flesh but trudging purposefully to the toilet to wash up. They then proceeded to change and carry their backpacks and made their way to a nearby gathering point where many humans often congregate to consume food, or what many know as a "hawker centre". The human food seller did not seem fazed by the zombies and instead took their orders.

After eating, the zombies dragged their feets to the road, where they hailed a cab. The cab driver, like the food seller, did not seem to mind ferrying two zombies. The female zombie muttered "Golden Mile Complex" while the male one stared blankly into space.

En route to the destination, the male zombie's mobile rang. He answered and a chirpy voice at the other end said, "Hi, Mr Wee. I'm calling from Enjoy Holidays. I'm calling to remind you that you have a trip to Mersing today." The male zombie mustered his wits momentarily and replied as humanly as possible, "Yeah, I know. I'm on my way there. I'm in a cab." "OK then!" and the line went dead.

By the time the two zombies reached their destination, the curse has been lifted. They are human once more. Well, it takes a little time to slowly be more awake, you know?

Anyway, we made our way to the tour agency who aranged the trip to Mersing, Johor, Malaysia, where we would take a speedboat to Tioman. It turns out that we are the only ones onboard the 44-seater coach. Whoa~ It was almost like we booked the entire coach ourselves. The coach was scheduled to leave at 6.45am but as the only passengers were us, it could leave as soon as we arrived. That was why the tour agency called me to check if we could reach there earlier, as the coach driver was already waiting there. We boarded the coach hastily at 6.20am and off we go.

We took this while we were on the coach. See? A wide toothy grin is enough to erase all signs of a sleepless night. Bear that in mind when you take pictures the next time.

The journey to the Woodlands checkpoint was fast and furious. Given the light traffic conditions, the coach sped its way to alogn the expressway. Dear was trying to catch 40 winks and I guess she was successful. Me? I just sat in my seat and tried not to move.



I took this picture just to demonstrate how empty the coach was. It was taken shortly after we cleared the Singapore Customs.

And guess what? We were the FIRST coach-travelling tourists to clear the Malaysia Customs! When the coach reached the Malaysia Customs, their gate was still closed and we had to wait for about 10mins before they opened shop.

After clearing the Malaysia Customs, the driver asked if we needed any breaks along the way. We said "No" and he was OK with it. The trip to Mersing was fast, shorter than what we expected. We reached there at about 9.15am, earlier than the 9.45am that we were expecting. Dear managed to nap along the way but my body just simply refused to sleep. The only parts that fell asleep were my legs and arms. Anyway, the driver attributed the fast journey to light traffic conditions. Personally, I think he went pretty fast, for I could feel a strong centrifugal force on the bends he took.

When we reached Mersing, we got to know a Chinese man in his late 30s. He seemed to be working for one of the tour agencies there and knew the way around. He was friendly and brought us around to get the necessary things done. With his help, we bought the return coach tickets as well as the tickets for the speedboat trips to Tioman. He passed me his namecard and I vaguely remembered his surname as "Lee". Hence, I referred him as "the Lee chap" from that point onwards.

While waiting for our speedboat scheduled at 11.30am, we explored the surrounding area. While exploring, I heard a faint mew. From my experiences, I knew it had to be a kitten. Looking around, Dear spotted not one, but two, kittens hiding under a bush.

They appeared to be siblings, though differing in appearances. Their mother came running along when we went closer to look at the kittens. She was fine with us and just wanted to make sure that we aren't hostile or anything.

Dear tried hard to attract the kittens' attention but the kittens didn't seemed interested. Her efforts did not go unnoticed though. Another grey adolescent cat which was nearby seemed interested in her and went near her repeatedly. Alas! She is no cat lover and as far as cats is concerned, she will only go near kittens. Failing to elicit any favourable response from the kittens, we went to a nearby eatery to while our time away.

When the time neared 11.30am, we made our way to the jetty. Lee did tell us that the speedboat will not be on time but we decided to wait there just in case. Several speedboats came and left but ours was not to be seen. As the seconds passed, bits and pieces of our patience was chipped away too. Well, I'm not so much affected, for I was more sleepy/tired than impatient.

Dear, on the other hand, had some rest on the coach journey and had become restless. You don't want to talk to her when she looks like that. "So many boats and none of them is ours? Just now not ours, now also not ours. Just how long must we wait?!", she complained.

A trip to the toilet at the jetty did not lighten her mood. "It was so smelly! Did you see how fast I took? Next time, you should time my visits", she exclaimed, upon returning from the toilet.

Well, I must agree; this is her record-breaking toilet visit since I knew her. She took like 30sec! You see, ladies can be swift too and the notion that ladies need to spend more time in toilet need not necessary be true. Makes you wonder what are the extra things that they do in there when the restroom is all nice and dainty, anin't it?

At about 12.30pm, our wait came to an end when we heard someone shouting, "Bluewater!" That was the boat operator that we had engaged. I rushed to ask if the boat was leaving for Japamala Resorts and the person confirmed it. We grabbed our belongings and boarded the speedboat gleefully.

I've read that the speedboat ride was going to be choppy. Frankly, it wasn't too bad at all. It's similar to a ride in a car without suspension, with the car slamming itself on the road frequently. I even managed to take this shot of this seemingly uninhabited island.

As with the coach ride, I didn't manage to sleep. I was so close to falling asleep when Dear hit my arm and pointed excitedly to the window, "Look! Seagulls!" I opened my groggy eyes and looked in the direction that she pointed. There it was - a pair of birds circling near the surface of the water. I muttered a soft "Hmmm", closed my eyes and the roars of the speedboat engines became fainter and fainter.

Eventually, I did fall asleep. When I opened my eyes for the second time, I saw an island with a tall hill looming across the horizon. There was a mild fog in the air and it made the island looked somewhat mysterious. I strained my eyes and saw what seems like a jetty in the horizon. We have reached Tioman. I woke Dear up and within minutes, the speedboat had reached the jetty and the captain yelled, "Japamala! Japamala!" We took our backpacks and alighted the speedboat. There were just the two of us.

At the jetty, one of the staff from the resort had to the jetty to receive us. From the sea end of the jetty to the land end, was about 150m or so; I'm quite bad at estimating distances. We were ushered to the front desk, which is located directly at the other end of the jetty. While the receptionist checked us in, we were each served with a glass of ice, cold ginger tea. Talk about service! It sure was a nice reprieve from the hot afternoon sun.

As it was 1.30pm then, there was still half an hour before the check-in time. Thus, I had lunch at the restaurant. The seafood fried rice was delicious and very different from the usual ones that I had in Singapore. The restuarant is located behind the front desk and had a seating capacity for about 20. Other than a table that was meant for 4, the rest of the tables had only 2 chairs each.

In this picture, you can get a glimpse of how the restuarant looked like. It's just a small area with table and chairs. Simple setting but yet cozy. As it was near the beach, it was very possible to take "wind-in-hair" shot like this.

By the time I had finished the food, our room was ready. One of the staff showed us the way there. We booked a Sea Cliff Chalet, which means we get to have a great view of the sea. After carefully navigating along a winding wooden pathway with steps going up and down, we arrived.

"Dear! Look at the view here! It's amazing!", I gushed, as I went to the verandah. From my vantage point, I could see the clear waves washing up against the beach. The waves glistened under the sublight and it made the whole beach looked so movie-like, almost surreal. Pardon my awe, for I can never get to see such a beautiful scene in Uniquely Singapore. So much for the uniqueness, huh?

This is how the room actually looked like. And yeah, the apple and grapes were real fruits, not ornaments. For more pictures, check out Japamala's website. It is exactly the same as the pictures there, so I did not bother taking many pictures of the room.

I lazed around in the open-air bathtub, which was actually a depression filled with rocks and kept constantly full by a running pipe. Again, check out Japamala's website, as they have the pictures there.

We went to the beach later in the afternoon and explored the surrounding areas. There was another jetty, one that seemed sturdier than the one that we came from. At the end of this new jetty, there is some sort of a shelter with seats. On both sides of the wooden gangway were white rectangluar boxes, as shown below.

I suppose they are to light up the gangway at night and I think it will look really nice when night falls. Sadly, the jetty was not fully completed yet and the gangway simply melted into the darkness when night came.

Oh yeah, the birds? They are the focus of this picture, not the white lights. I just used this picture to illustrate my point.

After our brief exploration, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the clear waters. Excessive amounts of sunblock lotion and occasion breaks in the shade of coconut trees were all that was needed to avoid the nasty sunburns.

Swimming or floating in the water is OK but try not to walk, especially bare-footed. Below the surface, lies a wide variety of debris, both blunt and sharp, that could potentially cause unnecessary grazes and cuts. When I say debris, I don't mean rubbish. They are more like pebbles and oddly-shaped, hard, white pieces of porous bone-like material that is washed up along the shore. If anyone out there who knows what I'm referring to and knows the exact term used to describe them, please drop me an email. Thanks!

Before the sunset, we went back to our room to get a quick shower to wash off the brine and sand. An important point to note here. It is pertinent to wash every nook and cranny on the body, especially the ears, to get rid of the salt. Otherwise, you will end up with ears that taste salty. How do I know? Well... Let's just say I learnt it the "hard" way and leave it at that.

We proceeded to the restuarant for dinner after showering. As it turned out, we were the only couple there. There's more to it. We were the only Asian couple in the entire resort, for the rest of the guests were all Caucasians. So, does it feel weird to be the smallest and shortest ones around with black hair? Not at all. Unlike some shops in Singapore, the staff at Japamala Resorts treated their guests with equal respect and dignity, regardless of skin colour or other observable differences. Well, at least, that's how Dear and me felt. Perhaps they may have given Caucasians preferential treatment but we certainly didn't feel as if we were getting the short end of the stick. And this is one point that I would commend them for.

Our dinner was relatively simple. We ordered a dish of mixed vegetables in oyster sauce, a mixed seafood curry and some rice. The curry, though a little salty, was fantastic. Again, it was like nothing I have eaten in Singapore. The restuarant is part of the Tamarind Restaurant chain and Dear said it is some reputable chain. I don't diagree with her on that; the food speaks for itself.

We wanted to watch a DVD after dinner, as it was dark and we had nowhere to go. Oh, did I mention that you can borrow DVDs from the front desk, at no extra charge? Each room comes equipped with a DVD player and a television (not connected to aerial, hence, without any viewable channels). We were intending to watch "Big Momma's House 2" but my fatigue got the better of me. A poor night's rest coupled with an afternoon of splashing about in the pristine waters finally caught up with me.

Before we can sleep, there is an incident. A minor skirmish erupted, as two moths were bent on hovering near the hanging lamps and Dear was not too pleased with their presence. We managed to capture them in plastic bags and released them outside the room. With Dear visibly satisfied, I mumbled, "Good night" and rolled over into slumberland.

Sun, sand, dive! - Day 0

DAY 0 : 17-May-2006

It was just a day away from our trip. I have thought of bringing a pouch to carry the important stuff like passports and camera. As it turns out, the pouch which I already have is too small. Sure, I can cramp everything in but it'll be a real feat to take things out easily.

Thus, we went hunting for a pouch. Oh well, not exactly. Our goal for the day was to visit the temple to pray for a smooth and safe journey. I don't quite know the temple's name in English but it's located near Sim Lim Square and Bugis Village. If you know it, you know it. If not, it's no big deal either.

After the temple visit, there was an OG nearby and we dived in to seek shelter from the blazing sun. While walking around inside, we started looking for a waist pouch. A fruitless search. We went to the Timberland in Centrepoint too. Another dead end. We trawled the levels of Robinsons next. We could find almost everything but the elusive prey was not to be found. I recalled a large sports outlet in the same building and we made our way to the directory to locate the shop. There! 3rd floor. I figured that if that sports outlet does not have it, then I'll just have to return emptyhanded.

En route to the sports outlet (it's actually Royal Sporting House), we passed by a shop selling bags on the same level. We made a detour in there and voila! After 15mins of selection, I'm a proud, new owner of a black Vertikal Wallaby waist pouch. Mission accomplished!

I accompanied Dear back to her place and went back to take a shower and pack the final few items. After a final check, I left for her place, where I would spend the night.

Before we slept, we took this picture. I intended to take similar pictures for the following days but we just dropped the idea along the way.

See how happy and excited we were? Little did we know that the nightmare is just about to begin, as soon as the lights go off...

Sun, sand, dive! - Prologue

This is a new series to record what the happenings for my recent vacation to Tioman, Malaysia. The choice for the title is pretty self-explanatory. When one thinks of a tropical island such as Tioman, things like the bright sun, the white, sandy beaches and activities like diving naturally come to mind.

My Dear has been bugging me to go on a vacation trip after the last one, when we went to Bintan, Indonesia. Being a typical Taurus, she loves to travel and she suggested we go to Tioman this time round. And it begins...

We (read "she") began by trawling the net for information regarding Tioman, like the accomodation and stuff. I wasn't too keen initially but went along with it anyway. That was until she gave me this link. The resort looked way cool and that sparked some interest in me.

It seemed pricey but that was at the bottom of my priority list. All I wanted was a good relaxation vacation with a nice accomodation; money was secondary. Besides, I've the Progress Package to burn. I remember telling her this, "Haha~ We'll be taking the Progress Package not to progess our (Singapore) economy but their (Malaysia) economy instead." (herzberg, 2006)

And so it begins. Calls were made, tempers flared, endless research done and reservations confirmed. I wanted to leave everything to a tour agent but that didn't go too well with Dear. She insisted that "it would be fun" to plan the trip on our own. To which I rolled my eyes and said, "Ya but that is a hassle". This accounted for much of our pre-trip tiffs. She got things her way in the end but that's mainly due to the tardy service of the tour agent. They did not reply on time and it was faster when we contacted the resort directly.

Eventually, we booked a 3-days-2nights stay from 18-May-2006 to 20-May-2006 with Japamala Resorts. I listed the name here for those who are lazy to click the link I mentioned in the earlier paragraphs - you know who you are. Not knowing the exact return ferry times, I decided against buying return coach tickets and settled for one-way tickets instead. Preparations were made and the day came sooner than we anticipated...