Magnificent Malaysia - Part II - Tioman

Our beach on Tioman

If somebody had told me a year ago that I would have the privilege of discovering ancient cities, magnificent beaches and virgin jungle in South East Asia over a six month period I would not have believed them! However, here I sit, having spent yet another awe inspiring weekend away on a Malaysian island with the opportunity to start planning our next trip! Life truly is an unpredictable journey, surprising you with each turn and change of direction. I've become acutely aware of the fact that it is my responsibility to embrace every opportunity to swim in the sea, sweat on a jungle trek or eat something new. As one of my good friends said to me yesterday "you better be soaking up the sun and all this beauty for all of us". And that's exactly what I did this weekend.

Tioman island is located off the east coast of Malaysia. It's only a 40 min flight from Singapore but let me tell you, you couldn't be further away if you tried! We touched down on Tioman in our little prop, 40 seater aeroplane just after midday on Friday! Our descent was just too beautiful as we doubled back on ourselves and flew over the turquoise sea towards the thick, green jungle that bordered the runway and finally touched down in front of the tin roofed, single story structures which we quickly realised were the airport terminal buildings. I immediately had that bubbly feeling in my stomach that we were on the verge of entering paradise but we bumbled along with the rest of the expectant travellers through the immigration counter and onto the rickety open-sided shuttle bus that was going to take us to our resort. We knew that we were visiting during the 'monsoon' months so were not expecting azure blue skies and soaring temperatures. The weather was mild which was a welcome relief to the humidity of Singapore.

We arrived at the resort, checked into our room and immediately made our way onto the beach for our first glimpse of paradise! We were not disappointed! The tide was right out so the beach reached for meters with the calm, flat sea gently lapping on the shore. Just beyond the shore break Rengis island jutted out of the sea close enough that you could probably swim out to touch it. I was glad that we had 3 nights ahead of us to enjoy this spectacular place.

Holidaying out of season is really good for romantic weekends away. There is hardly anybody about and you usually have the beach and facilities almost to yourself, at least, that was the case this last weekend. Lazy days and early nights was what it was all about with a couple of activities in between. I finished an entire book over the 3 days which is something I've never done before I came to Singapore. A nap on the lounger next to the pool, a chapter or two then a dip in the sea - perfect bliss! All this with my wonderful husband right next to me. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

Sunset spot

On Friday night we set off for a walk down the beach as far as we could go and got to a heap of massive boulders where we watched the sunset! The sky was breathtakingly beautiful. Orange and grey with fairytale silver linings. Of course we didn't have our camera on us so we decided it was just for us and enjoyed the moment together. Sometimes forgetting your camera can be a blessing - you often miss the full extent of a moment if you are trying too hard to capture it. We had a delicious buffet dinner and spent the rest of the evening lying on a lounger listening to the gentle lap of the waves on the beach.

Over the next two days we managed to kayak out to Rengis island and decided that we definitely needed to do a snorkeling stint as the sea was crystal clear and teaming with life. When we did finally get to snorkeling we were thrilled by the reef just off the shore and spent at least an hour with our faces submerged and bums in the air. The guy driving the boat that dropped us off warned us that we might see a few reef shark but that we shouldn't be alarmed. Although they can be up to 1.5m long they are vegetarians and have never been known to harm humans! With already being a nervous snorkeler, I clutched to Nick's flipper and didn't let him out of my sight. But it really was beautiful and we saw loads of different varieties of coral, spiky sea urchins and more fish than I could have imagined. There were these long little ones that would jump out of the water and others that would literally school around you as if they wanted to taste your skin. It was beautiful and I'm glad we did it.


The resort itself was slightly dated but seemed to be making efforts towards rejuvenating itself. The grounds however were magnificent and beautifully maintained with roaming legavaans around every corner and loads of monkeys (which I stayed far, far away from).

There was a beautifully placed 18 hole golf course which caught Nick's eye the moment we arrived. It was just lovely, tight so I was told, but really beautifully laid out. So after our snorkeling trip on my 29th birthday my husband played 18 holes of golf and I dutifully walked around the course with him and photographed almost every single swing. It really was quite something with the front nine focused more on the beach setting and the back nine higher up into the jungle. The trees on that course must accumulatively constitute hundreds of years. Some of them were so tall that it was virtually impossible to get a photo of them in one single shot. The walk certainly made up for our lazy Saturday and I found myself a bit more flexible after the stiffness of my most recent Pilate's class had left me walking around like I had a carrot up you-know-where!

Tee off on the 7th hole

Nick had purchased a bottle of Veuve Clicquot in duty free, so once showered we headed down to the beach for sun downers. What a magnificent evening! The sky was just gorgeous and once the bubbles had made their way to our heads we mozied along to that Thai and Indian restaurant called the Coriander Leaf where we had booked a table for dinner! Thankfully we had booked as there wasn't another person in sight! We had the restaurant all to ourselves and enjoyed Thai starters followed by Indian mains whilst seated on the floor in traditional Thai seating. Nick decided he needed something sweet after dinner so he ordered banana cooked in coconut milk. It sounds bizarre but was actually one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. Full of champagne and curry (what a combination : >) we called it a night! We were due to fly out the next day.

Birthday sun downers :)

Of course, fate would have it that we got up early, packed our bags and rushed breakfast to get to the airport only to be told that there was a 2 hour delay on our flight. So we sat, and sat, and eventually 2 hours turned into 4 which turned into 6. Finally, at about 4pm they told us that the flight had been officially cancelled and that we would not be able to leave until the next day, weather permitting. The crazy thing is that there was no bad weather to speak of! No high winds, no rain, just overcast skies with intermittent spots of sunshine! Frustrated that we had spent the entire day sitting on a stool looking at the runway instead of on the beach, we headed back to the resort to book in for another night. We decided to go for a run to get rid of the frustrations of the day and headed along the golf course towards a turtle sanctuary that we had seen signposted but hadn't had time to investigate yet. The run was exceptional! Thankfully my stiff Pilate's legs had begun to ease and the views along the route were more gorgeous than ever. The turtle sanctuary turned out to be nothing more than a protected beach sponsored by the Pehang Royal Family where turtles are able to go to lay their eggs. We didn't see any turtles but we did count about 8 legavaans and wondered if the turtle eggs shouldn't be protected against those too!

Our little prop plane

We got chatting to an Australian couple when we got back from our run to have a swim and they invited us to join them for dinner, which we did. They own and run a caravan park in Western Australia and were out in South East Asia for a 3 week holiday. We got an early night in lieu of getting back to Singapore the next day.

Birthday dinner

Thankfully, there was not a breath of wind this morning and we were able to take off without delay and were back in Singapore by midday. Nick quickly showered and made his way into the office for an 8 hour day at least I'm sure. It's Valentines Day and I'm Singapore is booked up with couples wooing each other with promises of love and endearment. I can't face another restaurant dinner so I'm making chicken and salad wraps for dinner. Hopefully Nick won't be too late from work. Either way, I'm a happy, relaxed and blessed 29 and 2 days old lady. Thank you to everyone for the beautiful birthday messages. I had an exceptional day. Will post soon about our trip to Malacca the weekend before last! It was also a goodie.

xx

PS - I can't put all my pics on the blog but I have loaded them onto facebook so go and check them out. xx

Highs and lows - the way life goes



Flower Dragon ushering in the new year

Goodbye January 2012. Can you believe it? First month of the year is over leaving us one month closer to ending our time in Singapore. I'm  excited about that, excited to think that we'll be home soon to see all our friends, cuddle our dogs, drive our own cars and sleep in our own beds. I'm really looking forward to it but I'm relieved we still have 4 more months on this sweat drenched island in the South China Sea. I'm not quite ready to come home yet.

I'm not even going to try and give a sequenced account of the last couple of weeks simply because I don't recall it. It's been somewhat of a roller coaster on all levels. Rather, I'll remember the highlights and the low lights because unfortunately we have had a few.

Night Safari

The Singapore Night Safari surprised us on the enjoyemnt front. It is actually something we hadn't intended to do at all, but we did, and loved it. We were really impressed with the mangrove bat sanctury which is an enclosure that you go into and you can observe different bats and flying foxes eating and doing thier thing. It can get a bit freeky when they fly right over you but I had my big strong husband with me so it wasn't too bad. It's great being able to just walk around the premises of the zoo after dark and it cerainly is a different experience. They have very cleverly designed the enclosures so that you often don't see fences or glass at all but rather have a view directly into the enclosures as if there were no barriers at all. It was a stinker of a night and we got our sweat on properly but we thouroughly enjoyed it.

Drinks before the Ballet Revolution

I managed to get us tickets to Ballet Revolution at the Esplanade Theatre for thier last night performance. The dance company is a Cuban outfit who have produced an incredible show combining various dance genres from ballet to hip hop all to the sound of a live band. The talent was exceptional and the lean mean male cuban dancers had the predominently female Singaporean audience screaming for more. As one of Nick's colleagues put it, she went to see the show "to see some real men with muscles" :) It was a phenomenal night out that left us both feeling like we need to see more theatre and more live shows. I think the display of ripped torsos was motivation enough for Nick's gym work out for the week.  

Fort Canning in the rain

After Brig's whirlwind visit I needed a couple of days to get back into my solo flying again, which admittedly, took a couple of days and some determination. My visit to the National Museum of Singapore with Brig had wet my appetite for more museum encounters and as a result we've seen more of what Singapore has to offer on that front. We spent a very wet but lovely afternoon on the Fort Canning grounds admiring the original Fort facade that still remains as well as the incredible foliage and flora adorning one of the most historically important hills in Singapore.

Fort Canning original fort gate

Nick is currently reading 'Singapore Burning' which is an extremely detailed account of WW II's approach and impact on Singapore. As a result, I don't need to hire the little audio travel guides that are available when visiting these historical sites as I have my own very knowledgeable (and far better looking) tour guide who buys me lunch afterwards too :)

Display at Asian Civ Museum

After one of these lunches (all be it during the week and prior to a museum encounter instead of after) I made my way to the Asian Civilisation Museum and spent the afternoon there. I was blown away by their exhibition from the Tang Shipwreck. The Tang is a 9th century Arab vessel discovered in the Java Sea in 1998. The ship is believed to have been travelling between China and the Middle East and was laden with ceramic and gold goods thought to be designed and produced by the Chinese for foreign markets in the Middle East. It was absolutely astounding to see artifacts dating back to 830 AD and see the craftsmanship and design talent that already existed back then. There were items on that ship that look like better quality than what you can buy in the shops today! Astounding!

Massive Dragon at Sentosa

Of course, our daily January experiences have all been taking place against the backdrop of Singapore's preparations for Chinese New Year. This year CNY took place over the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of January which meant that Singaporeans had a 4 day weekend. Just about everyone takes the rest of the week off too, resulting in a 9 day break for 3 days of leave.

Tempat Senang

Unfortunately Nick wasn't taking any leave but we did decide at the last minute to try and get away for the Saturday night and managed to book ourselves into a little boutique spa on Batam island which is just 45 minutes away from Singapore by ferry. We were torn between getting out of Singapore all together for the 4 days or staying to witness the CNY festivities. We figured that one night away would be perfect and then we could enjoy some time out in Singapore on the Monday and Tuesday.

The place we stayed at was fabulous - little spot called Tempat Senang. It is a Balinese villa that has been converted into a tiny spa with only 9 suites. Located right next to the golf course (to torment Nick further) it is a little piece of heaven, cleverly laid out to ensure maximum relaxation.

Our 3 hour spa treatment was sensational and I can honestly say that its possibly the most relaxed we've been in years! However, we returned to our room to extremely sad news as Nick received an email informing us that one of his colleagues in the Singapore office had been killed in a bicycle accident earlier in the day. Nothing can prepare you for news like that. Nick had started to become friendly with James as they both go to the same gym over lunch time during the week. I had met James and sat next to him at the quiz evening we were invited to right at the beginning of our stay. James was from the London office originally and had been in Singapore for a year. He had just gotten engaged and his fiance was also over here, a lawyer too. The news of his death due to a bicycle accident in Singapore on the long weekend was devastating. We were and still are gutted. Life is so precious and can be taken from you so quickly and unexpectedly. God knows our family and friends have realised that in the most agonising way in the past year.

With that sadness in our hearts and all that comes back to you in times like that, we have been on the down low a bit since then. Certainly the reflection and contemplation intensifies and again you are able to see more trivialities that stand where they shouldn't and you find new strength to break through them in order to claim back relationships and celebrate what you do have instead of what you don't. Perspective. Again it has been revealed to me in a less than subtle way. I could be forgiven for thinking that someone is trying to get a message through.....

Karaoke

When life is getting you down you have to look for the fun and Nick and I found some on Friday night just down the road from us. After dinner again at Three Fat Men, we found our way into a karaoke bar. Nick had to do some serious convincing to get me inside because from the road it looked like a dodgy, dingy, divey spot that I would certainly not want to step foot into. After adopting the attitude of 'When in Singapore', we went inside and found a seat. What fun! People actually go there to sing! Not in the cane-and-cream-soda induced way that ex-Rhodians do at certain establishments located in Craighall. Rather, people were in there singing their favourite ballads, everything from Lionel Richie to Celine Deon. We even heard a few Cantonese ballads which were really beautiful. It was interesting. And of course, in true 'Nicola' style, I decided I had to try - 'once in a lifetime', right? Indeed - and never again! I decided that Elton John's 'Can you feel the love tonight' was an excellent choice as I'd sung it in my high school choir and even sang the last 2 lines as a solo! I clutched the microphone and began singing - OH MY WORD!!! Nick managed to catch the whole thing on video which he really shouldn't have. I sounded more like a choir of mating cats than the way I remembered sounding back in my red school uniform in 1998. HIDEOUS! Anyway, I was a hit regardless and the very polite patrons applauded despite my key change half way through the song that probably left them all with splitting headaches. Yikes!

We did another 10km walk through a series of parks on Sunday which once again reinforced Singapore's dedication to creating and maintaining public amenities. The walk starts at Mount Faber and then each park is linked by a series of pedestrian bridges, canopy walk ways and paved forest walks. What a splendid way to spend a Sunday morning.

About to watch the tennis

We made our way home for a swim and then headed out on our bikes to find a spot to watch the Australian Open Men's Final. We landed up at a Micro-brewery just down the road from us and had the most delicious fish and chips. We got the timing a bit wrong and ended up only watching the first set of the tennis and decided that our intentions of watching a 5 hour tennis match seated on a bar stool was ambitious to say the least. We headed home and resorted to bbm updates from 43 Old Main Road Kloof on the war of the titans, Nadal and Djokovic. My man won in the end and I suppose that's all that counts :)

We are off to Malacca this weekend. Very excited as we are driving up by coach which will mean we get to see some of the countryside into Malaysia and its only a 4.5 hour drive. We spend the night there and then head back late Sunday afternoon. Should be fabulous.

Of course next weekend is our Tioman trip - BRING IT ON! 4 days in island paradise - can't wait!

Love to you all and take care of yourselves. Be careful and be safe.

xx