Tioman island Marine Park

Need any intro to that?

There you go...

It's just a few mins drive away from the main town of Tekek and Berjaya resort.

Our gear wasn't quite complete. In fact, those masks that I bought for them for the Phuket trip last year had shrunk (well, not exactly. Actually, they have grown out of it) and were not quite suitable for their use anymore. I've got to buy some proper ones for them for our next island holiday.

Who wants these snorkeling masks?? Going, going....

Fortunately, my friend had a float for us to use as their dotter wasn't feeling very well and didn't want to go into the water.

I was very worried about the 2 boys swimming to the platform from the shore with just a baby float. And is hub really a reliable person to make sure they are ok? (prayed and kept fingers crossed only)

They spent quite a long time there. The girls and ladies, meanwhile, hang around looking after all the bags by the beach. Later, we felt bored and decided to carry all the stuffs and go to the pier to see the fish closer.

Don't they look delicious? mmmm.....

After awhile, meimei asked to go into the water and I had hub to escort her over.

Another while later, I myself couldn't tahan anymore and went into the water too. It was just simply thrilling to be swimming around with those fish. Love it! Need I say more?

When we were back to KL, boy oh boy, I can hardly look at myself in the mirror. To say I gained a few shades darker is SO understated. It was such a pain to see my reflection! That's the price to pay for all the fun we had. Sigh!!!!!

Short detour at the waterfalls.

The driver for our land tour was very agitated somehow. We had assumed the driver was specifically OUR driver alone, as promised by the tour operator but as I had said before, service is damn poor. They promise one thing, and deliver another. Get your act together already!

So back to this driver. I guess he was furious with us for lingering too long at Juara beach and sabotage all his other plans to ferry other customers around. When we eventually reach the waterfall, he told us to be back in the car by 1pm (or something like that) which was slightly less than 30 mins from that drop off time. He marah-marah threatened if he couldn't see us at that time, he would drive away to pick other customers and then we would have to wait until 2 hours later for him.

All of us FUMED!

Anyway, we took off to the waterfall. Which was about 5 mins walk downhill. And greeted by this sight.

Lovely. Set our mind away from the angry driver for awhile. But still, how dared he!

Waterfalls make me reminisce the good old days where I hang out with different group of friends, getting wet and having fun. I used to have LOTS of fun on a waterfall trip. And we did make lots of those trips. Ipoh has many of those waterfalls, surprisingly.

In fact, my brothers and I grew up playing almost every other day at the small waterfall on the stream running from Kledang Hill. We just love that place! We imagined ourselves in different place at the same waterfall and truly, it was our playground. My heart is so warmed just thinking what a simply carefree and great childhood we had.

The water was ICY cold. But they can't resist a war here! 4 boys vs 1 man. Fun just looking at them.
What a pity we could only spend a short time here.

But we heard there's another waterfall which could only be reached after a 30 mins hike. Not sure which one is better, but I think we were shortchanged from the whole package we paid. All of us think the land tour was a ripoff.

YO! Don't splash unto me, I can't afford to spoil my camera!

2 family pictures for remembrance sake. How far we come to now, splendid! 20 years to be exact.

Lazy morning at Juara beach

On a brand new day of our Tioman holiday, the tour operator that we engaged took us cross-island to another lonely deserted beach on the east side (I think)

There was nothing much to do, the kids just jumped around in the sea, splash around, play with sand and just get tanned.


I took cover under the shade as you can imagined from the picture I took above.

My couple friend went off to check out the place whilst doing some "naughty" stuffs, I suppose.

Their daughter wasn't feeling very well and sat on the beach chair together with me.

The kids just enjoyed themselves silly, I guess it was better having more company around to splash water around with. Then again, most of the times, I see them playing on their own as well. Equally happy.

Just love her chubby succulent little fingers, better chomp on them before they disappeared into thin slender ones. :)

Soon, meimei was doing cartwheels on the beach. Too cute!

Korkor just loves to cry for HELP on the sand whenever he's on a beach. Hmm...

Later, my couple friend came back with a brief report on their findings. They suggest to get some snacks and drink from just the nearby eatery as we should be having our lunch there from the itinerary.

While they hang on at that place, my hub and I went off to do our "thing" too....

Bought a burger which costs 4 bucks, but hub had 3.90 only with him and was hoping he would get 10 cents discount, but the guy took his 100 bucks and went off to get it changed for him. Sucker!

We came by some chalets and hub talked to one of the guy who was staying there. He said they were here for a fishing trip and chalet cost very cheap, I forgot how much it was. They chatted for awhile and I looked around, looking bored and just wanna go back to the beach chair and close my eyes. Boy! Am I anti social or what! But I just couldn't bring myself to join in the chat with a stranger old man with his nipples staring back at me! Yucks! Why do men NOT wear a singlet at least??!! I find it so distasteful.

Saw "Wilson", probably his cousin. (Castaway's Wilson? Watched that movie before?)

Lingered around for quite sometime at Juara while didi and the other boy had their long poo break, ate some food, played some games, drank some fresh coconut juice, face massaged by the awful comfy wind and that was it!

Snorkeling in Coral Island and more

One of the most interesting and enjoyable activity during an island holiday is going for snorkeling and island hopping in real boats, out to the open sea. Scary, yet exciting.

We asked around and get different quotations for the packages we could get. Basically the locals there would tempt you with a whole package of a day out to the islands, and another day land tour which includes exclusivity of boat and 4WD trips. Before paying for the downpayment, whatever we asked for, they sure say boleh, boleh. Everything! But when it comes to the real thing, sorry la, boss, ini rosak, itu tak pakai.

Really! If service is first class, I'm sure the tourist business would flourish more because it has so MUCH potential.

The boat ride to our first stop that day is a 10 min very bumpy ride out in the open sea to the nearby biggest islet (I think) called Coral Island.

The 2 boys in front who had the bumpiest ride! And no fret for them, they just let themselves hang loose. And enjoyed it so much!

But didi was hanging on tight for dear life! Perhaps seated backwards made it worse for him, but nothing we said could convince him to let go and relax himself. He was so worried, the worry on his face made us all worry for him.

Truth be told, I was very worried myself too. I was so afraid of being thrown into the sea. But I tried to relax all my body muscles and it did work! It's so important to just go with the flow when riding in choppy waters!

When we arrived at Coral Island, oh wow! I just felt the sensational ride was just so worth it. The island is a paradise! Awesome fine sand and crystal clear turquoise blue water and gazing into the sea, SO MANY colorful fishes swimming around!

I was so excited to go into the water right there!

Truth be told again, I have a fear with snorkeling gears. Somehow I am not very comfortable breathing into the mouthpiece and so afraid of inhaling water into my poor lungs! Furthermore, meimei was clinging to me like glue and I had to make sure she feels comfortable and secured. It wasn't easy. But then, yeah, I had fun, we had fun.

There's really nothing like swimming with the fishes and everytime I do, it just amaze me.

Whilst I was swimming, oohing aahing at the beautiful and cute fishes, I regretted not getting a disposable underwater camera to capture the scene I saw right before my eyes. I thought well, there should be tons of pro pictures all over the internet as well, but really, there's nothing than looking at your own pictures which you take somehow.

Picture shamelessly taken from the internet... shhh!!!!

That would have been about it though I remember seeing more colors of fishes than that. Gee, I wouldn't want to leave that island, had it not been 5 other stops to complete the whole league.

We went to the 2nd stop near to another tiny islet but no beaches. We were supposed to just jump into the sea from the boat and swim/ snorkel around. But the waves were way too huge and we couldn't manage to see and swim together. The guys said the coral around there looks great, but they can't handle the waves as well, what's more with our kids clinging to us or us holding to them for fear of being washed away by the waves. So, we made a brief stop and told the skipper to move on to the next spot.

He took us back to another part of the main island for lunch break. Lunch wasn't great, but good enough to fill our tummies.

Then we went to the Marine Park where the fish looked like those we could steam with shredded ginger with soya sauce and sink our teeth into. They look pretty big and dangerous as well, and we were all scared for a moment to swim with them. Well, we as in meimei and I lah, I think. The guys wasted no time though. There was a floating platform in the middle and it was great for snorkelers to take a breather or two. More pictures of those later.

We then moved on to the last league of our island hop adventure. This little islet seen from the beach in Berjaya, I forgot its name, is a popular spot for divers. Hearsay, the corals are stunning there, but I didn't see much.

The boat stopped right there where I took that picture above, and soon, everyone were in the water doing their own thing. Korkor and didi followed hub while meimei stayed with me. In just a short while, she was trembling and told me she felt cold. So I had this plan in mind to take her back to the boat, wrapped her up in towel and I would just swim around nearby to snorkel on my own for awhile. I asked her if she's ok with that and she agreed.

So I swam back to the boat.... which was like.... so freaking tough! The current just kept washing us away to the opposite direction and I was so exhausted!

As I made it back, I thought I would just stay around in the water near the boat. But really, the current was very strong and in no time, I was like so far away from her! As I kept my eyes on the boat and meimei, I felt very uneasy with the idea of leaving her alone with a stranger just like that. I asked myself if I am way too paranoid, but really, I think I wouldn't do that if given another chance.

I swam back to her quickly, which took a heave big effort again, and asked her if she wanna come with me into the water again. She said yes and I do feel relieved she was back by my side again, even though I wouldn't be able to see much of whats going on under the water. That, I decided, is of lower priority, compared to having her safe beside me and her having fun just swimming around in the open sea. Nothing else matters that much, eh? My little baby, I have goosebumps just thinking if something bad happens to her and I had been the negligent mom.

Well.

Suddenly, I saw the skipper putting on his flips and swam to the direction of the rest of our group. I think he was getting annoyed we were eating up in his working hours and he wanted to clock out already! Or perhaps he thought that the men were in dangerous water what with the strong current and he would be the hero to save them from harm. Either way, coz that was when he pulled hub and the boys back to the boat with an annoyed black long face. We didn't ask why, but that, I heard is a norm and the service that you will get from Tioman Island. Such a sore thumb from their counterpart, Redang.

Nevertheless, everyone had a great day. When we reached the resort, I suggested them to go to the pool and the kids jumped with joy. I myself stayed in the room to clean up all the stuffs and had a nice good shower myself, without the noise and fuss. So bliss. In perfect silence for just awhile.

Sleepovers a hit with kids these days

During the school holidays, korkor went over to his classmate's home for a sleepover. His FIRST sleepover.

Eek! I almost can't sleep that night!

But that little fella friend of his is ever so polite, asking me in a manja tone liddat, "auntieeee, can justin bibber (my son) come over to my house to sleep over tonight?" How to say NO to him?

Today, we reciprocate by asking him over this time, as he called and asked him to go to his house to play again.

We went for a splash at the pool, ate in and made him eat his vegetables which he hated, and I made them all watched movie at home together instead of playing Wii and computer games. Halfway through, they were complaining about boredom when we had to go out to fetch KT's cousin home from work. We took a joyride together, buying some roti canai back as supper.

Throughout his stay with us, I got to know their class teacher has about 5 favorite students and korkor falls into the list.

He's a very sweet fler too, always accommodating to didi and meimei's wishes, when each of them keeps pestering him to go and play with them.

It's always nice to know our kids' friends they make in school, isn't it? I do hope korkor and him can be friends for a long time as I really do like him, so polite and charming. Just like justin bibber. :)

Didi's 8th birthday picture

Celebrating him turning 8th this year in a very small scale.

But it took half a year for his birthday gift to arrive - his bicycle, with 2 training wheels STILL!

Korkor wants a bike too for his coming 11th birthday, and I said, "look, didi waited for almost 6 months for his, so all you need to do now is to be patient and wait" heh!

My winning bag

I hardly won anything in my life, and today I won a 4l bottle of motor oil without much effort.

Crazy.

All I had to do was to compete with 4 other ladies in a very crowded popular mall to be the first to form a line from the things in my bag or whatever on me. I didn't intend to participate but was sorta pushed into it after taking a picture with didi and meimei from a big tv screen showing a monster trying to eat us up but in futile as we were "protected" from this marketed product in my hands. Pretty awesome marketing ads we have nowadays, eh?

I was carrying my much loved bag and inside were 1 of the winning items - my scarf! Muahaha!! That was the winning streak I had! The emcee commented "wahh.. sure win la, liddat!". BUT the lady next to me was even crazier! She whipped out a jumping rope from her bag! WHY on earth she carries a jump rope in her bag around a mall?? Tell me!!!

Anyway, I WON! With all the other tissue papers I just nonchalantly tucked into my bag after eating out at Teppanyaki. Weird, because usually it would be papa doing all these silai stuff, but I really have no idea why I did today! I think somehow, it was pure luck, really pure good luck today.

SO there! A gift for my hub on Father's Day. He was beaming with delight more than me, while I hurriedly shoo-ed them away to go home, wishing noone I know saw me there! How un-ladylike it must had been, though I was very conscious not to lari cahaya wearing a lowcut dress. Yikes!