I was supposed to update on my 26th week last tuesday but decided to wait till I’m back from Tioman so that I can put up pictures as well. Blog updates without pictures are boring, don’t you think?

So anyway, husband and I decided at the very last minute that we shouldn’t go to jakarta. I wanted a short trip to anywhere (even sentosa came to mind) where there is sand and sea and I guess I am lucky that Ian has a thing for planning holiday trips so all I had to do was to say yes or no. He did all the research and planned the itinerary for our whole trip. No doubt it was a very short trip (3days 2nights), but we had loads of fun, as usual. You can put us in a dessert and we would still manage to have fun somehow. I’m serious.
The weather in Tioman was horrendous, just like in singapore. So hot, I want to shower every time we get back to the hotel (but of course I didn’t because that would mean I need to get ready about 4 times in a day and the husband would probably throw the sofa at me while I am putting on my lipstick).
As usual, we both waited till the very last minute to pack our bags. How last minute? Erm, a few hours before we had to leave? Yup.
I made sure I brought light and comfortable clothes this time round (unlike my perth trip last year) and boy am I glad! Light clothing’s the best especially when pregnant. Other than that, I also packed food like tuna chilli, bread, cookies, pringles and lots of other junk food in case I die of hunger there (which I obviously didn’t). Half of my bag was filled with FOOD. Besides that, I also brought my own towel because I have a very very bad habit of not wanting to use hotel’s towels. I worked in a hotel before, so I know the process of them being cleaned (don’t ask me how!). While packing for the trip with the husband, I took my aromatherapy holder, wrapped it with newspaper and placed it inside my bag. The husband saw and took it away from me then called me crazy. Ok la, it was too much. But do you know that I bring that EVERYTIME I travel to anywhere? Some hotel rooms have a funky smell and I was just getting myself prepared for that. Heh and by the way, the people sharing rooms with me will always thank me for bringing that hokayyyy. Chet.

Ok, moving on. The night before we left, I had trouble sleeping because maybe baby was too excited to sleep. He was so active the whole night right up till morning. I barely slept. The husband on the other hand watched World Cup with his friends at our place until 5am so he didn’t get to sleep at all. He was the one who woke me up. I got up, showered and started getting ready. Despite waking up early, we were STILL late. Daddy was already waiting to send us off at 6am and we only came down at 6.10am. We were supposed to reach the location at 6.30am but we got there at 6.40am. Lucky for us, the bus was late and it only came at 7.10am so I had time to pee and do all the necessary. After boarding the bus, all we did was slept for the entire 3 1/2 hours until we reach tanjung gemok jetty. (Yes, I giggled when I heard the name of the jetty too.)

At the jetty, we had to wait for about 20 mins before we were on our way to tioman island. The journey took us about 1.5hrs which was torture for me because the seat wasn’t comfortable enough for pregnant me. would have been no problem for everyone else. The husband slept so comfortably, like he’s sleeping on our bed at home. Tsk tsk. I, on the other hand was counting down the minutes and think happy thoughts about tioman. I’ve never been there before so I was kind of excited.

When we reached the island, the captain woke everyone up by shouting “API! API!” (fire! Fire!) Which I thought was funny. What a way to wake people up. Mengelacat semua.

I looked out and saw clear blue water! I was so excited and was probably the first few who got up and wanted to get out of the ferry as fast as I could. The advantage of being pregnant is, everyone gives way to you and let you go first. Yehaaaa.

From the jetty, we could already see millions of marine fishes in the water. I wanted to snorkel straightaway! But we had to check in to our hotel first (I had the choice of choosing our accommodation this time round, yahoo!).

We booked the Superior Beachfront room at Paya Beach Resort and boy I am REALLY happy we went for the beachfront rooms! The rooms were newly renovated early this year, so it was really clean with very comfortable 2 queen size beds. Want to know the best part? It is right in front of the beach, only 4 steps away to be exact. I would be jumping in joy if it weren’t for my tummy.

So after settling in the room, we quickly went out to check on our snorkelling trip for the next day and at the same time, we went to rent snorkelling equipments. Wasted no time after that! We went for a quick lunch at a warong about 5 mins away from our room where they served good and cheap Malaysian food and then headed back to our room and then went snorkelling at the beach.

While snorkelling, we could already see the marine fishes and corals so I told the husband that maybe taking up the snorkelling trip package was a waste of money after all. What else do we want to see? Oh, I was wrong. More on that, later.
We snorkelled for about an hour or so, took some pictures underwater, and then headed back to our room, showered and got ready to go explore the island a little bit. We went for a walk around the island until I started complaining about getting tired. :p went back to the room again, took a short rest and headed out for buffet dinner which was included the package. The food at the hotel was just ok and sorry to say, it was nothing compared to the food from the warong. Furthermore, there were so many flies everywhere which made it quite difficult for us to have a proper meal together, so dinner was really quick.

After that, as the husband had planned, we decided to go for night fishing at the jetty. At 9pm, the fishes there were really hungry! They ate my bait before I could even put my rod down. I didn’t even have the time to pop my pringles. Heh. I got bored after getting the 5th fish because usually I have to wait at least 20mins or so before reeling my line, but fishing at tioman? Erm, I had to reel my line as soon as I cast my line. It was really fun though. We caught a lot of fishes but of course we let them all go because we only fished for fun and we don’t intend to bring our catche(s) home anyway. We were at the jetty until 1am before deciding to head back to our room and calling it a night. Had cup noodles (why are cup noodles so delicious when travelling?), some snacks and that was the end of day 1!

Next morning, we were up very early. Had breakfast at the hotel and headed to the jetty to go for our snorkelling trip. The boat ride took about 40mins and when we reached Marine Cove, our first snorkelling location, we were given 45mins to snorkel. We brought bread so that we could feed the hungry fishes. It was really fun snorkelling and I think baby agrees with me. He was kicking and punching me so hard every time I went underwater and stopped when I get off the water. Haha! The underwater camera was very useful, although we wouldn’t know the how the photos would turn out because we had to use film and we haven’t developed the pictures yet. I really REALLY hope it would turn out well!

After 45mins, we were all told to get back up on the boat and we moved to our 2nd snorkelling location which was at Renggis Island. Renggis Island is beautiful!!!!!!!!! The corals underwater were gorgeous and I was really happy to get to see colourful fishes and corals everywhere. The husband and I snorkelled together for a good 45 mins this time round and we explored everything together. We fed the fishes and took some photos. I didn’t waste any time there and I snorkelled without rest to make sure I get to see everything. The husband took a short break to snap pictures of me from the boat and while I was busy underwater, I spotted a very familiar pair of (hairy) legs underwater. It’s Ian, without his lifejacket and snorkelling gear! I would have drowned if I don’t have those on me! The water is really deep, how can anyone swim? Or maybe I’m the only one who can’t. Damn.

My legs were cramped by then so I decided to get on the boat to take pictures of Ian. I think 4 people had to help me up on the boat because my legs were cramped and erm, everyone wants to make sure I’m ok. The people who went on the snorkelling trip with us were really nice and they made sure I was alright whenever Ian’s not with me. Most of them were Singaporean by the way.

So anyway, after snapping, we had to head back to Paya Beach. I enjoyed the snorkelling trip so so much and it was pretty obvious because I was beaming like a mad cow all the way back on the boat.

Upon reaching our room, we showered and then went for lunch at the hotel. Soon after, Ian said he wanted to take a look at the manmade waterfall there and so we went. That was a LONG and walk in CRAZY weather and I sweat like crazy, my top was drenched in sweat! I was panting and huffing and puffing away like a dog all the way and sadly, the waterfall wasn’t that fantastic so we only snapped a few pictures before heading back to our room. It was still early for fishing, so we ate junk (everything is so cheap, you just want to eat everything) and took a walk at the beach in front of our room, took pictures again. Altogether, using 3 different cameras, we have 700+ pictures. Which is not too bad, I think. Heh.

Ian wanted to rest a little while before we go for night fishing again, so we made full use of the beautiful room and stayed in with the aircon on full blast.
We both decided to go for day fishing the next day before we leave because our ferry is not until 1pm.
After a good long rest, we went out for some night fishing. But before that, we bought Ramly Burger from my favourite warong and oh my it was really goooood! Only RM$4 for ‘Special Burger’, totally worth it.

Fishing on our 2nd day there wasn’t as exciting as the first. Tide was very low so there wasn’t much activity, we only fished for 2 hours or so before heading back. And since it was still early, we watched ‘Prom Night’ on HBO before going to sleep. It was a tiring but very interesting day, indeed. I might have fallen asleep smiling that night.

Our last day in Tioman, we woke up for breakfast and started packing after we were done eating. Carried all our bags to the jetty and fished again! I told Ian we MUST fish during the day because then we would be able to see the fishes eating the bait. He was going for the big fishes while I was just playing around with my rod and only wanted pretty colourful coral fishes and I told him I wasn’t going to stop until I get a rainbow fish. And I managed to catch it, although its just a one small pathetic fish.

Our ferry was supposed to be at 1pm, but it got delayed and only came at 2pm, so we had time to buy the tasty Ramly Burger from my favourite warong and keropok lekor (soooo nice!). Our journey back to Singapore was 9 hours long (no thanks to the delays) and it was bumpy and uncomfortable. I couldn’t sleep throughout, and was dead tired by the time we reached Singapore. Had dinner at PILS place because MIL made rojak mama which was ohmygoodnessssssssss so bloody delicious. So glad I didn’t refuse their offer even though I was already very tired.
So anyway, I told Ian this could have been our best holiday together so far. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of our Tioman trip and I am so proud of him for planning everything for both of us. My dear husband, looks like you will be the one planning all of our holidays from now on!

We would love to go on another short trip together, but our baby’s coming, so I guess there won’t be any anytime soon. Well whatever it is, I’m glad we went ahead with Tioman even though it was very short. Thank you Ian!

Now, don’t you think that this entry is too long? Don’t think I’ve ever written this much before for my blog. Just don’t get cross eyed while reading ok? Or if you don’t want to read, you can just look at the pictures below. I had to pick them VERY carefully before posting on my blog. Here goes…

 

 

I just realize we did not take any pictures on the way back. So this last picture was taken at the jetty before we say byebye to Tioman Island.

I owe my blog a 27th week post now, time oh time I need you!