On 18th May 2013, we went to Tioman again and this time, it's different. We took the Berjaya Air's propeller plane and it took us only 50 minutes to reach Tioman! How cool is that? We used to take bus from Singapore to Mersing, and then boat. However, that will take us 6-7 hours of travelling. It's not a wise choice and after we experienced the plane ride, we feel that our future trips to Tioman will be via Berjaya Air!
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| We took an airport shuttle bus to the propeller plane. So exciting. |
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| A group picture before we board the plane. |
We reached Tioman at 1pm, and we were actually in Singapore Changi Airport at 12pm! It is really an amazing feeling! All of us are so excited about it. Our children slept on the journey there.
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| This propeller plane is small and the door is used as the stairs! |
The seats were not fully taken and hence we have the window seats for ourselves. Since it was a short journey, no food was served. The air-con was not really working though. However, the pilot is very skilled! The Tioman airport has a narrow runway and we actually landed very near to houses! It is really an amazing sight! And I believe that the residents are so used to the sounds of the propeller landing there everyday.
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| Free publicity for the Berjaya Air. |
The cost of the flight for 4 adults and 2 children (to and fro) is $1120. Isn't it affordable and value for time and money? Really saved us lots of hours and convenience!
Tioman Swiss Cottage
This 'resort' is only a 5 minutes drive from the Tioman Airport! And we loved the sea so much!! We got ourselves a Seaview Bungalow (RM200 per day) and another Terrace (RM140 per day). Both are not air-conditioned because we read from TripAdvisor that the place is cooling at night.
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| Our room |
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| Our sea view. So beautiful isn't? |
This time, we go to this part of Tioman because through TripAdvisor, we wanted a place near the airport and the reviews for this is actually very good. It's a family business and the manager is very friendly too! We chatted with the manager and asked how come he didn't want to have more air-conditioned units. He didn't want those seaview units to have air-conditioned because it will use the authenticity of the Tioman place already. What a smart choice.
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| This sofa chair. |
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| Our very own Kampong boy. |
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| Kate and the coconut |
Honestly, the beach here is very clean and the moment you see the coconut on the beach, you would like to pick it up and see whether is it eaten! Such a big coconut, eh? However it has a big hole! It's eaten...
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| There is a place for monkey bar too! |
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| Apparently all the units are all taken up! We are really lucky to have a seaview bungalow. |
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| This is another room. Mosquito nets were present to prevent us from being bitten! |
Beach Time
Certainly, both my children loved the sand and the thing different from Singapore shores is that it has corals to play with. They did their own version of sand castles, and they even picked up corals to wash!
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| See how concentrated they are. |
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| I'm trying to help them getting the water and sand together. |
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| Snorkelling is fun! And it is rented at RM10 per day. |
Snorkelling is indeed fun and I tell you, I managed to see parrot fish, huge sea cucumbers, moving clams, and the best is cuttlefish! Cuttlefish is quite scary. The moment I saw it, I was shocked! It was white and I began to retreat. It retreated too. And guess that it was afraid of me too. And it turned to dark brown. I quickly scoot! This is really scary. I quickly swam away and turned back, and the cuttlefish is not following me. I felt much better! I wondered if cuttlefish can come and sting me or something.
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| Happy Josh |
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| It's really relaxing at every angle in Tioman |
I'm really glad that both my children are not afraid of the sand and they are fine to walk barefoot out from the bungalow to the reception (main office) and back to the home! Really feel that they are part of the nature! For us, we just feel very happy to be here too!
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| This hammock is part of the bungalow. It's really very nice feeling to have yourself cradled once again. |
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| Kate loves to play with the sunglasses. |
Connection
In this 'rural' place, WIFI is available only at the reception corner. And I realised that Kate loves to see herself in the image on the phone! Really so glad that she loves to pose by herself.
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| Kate and her poses |
I just feel that living in coastal areas really give you a natural relaxing feeling. The sound of the waves just make you calm down and even at night, the moon just shines in the sea. Beautiful sight.
The beach benches are very comfortable and Kate just laid down there the moment she was placed on it. And she followed how I placed my leg! How cute is she!
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| This is called mirroring. |
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| Climbing Kate |
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| Tree house! However, it is not available for stay. Wouldn't it be great if we can stay on a tree house! |
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| The Tioman landscape and the sunset. Really beautiful, isn't it? |
Night time, we went to a nearby Malay restaurant to have our dinner. It consisted of their Kampung Fried rice (delicious) and their BBQ squid and fish! Their sauce is authentic and really delicious! We didn't really sleep well at night because of the mosquitoes coming into our room. I had around 7 mosquito bites even though we have applied the liquid mosquito repellent, the mosquito patch and also the tiger balm mosquito solid repellent. They don't work!
Day Two
The morning is welcomed by the bright warm sun and straight after the breakfast, we headed to the beach again! Woohoo! Kate was so excited to wear her swimming costume once again.
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| Kate with the swimming float. However, she didn't use it! She was afraid of it! LOL. |
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| Round Two of sandcastle making |
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| Kate managed to kick in the salty waters! And she even drank some too! |
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| White cat in action! |
There are so many cats in the whole Swiss Cottage, more than 10 of them. And the good thing is that there is a culture that there is no feeding of the cats! They are very friendly felines. And yes, they sleep everywhere and anywhere. They even came to our bungalow and slept on our clothes which we laid to dry on the chair! How friendly!
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| Nice picture? Ha. |
Talking about taking pictures! We haven't really took our pre-natal shots yet! Oh no! Wonder will we be having one for this third child! Ha. Still in discussion...
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| Does this picture remind you of the floods in some parts of the Earth? Kate passed urine on me and I had no choice but to wash my shirt during lunch time. The sun didn't manage to dry it and I just sling her like that. |
Tioman is really a place where couples and children can enjoy the wonders of the nature and sea. After lunch, we rested and when we woke up, we went to the beach again! So funny right? Ha. I'm really glad that both Josh and Kate love the beach life so much! So honored!
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| Happy helicopter Kate and I |
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| Beautiful couple and the shore! |
We went down to the ABC beach once again, another place in Tioman whereby there is great food! We took a car down, climbed a hill to get there. The restaurant was actually at the far end of the ABC Beach and we managed to get the villagers' vehicle to bring us there! He is really friendly and a good driver too!
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| This vehicle transported us! The 7 people (including the driver). How amazing! |
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| Another sunset picture before we welcomed the night. |
Tioman is indeed a place that is exotic. There are other places which is more exotic such as Sipadan and Redang (both places I have never went before) and also Maldives. People went there and they managed to see sea turtles even when they we do our snorkelling.
We went back the next day, and we left at 1pm and reached Singapore by 2pm! It's really a great experience and we would want to go back once again. Really love the short journey, and the long lasting memories. Guess that the next time is after our baby daughter is born!
