All along I wanted to go to a nice island w clear waters and just nua… But u know simple requests usually are not cheap and sometimes….. just soooo lazy to plan la. Finally I have a reason to plan le! Bf exams finish so I planned for a getaway to let him relax. In e end…. the trip is 1 month away from his post exams lol :’)
30 Jun 2018 Saturday
Boarded the KKKL bus at 6.30am at Bugis Mrt. Thats after taking down the (pokemon) gym haha… The bus is super punctual and moved off on the dot sia. We reached woodlands mayb ard 7am? We only left the malaysia side of customs at 9am! omg! Such a short distance and take soooo freaking long. Why…. why is e customs always jam…. But heng the bus v comfy tho air con abit cold.
There is this guide on the bus. He quite gancheong that the customs took so long cuz alot of ppl on the bus is going Tioman wan and Tioman ferry leave at 11am. So he said he will give the ferry a call.
Wah after this the driver starts to do F1 race le. I actually felt abit car sick cuz of the winding feeling so I jz hurry go slp. By 11am, we reached! Amazing~
The Rawa Island Resort office is just a short walk away so we register and went to…… fight pokemon hehe :p just in case the island dun hav ma haha…. very soon is boarding time. The walk to the boat looks relatively new which is surprising to me cuz I tot this resort quite some time le.
The waters along the boardwalk are clear n not swampy haha…. The Rawa Island speedboat looks new too with lifejackets placed on every seat.
15-20min ride later and we reached the island lo! Check in was smooth but we were not shown to our room haha We had to find our way to the room. It’s really not a short walk but…. the surroundings are just sooooo….. chilll~ and most impt clear waters!! I can see the rock!
There’s really not alot of people around. We finally found our room! And i actually forgot to take pic of the exterior…. bah….. it’s a stack of 3 rooms with the bottom-most as storage room. hehe we are on the 2nd level.
Room came w quite an awesome view and a nice balcony with reclining chair. (Model not included)
The bathroom portion was abit lok kok with a very very old wardrobe. But it’s ok. Main thing is the room is clean can le.
After checking in to our room, we went back to main hall to have our buffet style lunch. Quite a decent spread with fish, duck and beef. Oh oh… the whole island have… 2 pokestops and a pokegym! heheh the whole island can be seen from from the trainer perspective. Small eh?
BF was soooo tired from the journey that he KO for a good 2 hrs after lunch… lol… When he woke up, we went to find the 1 and only diving shop on the island. Orca Scuba. hehe we not going to learn diving but they hav some guided snorkelling thingy. There is actually no day trip out of this island so snorkelling is done offshore. Since we never really snorkel off the shore before, we decided to get the guide and maybe can see more stuff!
They were quite packed for Sunday cuz lotsa dives. But they managed to slot us in and the one taking us is Edelina. Bf said “yeaa got cute mei mei” -.- he no die before!
After we confirmed the snorkelling, we were taken to try out the snorkel mask. There are S,M,L. I’m in between S and M. haha But she said its better to take M in case we duck dive.
The location of the dive shop is at quite a scenic place too.
We were thinking whether to watch e sunset here or go the sunbed in front of our villas there. We decided to go the sunbed in e end.
It’s really as nice as the pics. Quite amazing and I didnt have to wait to take a shot of an empty place. It simply wasnt overcrowded.
We are the only ones there! So i setup my tripod to mount my iphone to take a series of bo liao pics hahhaha
while my bf…….
This is like his fav spot. Quiet with a view. Ok most of the times quiet, since his gf is there “lets take a pic” haha Anyway, soon after, a French couple joined us at this area. They are in the next cabana. They super got 情调。They brought a bottle of wine along with 2 glasses and toast each other there. hehe I offered to help them take photo and we chatted a bit. They are French staying in Singapore and its their anniversary! so sweet. They told me Telunas is a very nice as well.
It wasnt a perfect sunset cuz there were clouds and all so cannot see the round egg yolk. But someone said it’s a perfect sunset cuz he’s ard! hahahah *facepalm*
After the sun set, we went for dinner! Tonight is BBQ night! Lotsa meat: chicken satay, chicken chop, beef steak, lamb chop, fish, prawn hehe but their steak and lamb chop very overcooked la. The chicken surprisingly v juicy.
There are also lotsa fruits served: watermelon, honeydew, pink dragonfruit, jackfruit, guava and starfruit. I must say their meals exceeded my expectations.
After dinner, we went back room and…… my bf fell asleep before i even finish bathing! Hahah i think the long bus journey is jin tiring.
1 Jul 2018 Sunday
Rise and shine to breakies! It’s a sunny day! Go beach must have sunny day. I like this morning’s breakfast. Got my fav nasi lemak!
This island is quite amazing. Even w a resort built here, there are bats, komodo lizards, etc lying ard the island. Oh n there are a pair of resident peacocks here.
Everything abt this resort is good but got 2 poor points: 1) the aircon vvv noisy sia 2) the drinking water is v far from our Frangipani villa 😦 Basically the drinking water can only be refilled at the dining area so we need to erm stock up water since both of us drink alot of water.
Breakfast time we refilled our water flask then go back room put then go out find spot to nua hehe….
After breakies, we went to the sunbed area take some photos…
heheh thanks to the tripod again! Here, we saw fishes right next to the pier. We even saw a tiny stingray~ tot its a rock in the waters until it start moving. Sunbed area not meant for the day tho. It’s quite hot so we moved to another nua area…..
The bean bags r like just calling out to us. (Tho there are some stains on the bean bags hehe… )
Haha this should b life. We wake up n jz tink abt nua where….. hahah my bf got a cup of coffee to accompany his newspaper (like an ah pek) hehe while his gf just take 1 dozen of photos~
After we have enuff of nua-ing, we decided to go find some viewpoint. Went behind the kitchen and the hillside villas to find a flight of stairs. Came across the reverse osmosis plant for the island hehe… the water from the taps do taste abit salty during brushing of teeth hahah… non-potable wan. thats why we need to walk to dining area to get drinking water.
After the plant, came a v steep flights of stairs.
Need to hold on to the rope at the side. Bf keep asking if i’m ok. cuz quite 喘 hehe but its worth it!
Its a very small narrow area. Can tell not many ppl come up here cuz the area for standing still got some grass and rocks. haben 磨平 by the footsteps.
Hehe like that nua abit, walk abit and its time for lunch lo! Really this whole trip is just eat n get fat.
Today’s lunch quite sumptous too! Got fish, curry chicken and steak.
In addition, there is always rice and pasta at the sides. Their pasta always have 2 kinds…. like aglio spaghetti and cheese macaroni.
Why I look so forward to lunch besides the food is because finally it’s dip in water time! woo hoo~~~ And this time bf joined me liao! Cuz he said the water v clear n clean so looks v inviting hehe…
hehe we slowly drift from the beachfront villa to the slides there. BF v garang; went to try both slides. Haha the 2nd slide is higher.
When bf come down, his specs fell out. Heng ah He managed to catch hold of his specs haha otherwise he will be a blind bat liao.
hehe… I managed to take pics of us in the waters cuz I brought my waterproof bag along. But it actually cant really sense my fingers through the thick plastic. Have to press the side button. Then press button photos will blur lei cuz shaky ma. In e end, I just use it as we frolic in the waters; didnt bring it during snorkelling.
I rem hearing from Edelina that under pier alot of fishes. So we went under the pier. Wah really alot lei!
N there was no food fed to the fishes yet they still swamped ard us. Or mayb we look like the food? hehe
As the time reach 2.30pm, we went up to the dive shop jz next to the shore. Edelina came a while later and…. there was really a briefing on some hand signals and the fishes we will see. She told us she will point to where the fishes are and she will make hand signals on what fish it is. For eg angelfish will be represented by twirling her hands ard her head. Actually the briefing was abit long, I was afraid that I might fall asleep. haha…
Finally it’s time to grab our fins n masks into the waters! Wakey wakey Heheh first, we have to use some baby shampoo to wash the mask. BF was like “wah… so different from Phuket” hahha the price also different lei. This 1 hr of guided snorkelling cost like S$40 each. They charged in S$ which i find it abit weird.
We took our fins and masks and walked into the waters. Once the waters reach mid thigh level, we start to put on our fins. I was struggling abit cuz I jz felt v unbalanced. Then to start swimming also gets a bit wobbly cuz of the fin haha but ok we finally managed to get going!
Edelina is really environmental wary. She saw an empty cigarette pack in the waters and she picked it n stuffed into her sleeves for the whole duration of our snorkel. She told us Orca Scuba occasionally organise clean up of the waters. I’m quite impressed.
The waves are really strong! I can feel them sweeping me towards the pier. Was abit scared haha… We tried to catch up with Edelina. haha She kept beckoning us over but I ah… not v strong swimmer. But heng ah she brought along the float. In e end, to prevent myself frm drifting off, I just hook my arms onto the float and kick lo. hehe
At this point, I’m very glad for engaging Orca Scuba. Cuz without Edelina, I would have u-turn liao cuz the currents were quite strong. And the visibility in the waters not too good so without her pointing out the various fishes n signalling to us, we would have jz passed them by. It’s really quite cool to see the tiny fishes swimming among the anemone, like in Finding Nemo.
We actually snorkelled all the way from the dining hall area to where our villa is. Like soooo far… i feel so tired sia hahah… Bf said he got abit of motion sickness from the waves; lol cuz bobbing up n down.
When we got out of water, Edelina keep saying she v cold oops. poor thing and she dun hav towel w her. Both of us have towel so still not so bad. We hurry back to bathe.
After shower, it’s…. back to sunbed time! heheh
Nua a while then we decide to walk to pier to see sunset today hehe….
Why the father got bench no want sit? so funny…
Hehe tonight’s dinner got mussels! And this is e only pic of dinner tonight haha….
We didnt see the french couple again tonight. hehe wonder if they left for another shiok island. hehe…
So fast last night at this slice of paradise le. I actually brought my 7 Wonders Duel to the resort in case we nothing to do hahah But somehow everyday jz pass like that v fast. Anyway, so on the last night we duel!
And I lost to bf! booo hahaha but i was too tired for rematch then I KO liao… hehe…
2 Jul 2018 Monday
Morning wake up abit blue liao cuz…. last day le. Today need to go back le. haha Was still tinking of taking a dip before breakies but as usual…. too lazy hehe….
Our last breakfast is taken by the waters cuz i will miss the clear blue waters….
And we got lotsa company! hehe…
After breakfast, we went to beannie area nua abit then slowly go back room n pack lo. Our ferry back to Mersing is at 11am…
My last view of rawa…
I dunno when I will be back but I hope…. u remain the same~ Byeee Rawa, my slice of paradise~
Our return bus journey was not at the ferry terminal have to walk 10-15 min away hehe and it was vvvvvv hot so we decided to lunch at KFC cuz got air con. E whole mersing town is like v sleepy; not alot of shops open.
Our Transnational bus is supposed to come at 2pm. It arrived late by 1 hr!! Then the return journey has many many stops to drop ppl off sia…. So in e end we got caught in the peak hour traffic -.- Damn sianz sia… We tot by choosing Monday e causeway traffic will b smoother but nope… everywhere jam jam. By the time, we cross Woodlands checkpoint, its already 8pm liao. And not all passengers clear the Spore immigration yet. So I told WL we just whack any public bus get out and cab ba. Cuz the Transnational bus is bring us to Golden Mile then frm there we still need to travel home also v long.
Our bus operators to and fro Mersing are different. KKKL bus is really much more comfy n newer than Transnational bus and the journey also much shorter cuz less stops. If only this causeway jam can b cut down, then I think can go Rawa more often. 5-6 hrs of traveling time is just insane… I can take a 2 hr flight plus 2 hr check in also less than this le lol….
OMG! I DID IT! I COMPLETE MY RAWA BLOG!! (Tho my NZ still haben finish n its almost 1 year liao)
Yan's Wood, Rice, Oil, Salt 