*my tots.my feelings.my blog.my life.*____

headed to tioman for my birthday celebration with eugene.

it was actually supposed to be a surprise for me but when we went out with one of his friend after his usual bowling on tuesday, Jordan accidentally asked when we are going to tioman.

although i knew that we are heading there, i was still surprised and glad that he had actually planned something else and tried to keep it a secret from me just to surprise me. =)

anyway, we took a bus to johor which took us to Tanjong Gemok afterwhich we were ferried to tioman. we even had to pay a sea - marine tax for going over to tioman. we werent informed at first and we felt cheated. :(

on the coach to tioman

stopping by for toilet breaks

on the ferry to tioman

there was quite a number of different beaches but we headed to the paya beach resort. tioman is supposed to be a sporty kind of area but to us, it was a area for relaxation.

reached there and headed to explore around, it was a pretty small island, out of touch from all other places. there was no internet connections, any travelling out of the area will be to go by boat.

by the time we reached the place, it was time for lunch and we ordered some food for our lunch. i ordered the set lunch which was the T-bone steak and eugene ordered some beef hor-fun. then eugene headed up to one of the staff and asked something and i knew something was amiss.

after that we headed to our standard chalet to put down our bags and changed to shorts and swim suits so that we can try snorkeling on our own at the nearby beaches. we rented the equipments - the snorkel googles and the life jacket which helped people like me who doesnt know how to keep afloat and also took part in the snorkeling course.

we reached tioman!!

the room we stayed in

me and the snorkelling mouth piece

it was quite a experience trying to breathe though the equipment. the key is to breath in and out through your mouth and not your nose. if you breath through your nose, the air with come out and cause water (the salty sea water) to flow into the googles and make your eyes and nose irritated. however, after a while of getting used to the equipment, it was much easier for us and we are then able to travel pretty far. however, as we are not able to go too deep into the sea, we are not able to see much colorful fishes.

for dinner, it was a buffet which was included in the package we had signed up for. after that we headed back to the hotel to rest.

the next morning, we headed out to meet the team at the jetty and we took the boat out to snorkel. was scared when we reached the deep sea as i am not able to keep myself afloat. kept myself hanging on to the boat tyre and didnt managed to enjoy any of the scenery. got the feel of the fishes swimming past us. guess i was afraid of being pushed away by the giant waves. luckily, eugene bought bread and i was able to see the beautiful fishes when we throw the bread in to feed them. most of them will flood towards us when there is food. didnt manage to take any photos though as we didnt get the underwater camera.

after that, we headed to another enclosed area to snorkel. the fishes in this area is not as beautiful as those at the previous area but as it is an enclosed area, i was able to enjoy myself exploring around the area without as much fear as the previous.

headed out to the sea to snorkel

eugene aft snorkellin

me and eugene after snorkeling
headed back to the paya island and took a shower before heading to eat. had a buffet style meal. this was also included in our package.

we then headed to the paya holistic spa of which we booked the massage section at the chalet main counter. it was the first time i did massage and the feeling was enjoyable. both of us did a Massage Paya Classic, which is a very relaxing top to toe aromatherapy oil massage, with concoction of grape seed base oil & a mixture of lavender, rose, peppermint, sandalwood, clove & lemon essential oils. however, it was pretty expensive, costing about RM118, about SGD 60. despite the price, it is a good once in a while thing to pamper myself. was only wearing a white bath robe with undies and they start massaging you from the toe with the oil, when you are facing downwards. was relaxing and comfortable. i almost fell asleep.

went to the restaurant for our dinner and this time round we sat at the lounge to enjoy the sun set and the beautiful atmosphere. took dishes (buffet-style)

eugene and i

sun setting

dinner

we also stayed to watch one of the horror/comedy show, about the sheep being genetically mutated and changing into human eating sheep. was a pretty gross and yet humorous show whereby when a human is bitten by this mutated sheep, it will slowly changed and mutated to the parts of the sheep, depending on where the sheep bite you. was quite funny at a part whereby the person who was bitten gave a speech about this project whereby they are able to reproduce sheep (which is true as it reproduce by biting other animals which will transform to sheep) but ended up saying "baaa" and the rest of the herd of the sheep came out and attacked all who were there.

was a pretty crappy show but was a good thing for us to past time. then we went around the different shops and i bought 2 bottles of mini vodka which took me a long time to find - the pepperoni flavour and the raspberry flavour. anyway, my vodka mini was only for collection. :P

we also went to the karoke room and explored and of course, i sang. it is the kind of open karoke concept and i sang to my heart delight. by then it was already near 12and eugene looked a bit tired. so we headed back to our room.

this was when the surprise came, eugene left the room when i was sleeping and he appeared with a cake with 23 candles on it and 2 other ladies who live just beside us. they sang birthday song for me and it was a pretty pleasant surprise for me. then we began chatting and realised that the 2 ladies happened to stay near me!!! one of them was yen yen and the other lady sharlyn. got to know 2 more friends in this short trip. they came with their family as a short holiday get-away.

after the cake-cutting and everything,eugene told me that he was shocked when i disturbed him earlier on by asking where's my cake. haha. he thought i knew the surprise. he got one of the staff from the restaurant to head to the mainland to buy the cake - blackforest cake as he saw a american lady buying the cake for her child. of course there are additional charges involved and he didnt want to tell me how much.

eugene and my birthday cake

make a wish

blow the candles

cutting cake

my birthday cake

eugene and i with the cake

me and friends we know in the tour

ate the cake and headed to sleep happily. the next morning will be the day we headed back to singapore and have another of the celebration with my family.