3D2N Island Escapade: Tioman Island

Assalamualaikum.

It's almost 2 months since my last post. Obviously, I been a bit off the blogging track lately. Gonna blame all of those never ending Korean drama marathon, ngehehe! It's going to be a super long post so bear with me hokey!

Alhamdullillah, ticked off another must do from my 2016 list; Island Escapade. This year we went to Tioman Island at dog-cheap price. This Island escape wasn't as smooth as past Island escape tho. Too much obstacles that frustrated and freaking us.

On the day we begin our journey i.e on 31/3/2016, we found out that our travel agent (Flywind Holidays Sdn Bhd) failed to secure our booking with our resort of choice (Dumba Bay Resort). We were going to take 9.45pm bus from KL to Kluang that night! Imagine how panic &  frustrated we were. Bad mood terus the whole day! Luckily, by 4pm that day, the resort gave us solution though not the best solution because we end up staying at different resort. Feel relief but wasn't as excited anymore. Bad and unprofessional service from a so-called good travel agent whom not only depressing us but also leaving us solving the problem caused by them till the end, hmmm...

By 8.30pm, when I was on my way to nearby LRT station (Bandar Puteri), received text from Just & Lin, notifying me about train service disruption to Sri Petaling, meaning me too cannot go to TBS station by LRT. Oh my..Another obstacles! After weaving thru the traffics before the Sunway plaza tol, manage to arrive at TBS at 9.15pm. Thanks hubby for being my supir. Just and Lin also manage to arrive just on time, phew!! By 10pm, our bus took off and safely arrived at Kluang around 1am on 1st April. Oh ya, we opted to transit at Kluang and stayed at Lin's home (thank you Lin's mom for having us) instead of taking bus directly to Mersing because we think it was more safe. Bahaya malam2 lalu tu Jalan Mersing dorang cakap (><).

Before we go to Kluang bus terminal, sempat lagi we drop by at The Original Kluang Station Coffee situated in the heart of Kluang Town and tapau those must try Kluang roti Bakar. Sedap tu roti bakar makan panas-panas. Our bus scheduled to depart at 10.30am but unfortunately the bus was having air-cond problem and we have to wait for replacement bus which arrived after an hour and half later. Betul-betul dugaan..

Above: In front of Lin's house at Kluang
Below: At The Original Kluang Station Coffee

We reached Mersing bus terminal around 1pm and rushed to Kluang Jetty because we want to catch the 2pm ferry, hah! The distance from Mersing bus terminal is quite far. Under the scorching sun, it took us 15min to reach the jetty. Belum sampai pulau, tanned suda kami, ahaha! At the Jetty, our travel agent representative just passed us our ferry return tickets and resort sticker and we have to do all other stuff (queuing up for boarding pass and paying up the marine park ) by ourselves. How inconvenient was that!! Finally we departed to Tioman Island at 3pm.

Pic At Mersing Jetty waiting for our turn to board the Ferry, Inside The Ferry & Sticker of our supposedly Resort 

Around 5pm, we reached  our destination at Kg Genting, Tioman Island. Staff from Dumba Bay was waiting to transport their customer's luggage/bags. Since we were gonna stay at different resort, we have to register at Dumba Bay Resort 1st then checked in to Marina Bay Resort. We were not comfortable and feel like alienated. We even argued but given cold shoulder by the staff. They said that was their best solution, hurmmmm baiklah.. The room we got at Marina Bay Resort located  and we have numbers of bad memories of this room, grrrr!

We were here!

I was here!

After resting a bit, we wandered to the beach area in front of Marina Bay resort for some picture then to Dumba Bay for our dinner. We had our BBQ dinner buffet prepared by Dumba Staff that night. Food choices was limited tapi bikin kenyang juga la. We hang out at Dumba Bay lobby until 11pm before returning to our '5min along dark and eerie route' room, hehehe! Oh ya, they have karoake session after dinner.

Tioman's Sunset Wefie :)

Some of wefie took on our 1st night at Tioman. 

The next day (2nd April), at 9am we gathered at the jetty for snorkeling session. There were 3 spot; 1st at Pulau Renggis then at Marine Park (where we had our pre-packed lunch) . I forgot the last snorkeling spot name  tho, haha! I was having a great and amazing snorkeling session at Pulau Renggis and marine park because unlike Redang and Pangkor, I saw lots of marine life here in Tioman. It was so amazing experience to be surrounded by various kind of marine life! I wish we have those underwater camera to capture the moment with all of those marine life! We stopped by at Kg Tekek  to visit the duty free shop, where I bought some chocolates as souvenir for my kiddos before depart to the last snorkeling spot (I didn't snorkel there due to the strong waves). By 2pm we were back at Kg Genting.

Before breakfast & snorkeling session 

Wa

The only pic of me in the sea..LOL

That evening, before Maghrib, we went to the souvenirs shop in front of the Jetty to buy FM and taking pictures again. Oh ya, FM at duty free shop is more expensive..

More pictures taking after simple dinner that night.

And more pictures taking on our last day (3rd April) before we check out from our room.

Us in front of our room at Marina Bay Resort

Must do at beach: Lompatan Kanak2 Riang, LOL!

The staff inform us to stand by at the Jetty by 1pm or earlier for the 2pm ferry. Hurmm, at 3pm after fetching people from 2 stop then only the ferry finally depart to Mersing Jetty.

Our tiresome face, hehehe

Arrived at Jetty around 5pm and once again rushed to the bus terminal only to find out that last direct bus from Mersing-KL already departed. Lucikly there was another option i.e from Mersing to Kluang then to KL, phew!!! We transitted at Kluang around 8pm and around 12pm we arrived at TBS. 

Mission accomplished!

Despite all the complaint and whining along this island escape, I still enjoyed the whole trip. The lesson I have learnt will be useful for future trips/travels. Just and Lin said they might not visit Tioman again but to me, In Sha Allah kalau ada rezeki, I will come again because I think Tioman still have more to offer.

That's all from my point of view. You may head to Just's blog (Tioman Part 1, Tioman Part 2, Tioman Behind The Scene) for more detailed review, ngehehe!

Update: If anyone want to know how much we spent for this 3D2N Island escapade, please head to 

              Tioman: Expenses by Just.