We headed back to Kuala Lumpur on the 15th and checked into the
Hotel Istana. It was nice but a bit older than
Traders Hotel. If we went again, I would definitely choose Traders. We decided to go to a mall which was close by for lunch and another fish spa treatment. The place we went was running a special including a foot and neck massage, which, lets be honest, after you've climbed a mountain was the.best.thing.ever. After our pampering, we headed back to the hotel, debated on dinner and decided we'd head back to Chinatown for shopping and dinner. I'm pretty sure I found even MORE stuff to buy and we stopped for some dinner and to people watch.
The next morning, we woke up early to catch our flight to the relaxation part of our trip to
Tioman Island. Around this time, I started feeling pretty ill, then I saw our plane.
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| Itty bitty |
I can't figure out if my body was still in shock from the climb, I got food poisoning from the street food or I didn't want to be on a plane with 20 other people in close quarters. It didn't help when the seats we got were the kind facing TOWARDS everyone and I figured I would sleep the whole time, but the vibrating of being right next to the cockpit was unnerving. I'm pretty sure everyone in the rest of the plane was looking at me wondering when I was going to lose my breakfast. The plane ride ended and we filtered into the "airport", if you can call it that to find our ride to our resort called
Japamala. We found our ride and climbed on a boat to get there, the only way you can get anywhere on this island is by boat, so there ya go. Once we got there, I knew climbing the mountain was so worth it! We got some fresh juice on the way there and then were taken to our room, which unfortunately was up about 3 flights of stairs - damn you seacliff chalet! (no, not really), not when this was the view from our room!
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| Our room |
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| View from our balcony |
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| Our chalet |
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| The steps, oh the steps |
I took a nap, drank some 7up and attempted to eat but it was just not happening. For dinner we headed out to the over-water restaurant where they very nicely made up a special meal for my ailing stomach. We stayed out for awhile and then headed to the room.
The next morning, it was raining!! While this sounds like quite the bummer on a beach vacation, all I wanted to do was relax and having a sea view, dvds at your fingertips and ability to order room service was great! We ate breakfast in the open air restaurant overlooking the ocean, then stayed in for most of the day until it cleared up. We found a covered cabana by the beach and had lunch and read.
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| view from the cabana |
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| We saw monkeys outside our room! |
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| View of the island |
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| Candlelight dinner |
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| Last night at Japamala |
Most of the vacation went like that (luckily it didn't rain anymore). Eating lunch by the water, having drinks by the ocean, booking spa treatments, we had our last dinner by the ocean in a private cabana which was really nice. Our excitement of the trip was when Chris lost his wedding ring.
IN THE OCEAN! We figured it was a goner, but there was a diver who worked at the resort and he went down to find it.
AND HE DID!
This was one of the best places to end our vacation - everyone was so friendly and helpful!
We headed back to Kuala Lumpur for one more night, went to the mall and then ...wehre else?? Chinatown ;)
Malaysia was a great vacation - I would definitely go back, just for the food and shopping. And I would go back to Borneo and check out the orangutans!
