Tioman: Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 2)

Hello yall!

I'm here to share about my weekend in Tioman when I got certified for my SSI Open Water Diver course! Boy, was it a tiring weekend. All went good though and I am now officially certified as a SSI Open Water Diver!

It was a very short weekend trip - We left Singapore via coach on Friday night, caught the boat from Mersing Jetty, arrived at Tioman around 3am and woke up at 8am to have breakfast and depart for the first dive.

We arrived for 6pm assembly on Friday evening at the dive shop at York Hill! These are the bags containing our dive gear - buoyancy suit, regulators, fins and wetsuit! You'll need to handle your own dive gear and they get real heavy especially by the end of the trip when they're all wet and waterlogged. Not fun, but noone ever said that diving was a glamorous hobby.

The coach ride was quite a nightmare honestly. Heavy traffic all along the way from Singapore through immigrations and all the way to Mersing. Expect a lot of jam braking and sudden acceleration because the driver was winding through and cutting lanes whenever he could.

We took a pit stop along the way to Mersing Jetty for dinner and I had some fish soup. Dinner is a must cos it would be 3am by the time we reached the resort and I'm sure everyone would be too tired to do anything else but go straight to bed!

We finally arrived at Mersing Harbour Center safely and got on the boat that would take us all the way to Tioman Island! It was a pretty rough ride, I would say. Most of us tried to sleep a little on the boat but it wasn't the most comfortable. Also, motion sickness pills highly recommended if you're prone to sea sickness.

When we arrived at the island, it was pitch dark with not a soul in sight. Went straight to our resort to crash for the night!

Inside our room for the weekend! The word "resort" is a bit of a stretch because Tioman is no luxury holiday island, so don't expect any four star accommodation - we were bunking in four to a room in a very basic, no-frills setting with two double beds. Apparently though, you can get better accomodation if you top up extra for the best resort on the island: Berjaya Tioman Resort.

For the basic accommodation package though, this is as good as it gets, two beds for four pax and one bathroom. No toiletries provided so please come prepared!

Obviously we were too tired to care much - None of us even took a shower and all of us went straight to sleep, as seeing how we only had five hours or so to rest up for the next day. I apparently slept so soundly that the morning prayers at 5am didn't even wake me up.

A short five hours later, we had to drag ourselves reluctantly out of bed to get breakfast and leave for our dives!

Sharing my oral sun protection - Heliocare Ultra. I am super anal about sun protection so I always take oral sunblock capsules and on top of that I still apply topical sunblock on the exposed areas of my body!

My advice is to go easy on the breakfast - Just have some food to fill up your tummy but don't overeat, because you might end up feeling sick on the sea or feel weird in the water because of all the weird gases expanding and compressing in your stomach lol.

The nasi lemak and beehoon soup were surprisingly yummy though! So I did overeat which serves me right because I ended up puking later.

These cute felines were all around the island!

Off to the jetty to get on our boat!

Usually, Tioman is a lot less crowded in November due to the start of the monsoon season, so there were only a few other dive groups apart from ours. IMO a good thing to have less people around but then again it also means poorer dive conditions and visibility underwater, so it's a trade off.

At least the sun didn't come bearing down so strongly on us, which means I didn't get too tanned!


We had rather cloudy weather with choppy waters, so I got really seasick on the first day and ended up puking into the sea. Urrrghhhh.

Thank goodness I felt much better from the third dive onwards and was able to enjoy myself so much more!

These compressed air tanks (bane of my life, it's so heavy oh my god) and buoyancy control suits - Suiting on these equipment and my fins are my most unfavourite part of diving.

The first time I jumped into the sea was quite a scary moment, but once I got over the initial wave of mild panic, everything felt a lot more comfortable, even when we had to remove our masks underwater and put them back on and clear them.

I also swallowed a fair share of sea water like the beginner that I am.

We did four dives on the first day, and a fifth dive on the second day - That's a total of 5 dives over the weekend.

During the dives, we were guided through the basic skills assessment we were taught in the pool session, like mask clearing, alternate air source (sharing a regulator with your buddy), and how to recognise and use hand signals underwater - All these are essential skills in diving so it's important to feel comfortable with the skills and techniques used to prevent any potentially life-threatening situations underwater.

By the end of a few dives, I was feeling so much more confident in the water! Most importantly, do not panick underwater and stay calm no matter what. Your instructor and dive master are there to take care of you and guide you.

The lovely Renggis Island which is a popular dive spot for spotting black tipped sharks - We didn't get to see any sharks, but saw a huge turtle which totally made my day!!!!

I bought this rashguard swimwear set from Fiji more than a year ago and I'm glad I got to put it to good use while diving in Tioman!!!

Not sure about other dive companies but Gill Divers only provide a 3mm "shortie" aka a short sleeved wetsuit during our Open Waters course, and I wanted to avoid that horrid half sleeve/half thigh tan so I wore my own long sleeved rash guard AND a pair of long tights, which was probably my best purchase for this trip.

After completing four dives on Day 1. Whoop whoop!


One of my most dreaded moments is climbing up that ladder with what feels like ten tonnes of gear on me.

The diving itself was actually very enjoyable, especially when we swam right above and through the corals with all those tiny little fishes darting about around us, and even spotted stingrays, turtles and huge parrot fish and bat fish!

What I didn't enjoy was when I got seasick due to the choppy sea conditions and how difficult it was to equalise my ears on the first few tries.

Tioman Island has got a grand total of ONE convenience store - It's practically the only form of civilisation on the island and this place was a godsend for biscuits (to bring on board for snacking in between dives) and cold drinks after a long day of dives.

Apart from the convenience store, you musttttt have prata at this prata shop!!!


Damn solid prata bomb with condensed milk and sugar. It was SO good!

We retired around 10pm on Day 1 to wake up at 5.30am on Day 2 for one last dive before we had to head back to Singapore.

Can't believe I actually woke up at 5.30am just to dive.

This is the view as we were going towards Renggis Island again for our last dive - It was so early that the moon was still out in its full glory!

It rained twice that morning so visibility wasn't so good, unfortunately.

The multiple dive attempts really made me more confident and sure in the water, although I had a lot of trouble with trying to stay in the water because I'm SO NATURALLY BUOYANT I KEPT FLOATING UP TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE WATER. Whenever I took a deeper breath than usual, I started feeling myself drifting upwards hahahahahaha #fail

It was very enjoyable overall and I hope my future dives will be even better with more underwater discoveries! That moment when we chanced upon that giant sea turtle felt so magical.

Gonna share some of the images taken by my dive instructor from Gill Divers, Ephraim!

We surfaced from our last dive on Saturday to come up to a beautiful double rainbow after the rain ended. What a perfect end to our day!

Saw so many of these clownfish darting about amongst the anemone underwater. The tiniest one I saw was no bigger than the nail on my little finger, can you imagine? How adorable!

Always been partial to clownfish thanks to Finding Nemo. Hahahahaha. They are a pretty common sight but seeing them still brings a thrill to me.


Possibly one of my most exciting moments on Dive 3 was running into a lone blue spotted stingray!!!

It was camouflaging very well on the seabed as the visibility was quite poor that day. I spotted it swimming in front of Eph and gestured at Eph to take notice of the ray so that he could photograph it. This shot turned out really good!!!


That’s me underwater looking very happy, indeed I was but what you don’t see is my constant struggle to NOT stay afloat hahahaha it was like *takes in deep breath*..... *slowly starts floating upwards like a helium balloon*

Eph had to resort to tugging me downwards by my ankle whenever I inadvertently started drifting back up to the surface. Yikes.

A nudibranch! Or sea slug hehe. These are small little molluscs and come in a huge variety of colours and patterns, super cute!!

The one we saw was black with white spiky thorns all over.

Lastly...

We’ve been wanting to learn something together and this is what we decided on: Diving! Having someone by your side who’s willing to go on unknown adventures with you must be one of the best things in life. Our first underwater expedition and hopefully more to come!

I'm looking forward to getting my advanced open water certification soon, so that I'm able to explore more dive sites. Absolutely can't wait! :)

#YINAtheTUNA

Read about my diving adventures!
Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 1)
Tioman: Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 2)

I got certified with Gill Divers - Gill Divers website here.

Enter your email address to subscribe to Yina Goes:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Look for me on my other social media platforms here:

 Twitter   Instagram   Dayre    Youtube

Lok Lok in Singapore: Malaysia Local Delights!

i posted these two pictures on Instagram, and was immediately beseiged by lots of questions... Lok Lok in Singapore??? yes, no more driving over across the Causeway for lok lok supper anymore! we found a new restaurant along Tanjong Katong Road, Malaysian Local Delights, and it serves an array of authentic Malaysian food, including Lok Lok!

for the unfamiliar, Lok Lok is a kind of Malaysian street food that's extremely popular.. it's like steamboat/hot pot, but with a range of foods from fresh meats to vegetables to fried food, all skewered on sticks, and then dipped into a pot of boiling hot soup for consumption! (apparently, the soup is not meant to be drank like how we do in Singapore for steamboats! but we still drank the soup anyway!)

the most popular kind of Lok Lok comes with a satay sauce dip, but there are alot of other alternative soup bases, including tom yam, penang prawn, ma la soup and etc.. i'm sure it is quite authentic as the lady boss was Malaysian (and with the accent to prove it!) so it is really worth a try!

anyway, i think this new restaurant opened not long ago, and it was relatively uncrowded.

the Lok Lok here isn't charged by per stick, but is buffet style, so you pay $18.90++ (if i remember rightly) per pax for free flow food. especially worth it if you're a big eater! or, if you have expensive taste. hahaha.

they have a pretty huge variety of skewers, from quail eggs, to fish cakes, various types of mushrooms, vegetables, meat such as pork, chicken, beef, and fried food like fried wanton!

 

there's "hum" and cuttlefish and prawns too! Felky went on a prawn rampage D:

a tableful of greedy people, and alot alot alot of food!!!

we tried four different soup bases: satay sauce, tom yam, ma la and penang prawn!

the satay sauce is definitely a must try especially if you like the taste of satay sauce! practically everything tastes good when dipped in piping hot satay sauce :) but it can be a little jelat after awhile, so maybe choose one of the other sauces like penang prawn, or tom yam so your taste buds get more variety.

my favourite food was the pork belly skewers! they taste good with any sauce and yes i love meat! also, must try the ba kua skewer, dipped in satay sauce! SHIOK TO THE MAX :D :D :D i also enjoyed the oyster mushrooms, especially when dipped in the tom yam or ma la soup cos it absorbed the flavour of the soup very well!

and guess how many skewers we managed to conquer.... (yes, we counted!)

 

the top two eaters were Felky and Collin, who finished a record 67 sticks EACH!

Serene, Matt and i did pretty well too, HAHA! with about 50 over sticks each :D :D :D mine were mostly meat! (ok lah, the amount of meat on each skewer is really little, so it isn't as scary as it sounds!)

the tiniest eaters were Widya, Vera and Min.. haha! less than 22 sticks each! (not value for money loh!)

so, go for it if you can eat at least 40-50 sticks :X 

i'd think that the soup is probably MSG-laden though, because i woke up feeling extremely thirsty the next morning. but heck, a little MSG once in awhile won't kill me :D

so... now, you know where to find Lok Lok in Singapore! :D don't have to drive across to JB already lah! i have no idea what the opening hours of the restaurant is, but i assume it's pretty late because we stayed around until almost midnight! you can give them a call to check though! :)

***

Malaysian Local Delights 

224 Tanjong Katong Road 

 Tel: 6440 8378

***

to end off this blog post, my outfit: knit top from Zara, and the Wonderland Shorts from TheVelvetDolls (launched a long time ago!) necklace from Sort&Pepper! :)

it's probably not a good idea to wear a knit top if you're planning on dining outdoors though (there are also indoor air-conditioned seats available too!) because it is gonna be a hot sweaty affair :X

happy weekend is approaching again! :D will update again real soon so check back regularly! :D

xoxo

Genting Highlands: Day 2 + 3

sponsored advertorial

i'm back with Part 2 of my Genting Highlands trip, and you should read Part 1 HERE, if you haven't read it yet!

starting off the entry with a nice and big picture of myself mwahahahaha.

woke up bright and early on Day 2, and i was SOoo excited, because we were heading to the Theme Park!! yay! the last time i was at Genting Highlands, i gave the theme park a miss because the weather was too foggy, and no one else wanted to go with me :X

we started off with a hearty breakfast, settled at The Bakery,
located on the Lobby Floor, Maxims Genting!

PS. The Bakery also has free Wi-Fi! awesome for those who don't have 3G/data plan!

love my colorful and happy looking outfit, i picked it specially for the theme park! romper for easy movement, and a cardigan just in case it's cold on the rides.

Rachell and Sarah XD

we were superrrr greedy and everything just looked SO GOOD!!! they had a really wide selection, from pastries, to cakes, to sandwiches, to doughnuts, and more! so we practically chose one of each hahaha :X a good breakfast starts the day right!

SO MUCH FOOD CAN FEED ARMY LIAO.

yayyyy! couldn't wait to start tucking into breakfast already ^^ BUT BEFORE WE COULD EAT, everyone started whipping out camera(s) and taking pictures of all the food!! superstars of our breakfast.

LOOK AT OUR TABLE. are you feeling hungry yet!

posing with the tableful of food! XD four happy campers eager for breakfast!

yummy quiche!

some very awesome croissant with cheese on top and seafood inside!

MY FAVOURITE. a flaky almond croissant that was damn yummy!!!

pistacho doughtnut!

cheesecake!!

what a spread... we ate ourselves silly, and everything tasted so good! must must must go to The Bakery for breakfast if you're at Genting Highlands! highly recommended!

they even had macarons! :D

irresistably pretty and yummy!!! i don't know what's the appeal with macarons, but EVERYONE LOVES THEM. O_O we all posted shots of macarons and ourselves with macarons on Instagram, lol. got mad alot of likes for the macaron photos! (how sad. more than an Instagram of my own face usually gets. why are people so critical and judgemental of looks but not macarons?)

after such a satisfyingly scrumptious breakfast, it was time for the theme park! :D major excitement! i love theme parks, but i'm quite afraid of the more scary rides :X

outside the Genting Outdoor Theme Park!

it costs 66RM for an Adult One Day Unlimited Ride Pass! gives you access to everything, including the Outdoor Theme Park, First World Indoor Theme Park, Rainforest Splash Pool and Flying Coaster  :D

everyone's favourite ride, the colorful Spinner! wheee! the first ride we went on :D it looks quite mild, but once you're up on the air, it is really fun and thrilling!!! love the feeling of the wind blowing in my face, and the up and down motion of the spinner as it turns round and round!

we didn't go on the Merry Go Round, but camwhored in front of it :P it's so pretty!!!

didn't take that many pictures inside the theme park, cos we kept our stuff in the lockers there while we went on rides! 

those big and pink seadragon plushies are sooooo cuteeee.

but my favourite is this GIANT teddy bear!!! it's as big as me! nah, didn't try to win it :X 

little kids playing with their balloon sculptures!

there are clowns throughout the theme park, amusing all the little kids with tricks and balloon animals! i personally find clowns quite freaky, anyway. YZ's little nephew was almost scared to tears by the clowns when he went to Genting with us earlier this year haha! 

anyway!!!

THE MOST EXCITING AND FUNNEST RIDE (in my opinion) in the theme park!!!! actually, there are other very thrilling rides too, like the Corkscrew and the Space Shot (the one that goes up a tower and drops down vertically!!! i cannot, my heart cannot tahan this kind of ride) but this ride is kind of my limit already hahaha

FLYING COASTER!!!!

according to Resorts World Genting website, it lifts up to 20 meters high and flies over 391 meters with a maximum speed of 25.7mph! they didn't mention that it does TWO 360 degrees turn too... D:

conquered the ride woohoooooo!!!!! the scariest part was actually when we were secured on the ride seats already, waiting to be brought up. it's damn scary cos we were standing vertically while "locked" in the seat, and it feels damn unstable!!! sweaty palms gripping the hand holds, bare feet on the cold metal support. O_O and when the ride started moving, we all started going like "WHY ARE WE DOING THIS TO OURSELVES??? OMG WE ARE GOING TO DIE OMG"

#bimbomoment

but after we came down from the ride, all yaya papaya already hahahaha the ride itself was actually damn fun and exhilarating! :D :D :D

all the cold air made us hungry again D: and it was time for lunch too! we decided upon lunch at Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant, which is located right next to the theme park! at the lobby of Theme Park Hotel! :D

their speciality is SEA FOOD!!! couldn't wait to order already... so famished after all the thrills and excitement!

first, some fruit juice to re-hydrate and quench our thirst! :D

while waiting for food. HUNGRY FACE.

and with Rachell!! love her camera man. damn good for camwhoring!

simple stir-fried veggies!

salted fish bean sprouts~

very yummy! drunken prawn soup!! the prawns were huge and fresh! :D :D :D

crispy tofu!

and the STAR of our lunch: Salted Egg Yolk Crabs!!!! *salivates*

mad yummy can??? as you can tell, we didn't even take any pictures of us eating, cos once the food came, we were all so hungry we just started tucking in right away!!!

we walked around First World Plaza abit.. but we didn't shop much, the only thing i bought were contact lenses, they're cheaper over there and there are some brands that aren't available locally!

one of the lenses that i bought from SaSa! Rainbow Color lens! :D :D :D

we popped by Famous Amos to buy cookies too! they're cheaper there and still as yummy!

random shots while on the escalator!

we went back to our hotel room to rest and let our food digest for abit, i was uploading photos straight into my iPad and playing with photo apps to edit them! 

and because we loooove M Spa so much, we booked another appointment to go down to the spa again!! *bliss*

this time round, i did a chocolate wrap, followed by the Balinese massage again!

Chocolate Wrap 

Signature Treatment 

 Our signature Chocolate Wrap is a treat for the senses, It features combination chocolate mask that nourishes the skin for a detoxifying and anti-cellulite effect.

Balinese Massage

The long, firm and kneading strokes using the palm and lower hand pressure offers a deep and therapeutic massage. This technique originates from the island of Bali where it is done to relieve muscular strain, headaches and frayed nerves. Essential oils made from selected ingredients add to the healing effect. Highly recommended – an ideal enhancement to a body scrub 

Massage pressure – firm to deep and soothing

the chocolate wrap felt so luxurious! a warm chocolate mask that smells heavenly is gently smoothed onto your entire body by the therapist, and then you're all wrapped up like a mummy while the mask works its magic! there's an electric hot blanket on the mattress as well, and the entire process was so comfortable and soothing, i fell right asleep and probably started snoring too! :X what a treat!

after that, i was asked to rinse off with a shower, followed by the Balinese massage, which was just as good as it felt the previous day. ahhh... can never get enough of massages and spas! two consecutive days of spa session, just too blissful for words!

Sarah and i had a good soak in the jacuzzi afterwards, it felt so good! there's a hot pool and a cold pool, when you dip into both pools one after the other, it feels extra shiok!!! i just wanted to stay in the pool forever!

are you ready for a half naked photo HAHAHAHA ok just kidding we are all decent, can't see anything!

happy as ducks in water!

after the pampering session, it was time for food, yes, again!!! such a satisfying trip, with soooo much food! was uber happy about it!

and this restaurant is also HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended to dine at when you visit Genting Highlands... it's a MUST!

Imperial Rama, at Level 2, Highlands Hotel!
by the way, remember to make reservations beforehand to ensure you get a table!

Imperial Rama serves Thai-Chinese cuisine in fine dining style, and we were REALLY blown away! from the amazing food and the great ambience, to the impeccable service!

finally... our chance to eat 好料: 鲍鱼鱼翅!!! 

even our watermelon juice also look so good.

we ordered two set courses to share, and a variety of other dishes! none of the dishes disappointed us at all, i swear every dish was fantastic!

King Prawn done up in two ways: one is with cheese, and the other is with salted egg yolk! it was delicious!!!

we ordered this butter milk chicken which was super yummy as well, with crispy bits that tasted like oatmeal!

DENG DENG DENG. our stewed shark's fin in shark bone soup! the soup stock was SO good! damn rich and tasty omg!

stir-fied veggies! the most "normal" of all the dishes. but still good :D

one of my favorites: Muar Otah!! i looooove Otah and it was extremely tasty! think i ate the most out of the four girls :X

highlight of the entire trip!!! GOT TO EAT ABALONE!!! the most delicious braised WHOLE abalone with dried seafood noodle! each of us ate half an abalone, bwahaha. and it tastes much better than canned abalone. it's so juicy and tender!! damn good!

group shot of us with the food! :D is happy de.

by the way, you have got to give their special desserts a try too, cos they are really unique and extremely yummy!

banana pancake! sweet banana inside a pancake, super noms. but the next dish blew us away! D:

DURIAN TEMPURA. and i don't even like durian!

i don't know how they do it: it's deep fried durian puree in batter and the durian is super creamy and sweet and not smelly at all. i swear.

best meal of the trip. you must eat at Imperial Rama! it's a MUST.

the last thing we did on Day 2 was to go to the KTV! it's located at First World Plaza, Level 2B, right upstairs the bowling alley! quite cheap too, but i forgot exactly how much. comes with two bottles of free mineral water!! haha.

the system was ok lah, not very good, but still shiok enough to sing! but the rest of the girls didn't sing much, except for Zoe and myself! Rachell fell asleep halfway somemore lor. HAHAHA. too tired after the full day's activities!

Rachell took this picture of me, looking very 投入 in my singing :P ok i know i look retarded. FINE.

we went back to our hotel rooms to retire for the day so we could wake up early for our last morning in Genting! :( the 3D2N really flew past in a whiz, and it was already the last day before we realised it.

***

woke up and we spent some time packing our luggage, and then went down for dimsum breakfast at 好友记, Good Friends Restaurant, located at Level 2 Highlands Hotel!

Zoe helping to serve tea for everybody!

we ordered tons and tons of food, as usual :S last morning already! :(

the first piping hot basket to arrive: Salted Egg Yolk Custard Buns!!!!

waaaaaa i love the hot custard oozing out damn shiok! we ordered another two baskets of this cos it was so yummy!

siew mai~

chee cheong fan, another of my favorite!

mini egg tartlets, carrot cake, charsiew pastry!

腐皮卷 i think!

NOM NOM NOM.

our very last meal in Genting! :(

i was quite sad that the 3 days passed by so quickly, actually! i had alot of fun, all thanks to the three other girls, Zoe, Rachell and Sarah who were such great travel companions! i'm glad we had the chance to spend time together and get to know one another better on this trip!

THANK YOU SO MUCH GIRLS. thank you for the real fun trip!!! thanks to you three for re-discovering Genting Highlands with me, and enjoying all the good food, thrilling rides, and spa pampering! thanks for all the funny nights of the four of us sharing two single beds together, and masking together, and listening to all of you snore :P

to Zoe, thank you my Team Heroine partner for taking care of all the logistics and being the "tour guide" of the trip! poor girl couldn't even rest on the coach ride home because a couple in our group left their passports back at First World Hotel, and she had to take charge of the situation! thanks for being the most auntie of the lot, always fussing over us to HURRY UP and go heehee.

to Rachell, the one who packed for a 3D2N trip as if she's heading on a 1 month tour around Europe, thank you for providing us with masks every night, and also lugging around a huge bag of makeup everyday that we all borrowed from to touch up! it was great fun having you around, with your funny sharing of stories and experiences. am glad to get to know you better! thank you!!!

to Sarah, our most talented baker and photographer, thank you for always accommodating and offering to man the camera for us girls who couldn't stop camwhoring! :P your pictures are gorgeous and you are such a lovely person! can't wait to attend your baking class very soon! i want to make a pretty strawberry shortcake, or maybe a rainbow cake, can?? :D

thank you to Resorts World Genting and Nuffnang for making this trip happen too! there were so many things we didn't manage to do in this short 3D2N, i'm sure the next time i'm back in Genting, i'll be able to experience more things and also eat more good food too! bwahaha. it was truly an unforgettable trip!

xoxo

www.rwgenting.com.sg