We have spent quite a bit of time in cities so we decided it was time to take a mini vacation from our travels and spend some time at an island resort in Malaysia. Getting to the island we had two options. We could either take an expensive flight or we could take a bus to a small town and then take a ferry on out to the island. The price of the second option fit in much better with our budget, plus the ferry ride sounded kind of fun.
In Kuala Lumpur our hotel was right across the street from the bus station so we thought the bus part would be easy. Wrong! When we went to buy the tickets we found out that the station near to us only serviced some bus routes and of course the route we wanted was at another bus station several kilometers away. We were able to purchase our tickets, but through very limited communication we didn't know how to get to the other bus station or how long our bus ride would take. Our hotel staff was so helpful (and we could understand them) and showed us where to catch a shuttle to get to the other bus station. So we finally boarded the bus and it was a fairly typical bus ride. The hard part was not knowing when it would end! Our Internet searches had said anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. Six hours after boarding the bus we arrived in the town were we could catch the ferry.
We hoped for a good nights sleep until we saw our hotel. Let's just say that the pictures on the Internet looked much better! After a few trips back to the front desk and a change of rooms we thought we could survive the night. (I think this is the second worst hotel of our trip). Then in the night there was a HUGE rainstorm that woke us all up.
After a not so good nights sleep we walked down to where we would catch the 12:00 ferry to Tioman Island. Apparently the 12:00 departure time was more of a suggestion because it didn't leave until after12:30. When we thought it was time to board the ferry we got in line with all of our stuff. We waited and waited and waited and then finally the gates opened. Suddenly the line meant nothing! People just came from every direction to get through the gate. It was certainly not an orderly process. But we managed to get on and get seats all together. We were expecting the ferry to be between 1 1/2 hours to three hours. I should have learned by now to never expect anything!!!
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| Waiting to catch the ferry |
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| The Ferry |
Our bags were put on the top of the ferry and we had seats inside. The storm apparently wasn't finished and we had rain (we then wished our bags were inside with us) and choppy water. I was tired after not getting the best sleep the night before so I fell asleep on the ferry. I woke up a while later to the sounds of a man using his barf bag. Not exactly the most pleasant way to wake up from a nap. As the ferry ride continued a lot (and I really mean a lot) of people around us were using the barf bags. At this point my thought process was something like "enjoy the journey, don't throw up, do I have to enjoy THIS journey, don't throw up, enjoy the journey, someone else just threw up, enjoy the journey, don't throw up, enjoy the journey, the barf bags are all gone, someday this will seem funny, enjoy the journey. . ." I am happy to report that none of my family threw up. Some four hours after leaving, we arrived at our stop we were more than happy to get off the boat, get our wet backpacks off the top of the ferry and check into our rooms.
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| First view of our Resort |
I looked into flights to get us off the island, but once again our budget dictates that we will use the rest of the round trip ferry ticket that has already been purchased. We will just hope for a nice clear day when we are ready to use them. Now we will enjoy our time on the beach and try to forget about the journey here!
Kinda puts a different perspective on the idea of "enjoy the journey." What unique and sometimes challenging experiences you are having. All I can say is "continue to enjoy the journey." Love, Dad
ReplyDeleteWhat great advice! I started following your journeys back at Rising Star - Debra is a good friend of mine, and I followed a link from her blog.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, my children are extremely jealous of your family. In fact, one morning my 9-yo girl said she no longer wanted to be a member of our family, but to be a Corbridge! They are already planning our see-the-world trip, but I have managed to convince them that we need to wait until the baby is big enough to carry her own bag.
We are planning an RV trip around the US in a year, so I have been watching with interest Rich's posts about working remotely. Hubby telecommutes anyway, so we are hopeful.