We stopped for breakfast at the Macs near Carrefour (en route to Jusco Tebrau City) and it took us about an hour to get from Macs to Tanjong Leman Jetty which I had been to before. How to get to Tanjong Leman Jetty is pretty simple. Head in the direction of Jusco Tebrau City and basically just keep going all the way straight in the direction of Mersing. No turn-offs or turning to the right or left. Just straight following the signboards. The turn off the Tanjong Leman Jetty is very abrupt off the main road so it is wise to keep an eye out for signboards. This is how the jetty looks like. Parking at the jetty cost RM4 a day and there is a nice new parking area behind the main jetty building near the KFC.
From the main road, one gets on to a narrower road (1 way each direction), the start of which is marked by a police post. And on this narrow road (the journey from the main road to the jetty is pretty long - at least 25mins), it is easy to get lost and head in the direction for the Sedili jetty so follow the signs that say KFC. I kid you not. There is a newly built KFC at the jetty which opens at 10.30am. The first ferry out to Sibu Island is at 11am and the KFC is the only place in the jetty which is air-conditioned and has a nice view of the sea. The cost of the tickets to the island was not included so we purchased 2 round-trip tickets at Counter 1 of Tanjong Leman jetty at RM140.
The journey to the island on the ferry took less than half an hour. The ferry was supposed to hold just 50 pax and there was just the right number of seats for that number of people. Some folks put on life jackets and we followed suit though my CEB commented that this was a bad idea as we would be trapped in the cabin if the boat capsized. I made sure we sat very near the exit so we could get through the door. Just in case. The tragic drowning of fellow anglers at this same area couple of years ago is pretty much unforgettable.
My CEB on the other hand, had never been to the resort so I was careful not to spoil his experience by telling him what could be expected...he would find that out in due course. As we made our way to the room which was situated along the winding path up a hill, we came across some wild deer lazing in the shade. When we moved closer, well....guess from the pic below it is clear what happened. Forget Bambi cozying up to you.
The room (superior room) was just as I remembered it. Dank, dusty and dark. For the first time since a long time, I had to get up in the middle of the night and put on a pair of long pants so I could sleep on the sheets. I was scratching uncontrollably in my shorts and T-shirt before that and just praying I could fall asleep so I wouldn't feel how dirty the sheets were. There was limited cable access on the small (32 inch?) TV in the room and although we were told there was free WIFI access in the room, neither of us could get a working connection on our smart phones. We were "connected" but could not access the web so lying about the room (which is what my CEB loves) for the afternoon was out of the question.
So we made our way to the lobby where my CEB tried to access the web on his HTC but again the free WIFI service proved deceptive and he gave up after a fashion. To sit in the lobby and hear the cawing of the peacocks was not an experience I enjoyed.
From the main road, one gets on to a narrower road (1 way each direction), the start of which is marked by a police post. And on this narrow road (the journey from the main road to the jetty is pretty long - at least 25mins), it is easy to get lost and head in the direction for the Sedili jetty so follow the signs that say KFC. I kid you not. There is a newly built KFC at the jetty which opens at 10.30am. The first ferry out to Sibu Island is at 11am and the KFC is the only place in the jetty which is air-conditioned and has a nice view of the sea. The cost of the tickets to the island was not included so we purchased 2 round-trip tickets at Counter 1 of Tanjong Leman jetty at RM140.
The journey to the island on the ferry took less than half an hour. The ferry was supposed to hold just 50 pax and there was just the right number of seats for that number of people. Some folks put on life jackets and we followed suit though my CEB commented that this was a bad idea as we would be trapped in the cabin if the boat capsized. I made sure we sat very near the exit so we could get through the door. Just in case. The tragic drowning of fellow anglers at this same area couple of years ago is pretty much unforgettable.Anyway, after we got off the ferry and started the short 3 min walk from the terminal to the resort (the only hotel on the island), I had a feeling of Deja Vu, that I'd been here before. And when I caught a glimpse of the staff singing and playing musical instruments at the reception area, I was even more certain that this was not my first time to the island. The peacock wandering across my path drove the nail into the coffin...especially when it let out loud and irritating caws.
My CEB on the other hand, had never been to the resort so I was careful not to spoil his experience by telling him what could be expected...he would find that out in due course. As we made our way to the room which was situated along the winding path up a hill, we came across some wild deer lazing in the shade. When we moved closer, well....guess from the pic below it is clear what happened. Forget Bambi cozying up to you.
The room (superior room) was just as I remembered it. Dank, dusty and dark. For the first time since a long time, I had to get up in the middle of the night and put on a pair of long pants so I could sleep on the sheets. I was scratching uncontrollably in my shorts and T-shirt before that and just praying I could fall asleep so I wouldn't feel how dirty the sheets were. There was limited cable access on the small (32 inch?) TV in the room and although we were told there was free WIFI access in the room, neither of us could get a working connection on our smart phones. We were "connected" but could not access the web so lying about the room (which is what my CEB loves) for the afternoon was out of the question.
So we made our way to the lobby where my CEB tried to access the web on his HTC but again the free WIFI service proved deceptive and he gave up after a fashion. To sit in the lobby and hear the cawing of the peacocks was not an experience I enjoyed.We were entitled to enjoy 1 free recreational activity so we chose Archery where each of us would get to shoot 6 arrows under the guidance of an instructor. I was more than eager to let my CEB shoot my share of the arrows but because we had to wait so long for our turn (there were only 2 shooting boards so only 2 people could shoot at a time) I decided to have a go. The instructor was friendly and spoke good English so we had a pretty fun time there.
My second time canoeing (first time was in Hanoi) and I was determined to get paddle around the island or at least head in the direction of the mountain which was most scenic. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty strong (monsoon season isn't officially over till Feb) and we found ourselves being rocked pretty violently in the little orange canoe.
From the pic below of my wet hair, it is pretty evident what happened. We capsized. The wave rocked us to the right and instead of leaning to the left, we let ourselves get caught in the momentum and before we knew it, we were in the sea. Salt water in my eyes, my haviannas floating around me...the canoe overturned next to my spluttering CEB...what an experience. The first thing I did was check that my camera was still around my neck (waterproof cameras rock), and then grab for my haviannas. My CEB and I then took an end of the canoe each and uprighted it before clambering on board. That was when he wanted to call it a day but with half an hour more to go, I wasn't about to. So the compromise was that we would just canoe near the island and not around any bends. Especially when my CEB pointed out that the resort staff in the sea centre were watching TV and not know if anything happened to us.
It started raining in the evening and to our amazement, we saw a peacock sitting in the rain at the small pool at the top of the slide (the pool). We had pretty much run out of things to do on the island short of fishing (which we didn't come prepared for and were loathe to spend good money renting rods and sitting at the coast) so we decided to take the earlier ferry (10am) back to the mainland instead of the 2pm one the next day.
Since there were no other restaurants on the island and there were no transport services provided between the kelongs nearby and the hotel, we had dinner at the same restaurant we would have our buffet breakfast the next time. There was a choice of having either a buffet at RM55 per pax or ordering from the ala carte menu but because we were starving, we didn't look at the menu at all. The buffet for dinner wasn't exceptionally good but the lamb curry was pretty delish. There was plenty of fish, green veg (kai lan) with mushrooms, and 1 other main dish but really the selection of mains was very limited. And the dessert sucked. Awful. Just awful. I would not recommend having the dinner buffet at all - a salad from the ala carte menu at RM20 would be a better choice.
Now that I have blogged about this and have some photos of the place, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to forget that I've been to Sibu Island Resort and there is no way absolutely that I am going back, esp given the bedsheets!
With 3 more hours to kill before dinner and no WIFI, my CEB and I decided to check out the sea sports centre for an hour of kayaking. The cost was only about RM30 per person, and when we got to the center, there were 2 staff there watching TV. However, they obligingly got to their feet and dragged one canoe to the water's edge for us.
My second time canoeing (first time was in Hanoi) and I was determined to get paddle around the island or at least head in the direction of the mountain which was most scenic. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty strong (monsoon season isn't officially over till Feb) and we found ourselves being rocked pretty violently in the little orange canoe.
From the pic below of my wet hair, it is pretty evident what happened. We capsized. The wave rocked us to the right and instead of leaning to the left, we let ourselves get caught in the momentum and before we knew it, we were in the sea. Salt water in my eyes, my haviannas floating around me...the canoe overturned next to my spluttering CEB...what an experience. The first thing I did was check that my camera was still around my neck (waterproof cameras rock), and then grab for my haviannas. My CEB and I then took an end of the canoe each and uprighted it before clambering on board. That was when he wanted to call it a day but with half an hour more to go, I wasn't about to. So the compromise was that we would just canoe near the island and not around any bends. Especially when my CEB pointed out that the resort staff in the sea centre were watching TV and not know if anything happened to us. After the canoeing experience, we went straight to the pool, showered off the salt water and jumped right in. It was a really smallish pool with the deepest end being 2.3m which was really quite deep. Best not to let a child swim unattended in this pool despite its deceptively small size.
It started raining in the evening and to our amazement, we saw a peacock sitting in the rain at the small pool at the top of the slide (the pool). We had pretty much run out of things to do on the island short of fishing (which we didn't come prepared for and were loathe to spend good money renting rods and sitting at the coast) so we decided to take the earlier ferry (10am) back to the mainland instead of the 2pm one the next day.
Since there were no other restaurants on the island and there were no transport services provided between the kelongs nearby and the hotel, we had dinner at the same restaurant we would have our buffet breakfast the next time. There was a choice of having either a buffet at RM55 per pax or ordering from the ala carte menu but because we were starving, we didn't look at the menu at all. The buffet for dinner wasn't exceptionally good but the lamb curry was pretty delish. There was plenty of fish, green veg (kai lan) with mushrooms, and 1 other main dish but really the selection of mains was very limited. And the dessert sucked. Awful. Just awful. I would not recommend having the dinner buffet at all - a salad from the ala carte menu at RM20 would be a better choice.
Now that I have blogged about this and have some photos of the place, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to forget that I've been to Sibu Island Resort and there is no way absolutely that I am going back, esp given the bedsheets!
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