Rawa - Malaysia

Six weeks after first arriving in Singapore, we were ready to take our first trip abroad. We headed to Rawa Island in the South China Sea, off the coast of Malaysia. The trip was organized by our school social committee and was an opportunity for some weekend R and R and a chance to get to know many of our fellow staff members.

We were picked up in vans on Friday afternoon after work and headed out on our adventure. There are two bridges that connect Singapore with Malaysia and we crossed from Singapore into Malaysia at the city of Johor Bahru. You can't help but immediately notice the difference between the two places. While Singapore is a picture of order and cleanliness, JB is not. We were immediately engulfed in a mire of congested roads and an uncountable number of scooters which made our trip a slow one. After eventually getting through JB, we began the 3+ hour trip north along the east coast of Malaysia to Mersing, where we would get a ferry to Rawa.

Our van was filled primarily with a number of Canadians who, like ourselves, were new to Singapore. There was Kate Potosky, a teacher from Toronto, Michael Black from Hamilton, Ian Nisbet from Bracebridge and Sally Monteith who has a summer place in Katrine, Ontario to name but a few. The nightmarishly long ride on twisting and turning roads with a driver who passed slow vehicles regardless of whether there was on-coming traffic or not, was made more bearable by the free flowing conversation and alcohol. Of course the drinking did tend to slow us down some, as a number of people with weak bladders had to stop regularly to relieve themselves.

We finally got out of the vehicle in Mersing, Malaysia and after meeting up with the remainder of our group who were in a number of different vehicles we boarded our ferry for Rawa Island. It was so nice to be out on the water in the tropical evening air and we made the journey to our destination under the cover of darkness.

After making landfall around midnight, we had dinner in the large, open air dining area and retired to our quaint little sleeping cabins for the evening, eagerly looking forward to seeing the place in the daylight the following morning.

We awoke the next day and were simply blown away by the beauty of the island. We went out onto the balcony of our cabin and were greeted by a peacock. This was our first of many signs that we had arrived in paradise.






 

  We went out and explored the place and were greeted by crystal clear waters, palm trees and sandy beaches....truly the stuff dreams are made of.

 We spent the next two days swimming, snorkeling, playing beach volleyball and having a great time partying with our new found friends and co-workers. On the Saturday night, an impromptu party on the dance floor broke out and Haylee was front and centre dancing around on my shoulders. Everyone had a blast.

Our ride home was far more relaxing than the trip there and as we rode home in our air-conditioned coach bus we reminisced about the delicious food, the spectacular scenery and the good times we will remember for many years to come.

Check out all our photos below !

House Hunting

Elizabeth Hotel

After our arrival in Singapore, our school put us up in the Elizabeth Hotel for 10 days.  After spending the first few days sightseeing and recovering from jet lag,  we now had to get down to the job of finding a place to live.  The school provided us with a property agent who had arranged to show us a number of properties in the western part of Singapore know as Jurong West.  We were looking for a location that was close to our current school as well as our new school next year.  We were also looking for a place close to the subway line and other conveniences.

Parc Vista

After looking at a few places, we quickly realized that our living accommodations would not be like when we lived in Japan... they would be tremendously better!   Our place in Japan was about the size of a postage stamp (200 sq. ft. - no lie) whereas the places in Singapore are built to western standards. 


I guess I should tell you that our only choice was to live in an apartment, as houses, for all intents and purposes simply do not exist (that is not unless you have several million or more to part with).

The Main Pool and Clubhouse

What completely surprised us was not only the size of the apartments (they are quite large) but the amenities they offered....swimming pools, exercise rooms, tennis courts etc.  What a treat!  Boy, were we ever excited!

Lap Pool

After Lisa and Haylee finished playing a little game of, "Which place should we take?" with friends on Facebook, we finally decided on an apartment in a place called Parc Vista.   Our apartment is huge, with 3 bedrooms (for when people come to visit), over 1800 sq. ft. of living space, and 12 ft. ceilings.  In addition to how nice the place is, it is in the perfect location.   We couldn't be happier with our choice.



Did I mention that rental accommodations are a little pricey?  Doesn't matter where you go, the prices ain't cheap.  Without getting into numbers, take a rather sizable mortgage payment, double it (yes, I did say double it) and you MIGHT be close.    The good news is that our school provides us with a housing subsidy which makes the place quite reasonable.

And so 10 days after arriving in Singapore, we moved into our new digs.




master

 


dining rm.





living rm.




did I mention the putting green?

 


Haylee, Lisa and the property agent

 



Sights and Sounds

As I stated in an earlier post, we did the touristy thing when we first arrived and did some sightseeing.  Here are some of the highlights:

The Singapore Flyer - each 'car' on the ferris wheel is a capsule that holds 20 people.   Sometimes people rent out the capsules and will have a dinner party as they take in the Singapore skyline.

 

The Marina Bay Sands - a hotel and casino with a 'skypark' in the shape of a cruise ship on the roof complete with a large, infinity pool.

The 'Sands' at night, with a bumboat in the foreground.

Singapore skyline

The Merlion - the mythical creature of Singapore with the head of a lion and the body of a fish.  The name comes from 'mer' meaning sea, and 'lion' which is representative of Singapore's original name, 'Singapura' or 'Lion City'.

Clarke Quay - once the commercial centre of Singapore, it is now a restaurant and bar district.

Lay of the Land

Spent the first week of our time in Singapore getting a feel for the place.   We stayed at the Elizabeth Hotel in the Orchard Rd. shopping district.  What an exciting place!  Talk about Bright Lights, Big City!  We were all a little wide-eyed, but nobody more than Haylee. But, she was certainly not intimidated by it. Quite the contrary. She easily adjusted to the crowds and chaos( a very orderly k-os, I might add).

One down side was getting over the jet lag.  Our internal clocks were messed up royally...sleeping when we should be awake and vice-versa.  However, three days later and we had finally adjusted.

Other preoccupations of the first week included some workplace orientation stuff, some sightseeing and the rather daunting task of finding an apartment ( I'll tell you more about that later).

The sightseeing was great.  I've got to take my hat off to the Canadian International School and in particular, Charla Marshall,  who did such a great job of welcoming us to town.  We truly felt like we were visiting dignitaries. It was an enjoyable start to our stay here and helped to distract us from any apprehension we may have had about starting a new job. 

Haylee with the McDonald's
Tracy, Clancy & Maizy

Some of the highlights of our sightseeing included:  a double-decker bus tour of the city, a bumboat river cruise and a couple of great parties :  one at a place called Glutton's Bay and another at in an area called Dempsey Hill...free food, free drinks and a chance to get to know our co-workers.  





Let the adventure begin!