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 !