Sibu Island, Malaysia

WARNING!  If you are depressed by long, cold upcoming winter days, itching to go on a vacation, or grumpy at seeing happy, relaxed people...this post is NOT for you!

The kids all had Thursday and Friday off of school for parent-teacher conferences.  I had Allison's on Wednesday, and had Madison and Parker's on Thursday morning.  Jeremy had just returned Tuesday night from a 3-week trip and was getting ready to head back out the following week, missing all other school breaks for the whole first semester.  So, we took advantage of getting out of the city and visiting Rimba Resort.

Leaving the Singapore checkpoint and heading for Johor Bahru, Malaysia and their checkpoint, just over the bridge.  And driving 2 hours north up the eastern side of the country, looking at all the plantations:

We then arrived at the jetty, where we left our car.  There's a picture of the local jetty and then the resort jetty.  Plus, our boat ride and the island (shorter one in front of the taller one):

What we referred to as our "hut."  It did have warm running shower water, running sink water, and a toilet...times two.  It had two bedrooms and a large dressing room.  It did not have any air conditioning, solid doors, or glass/screen windows.  It did have fans, mosquito nets, wonderful views and a really, really nice breeze.  We did enjoy some local "wildlife":

 

 

The food was set and inclusive of the room, but very, very good.  They made us some tuna fish sandwiches with cucumber, green and red peppers, onions, and lettuce upon arrival.  The bar area was where you ordered the milkshakes.  Once Parker figured that out, he was caught attempting to "order" his own from one of the barstools on a couple occasions.  They had a open-air restaurant where we ate most of our meals, with the exception of one day where the kids wanted to eat in the "gathering room."

We spent a lot of time just relaxing (the whole point of this trip):

 

We did a little bit of exploring by taking a walk down the rocky shoreline.  Throwing rocks and looking in tide pools were the highlights.  We found a stingray in one of the little water inlets:

 

 We did a fair amount of swimming and snorkeling out in the warm South China Sea:

We played a lot of games and did a lot of fun activities:

 

 

We had a fabulous, relaxing time!

Final price (Malaysian Ringgit) RM$2790, which is USD$912, for three-day/two-night two-bedroom chalet, all meals, any drinks other than water (milkshakes, iced Milo, juices), 60-minute massage, boat transfer for six, a couple snacks (french fries with those milkshakes) and three snorkel equipment rentals.