The short getaway to Mersing!

The view from the hotel we stayed in, RajaVillas, which is situated on top of a hill

If you want to be away from a place filled with tourists, interact with nature and experience village life, one of the places you could go to is Mersing. Many parts of the town remain undeveloped. For those seeking an authentic village experience, there are even home stay options!

Mersing is a town in which my grandmother was born and grew up in. Her dad, Kalimuthu, was well known in Mersing. He helped in the building of the very first school in Mersing. My grandma told us stories of how Mersing didn't even have any schools during her time. She and her siblings had to travel to JB to go to school. 

Till this day, there are still people in Mersing who remember my great-grandfather and my grandmother. There were two masseuses who came over to our hotel room to massage my older relatives. They recognised my grandmother once she told her dad's name and soon they realised they knew each other and their families! Early in the morning, when some of my older relatives went out to buy breakfast for the rest of us, it seems that some people in the market knew my grandmother and her dad too. It was really interesting listening to the nostalgic stories my grandmother shared with us about her younger days growing up in the little town.

Coconuts to quench our thirst!

A street stall selling local delicacies.

Air Papan

Air Papan

Air Papan is a popular beach in Mersing. It is the best place to go to if you are a seashell collector. There are so many different kinds of shells you can find, washed out to shore by the waves. The water looked pretty dirty, so I ended up just getting my feet wet and building sandcastles instead of swimming. There were many stalls selling different kinds of local delicacies. We succumbed to our temptation and got ourselves a home-made ice-cream each and had a coconut to drink! In the warm humid weather, the coconuts and ice-cream was just what we needed. 

There aren't many shops in Mersing. But every Friday night they have a pasar malam (a bunch of street stalls). From delicious local delicacies to unique clothes, you can find a variety of different things being sold in the pasar malam. The things in Mersing are really cheap. I managed to find a shop in the more developed part of Mersing selling nike and addidas shoes. I managed to get a nike shoe at 185 Ringgit. The same shoe would have probably cost me more than 150 Singapore dollars.

I love the food in Mersing. They were not only cheap but were ridiculously delicious too! I had nasi lemak for breakfast one day and the chilli they gave to go along with the nasi lemak was, without doubt, the best that I have ever tasted. We had seafood for dinner on both the nights that we were there. It was cheaper than in Singapore but tasted so good! I tried wild boar for the first time ever. It tasted just like chicken!

Peaceful, relaxing and ridiculously affordable; Mersing is the ideal place to go to if you want an authentic village experience (opt for the home stay option) and if all you want to do is to put your feet up! 

UP NEXT: A mini road trip to Mersing!

Mersing is situated in the state of Johor, Malaysia. Mersing, the town in which my grandmother was born and grew up in, was where we headed to during the Chinese new year weekend. Just a two and a half hours drive away from Singapore, Mersing was the ideal place for a short getaway with the family. Twenty-nine people, a deserted hotel, cheap mouth-watering food, great company; it was an awesome getaway which deserves a longer post. I shall do one more post about the trip tomorrow. Right now, all I feel like doing is drinking a glass of hot chocolate and sleeping. All the travelling has left me feeling so exhausted.

Goodnight, World!
xoxo

Phuket-Sun, Sea, Fun, PARTY!

The last time I visited Phuket was 10 years ago. Just 12 years old, I remember being so excited about the beaches that I spent hours on and the sea activities that I did. I went there expecting it to be somewhat just like the place I visited 10 years ago. But the place looked beyond familiar (except for Patong beach). There's a street called bangla street, which I don't recall seeing 10 years back, consisting of pubs and clubs. But then again the street might have already existed back then but my parents would have thought it was unnecessary to bring their twelve year old daughter and ten year old son to a street full of party-goers, 10 years back. 

We were lucky that the hotel we stayed in, Andakira hotel, was located only a 7 minutes walk away from bangla street and a 15 minutes walk away from Patong beach. There were many shops along the streets selling clothes and souveniers, with the shop owners constantly targeting gullible tourists to purchase their overpriced items. It is always wise to check the prices at several shops before buying it (most of the shops sell the same things!) and it is always good to bargain because the owners tend to increase the selling prices of goods by three times more than the actual price. I bought a top that supposedly cost 750 bhat for 250 bhat!

On christmas eve, we made our way to Bangla street which was packed with party goers (mostly tourists). We heard a lot about a club called seduction and decided we should definitely celebrate the start of christmas there! With midnight approaching, we were looking forward to a countdown to christmas. Unfortunately, there was no countdown to christmas. We were still happy because we managed to enter for free and the club itself was really impressive. There were three levels, each level played a different type of music. The top level, which played the latest club songs and house music, was the most popular.

Getting ready for the Christmas countdown which never happened!

Club Seduction

The next day was packed with activities. We started of with flying fox! It was 60 metres high.

The next activity we did was white water rafting. It was our first time rafting, therefore it was the most anticipated activity! Two local men followed us on the raft. They were really entertaining and made our rafting experience a really enjoyable one.

Next up was a ride on the ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). It was the most enjoyable activity for me.  Each of us had our own ATV and were travelling at high speeds. The path we were going on contained many bumps, curves and downhills which made it challenging and exciting.

The most challenging activity for me has got to be the FISH SPA! I struggled to keep my feet in the water. The fishes were happily nibbling away on the dead skin on my feet while I was suffering because it was too ticklish! I'm never going for a fish spa again!!

We also went for elephant trekking and a monkey show! The elephant that we sat on was called Puki. It was so adorable. Each time we called it's name, it would raise its trunk and make the cutest sound ever.

Later that night, we headed to a show called simon cabaret. It is somewhat like a musical. The people who perform are actually transexuals. We do not have these kind of shows in Singapore therefore we were really fascinated by it. I was blown away by how flawless the transexuals looked. You would never guess that they were actually males before, well not until you hear them open their mouth and speak!

The next day, we visited Maya beach, Phi Phi island and Khai island where we snorkelled. The picturesque scenery, the endless crystal clear emerald green water surrounded by limestone cliffs, was simply breathtaking!  

I simply loved Phuket. It is the best place to go if you want to party, relax and do something adventurous, all in one trip. The best tip to surviving in Phuket without spending a whole lot of money is to BARGAIN (except for food). Do not settle for the first price that a shop owner tells you. We managed to get tickets for the simon cabaret show (VIP seats and transport to and from the show) at 650 bhat from a street shop, when most of the other travel companies were selling it at 850 bhat. I'm sure there would have been people who got it for cheaper but we were just picking up on the new 'skill' we learnt from this trip- bargaining!

UP NEXT...

Sawaadee Ka! After much procrastination, I've finally started drafting a blog post about my trip to Phuket. It will be up soon. There's just so much to talk about!