Southern-most tip Johor weekend getaway

Omar got some work errands to run in Sebana Cove while both Aaqil and me managed to hitch his ride for a short getaway. Driving a company sponsored vehicle, we left Singapore via the causeway at 1600hrs. Besides the Hong Leong ATM service nationwide breakdown, the rest of the journey was smooth despite the shortage of cash. It was a smooth and scenic drive passing Kota Tinggi and other small towns and villages. Since it was Ramadhan, we broke our fast whilst passing Desaru in the vehicle itself arriving in Sungai Rengit town around 1930hrs checking in a backpackers-like Tai Hoe Hotel. Aaqil was immediately busy making phone calls to his imaginary on'line' friends.



As a family, we have been practising breaking-fast with a light and easy meal for the tummy and having an actual dinner much later after the prayers. Thus, upon settling down at Tai Hoe, we proceeded to an authentic open-air seafood restaurant to fulfil our years of seafood cravings. Yes we did have a cute little lobster in butter just enough for 2 plus some other side dishes. That was a helluva seafood, though not much. Surprisingly, life in Sg Rengit was a little on the quiet side for most muslim food stalls during Ramadhan, and we did not have as much choices on food as compared to our previous visits to this town, which was accesible by boat then a 17km bicyle ride from the jetty, which we did 3 years ago. But that didn't dampen our spirits and we walked thru every possible roads in the small little but self sufficient town. There's even a Marrybrown now in town for those fast food lovers, but the sight of Burger Ramly always overwrites the former. Activity back in Tai Hoe was just a warming down, though the free wireless access did do some damage to the supposedly non-distracted night, ended with an early 'sahur'.

We needed to leave by 1200hrs the next day our Tai Hoe would forfeit our MYR10.00 deposit and we did adhere to their rules as we were checking in to Sebana Cove next, a well-developed integrated resort some 15km down the road. The 2km drive in from the main road was a serene drive through the golf course, wild monkeys encounters and nature and nature and nature to Omar's liking. The first room given to us was rejected by Omar as it was facing the swimming pool and the second was facing the marina and river and some distant mangroves and that was what he wanted. Swimming pool was next to fulfil Aaqil's request even though we never allow him to dip in longer than 30mins. Full of fun and laughter for him though and we retired back to our room, lazed around waiting for break-fast time. The view from our balcony was almost enough to soothe our eyes.

Sebana Cove, located at the southern-most tip of Johor, was designed to be a quiet stay, although there were some pricy activities like boating through the mangroves for MYR80.00 per person or fireflies tour for MYR30.00 per person. So we decided to head back to Sg Rengit town for dinner which was more favourable for budget constraints travellers like us. Luxurious travellers please stay away from reading our blog as you will find the informations here not useful ;-) A satisfying thai style cheap and delicious dinner and we headed back to Sebana where Aaqil and myself made new friends with families of Sebana staff and we were even invited for coffee to their resident lodgings, the gateway to a cheaper and discounted future stay at Sebana ... hehe ... while Omar did establish some future businesses with the technologically inclined Sebana staff.

From there on, then we learnt of several other nearby towns which were unknown to travellers like us like Sening town, which we managed to locate without getting lost on our way the next day. There, a heaven for food, food bazaars everywhere and we had such a wondeful time window shopping for breaking-fast later on, which led to packing back barbeque quail, malay kueh and specially made drinks you will never see other than during Ramadhan and Aaqil has his first unfair share of chicken rice before break-fast while we watched drooling...

Conclusion... for you reaching Sebana Cove from Singapore, and if you want to avoid the roads, there is a ferry service from Tanah Merah Terminal straight into the rivers of Sebana and someone will pick you up. The other alternative was history, they used to run a ferry service to carry vehicles from Changi Ferry Terminal to Tg Belungkor but that service are now meant for passengers with bicycles only. Maybe the cost of ferrying your vehicle across is too pricy as compared to driving through JB and Kota Tinggi though it will take about 2hours on the road.
Alternatively, you may take a cheap bumboat ride from Changi Point and it will ferry you to Tg Pengelih and you can find lots of taxis waiting to send you anywhere with the options to bargain before boarding.

That's all for now, more updates after Eid in Kedah, for more informations on Sebana Cove and Sg Rengit, just google them!!

other snapshots