Upon being told I'll be posted to Teluk Ramunia, first thing I did was to google the location. Lo and behold, its on the southern most tip of Peninsular Malaysia. A remote town (can I call it a town, more like 'Pekan' (Bahasa Malaysia for small town, bigger than village but smaller than town). Thrives from weekend visits from S'porean for its seafood but other than that nothing much can be googled about it, thus this entry is for anyone else who would be posted here in the future.
Taking the 11.15am flight out of Miri, arrived at KLIA around 1.30pm. The next flight to Johor Bahru was 5.25pm and arriving at JB 6.15pm. JB Senai Airport was under construction so it was quite a long walk to the taxi counter. I haven't set foot in JB since I was 7 so was a bit apprehensive about travelling alone with 3 weeks worth of luggage (I am a GIRL!). Found taxi counter at the end of a mock 'under construction' pathway/tunnel and paid RM44 for a taxi to Mutiara JB Hotel.
An hour later, I arrived at Mutiara JB Hotel which is conveniently located next to a shopping mall, Holiday Plaza. No high expections though, it's similar to Pertama Complex in KL, maybe dodgier, pirate DVDs galore. As for Mutiara JB, room are big but the Hainanese Chicken Rice I ordered for room service was crap. The Tom Yam was a sad affair too.
Next morning, my pre-book taxi driver was waiting at 7:30am to take me to Sebana Cover Resort, the nearest hotel to Teluk Ramunia. I would have stayed at Desaru if i had my Defensive Driving Certificate. Not allowed to drive company car without one. Booooooooooooooo.....
It takes 2 hours from JB to Sebana Cove Resort. I was so happy to see the signboard Welcome to Sebana but guess what, it's another 20 minutes drive from the main entrance to the resort itself. I suppose it is a golf resort thus the sprawling land. BUT the signs beware of elephants and wild boars were enough to intimidate anyone planning to take a walk around.
Room 104 will be my humble abode for the next 3 weeks. Hello Room Service!!! Bye Bye Diet!!!
p/s: Plus side of staying at Teluk Ramunia is the cheap food. I'm not kidding, a complete meal with drinks is average rm5/-, i'm talking rice with 3 side dishes including meat. Soto was rm2.50!! Roti Canai 60sen!! Lunch for 4 with 5 dishes to share (pari asam, sotong, lala/kepah, sayur, udang) was rm32. I had dinner for 2 just now for only rm23 (steam fish (siakap), kailan and telur bifstik).Compare to MIRI price these were cheap okayyyyyy!!
Downside: The annoyingly rude contractors who finds joy in harassing site staff on a daily basis. No amount of cheap food can balance this miserable experience.