Telunas 2014

I brought my family to Telunas last April on 18, 19 and 20th April 2014 and we had a fabulous time!

STAGE ZERO

Of course, initially, as I had recounted, my siblings were extremely reluctant about going someplace where internet was not available. 

"What the hell! There's no internet? What are we going to f------ do there?! Wahhh.... Seriously, I don't want to go there anymore." Honestly, it was like they were about to wage a protest against me. If I was a tour guide to Telunas and my whole group were a bunch of tech geeks, they would be pissssssssed.


STAGE ONE
Upon arrival at Sekupang Terminal, we were supposed to find the staff of Telunas --> They would be wearing blue and ready to pick us up the moment we arrived. True enough, they were standing there, waiting for us, return tickets and list of names on hand. 'Emily?' (She mispronounced my name, Emilia) Not wanting to embarrass her, I went ahead and acknowledged that as my name. (Which would turn out to be a bad decision considering I had to endure her calling me by a stranger's name for the next 2 days)


STAGE ONE POINT FIVE

Because we were provided the express service, us and other tourists toward Telunas were able to skip the long queue for passport check at the customs. Our passports were all placed together with a Telunas staff and we proceeded towards out Sampan boat. She explained that she would return our passports to us once she received it. However, just as we were all ready to board, a tourist started making a fuss.

"Why can't we have our passports now? If we queued the normal way, shouldn't we have our passports by now?" The staff tried to explain that it was faster this way but he insisted on having his and his family members' passports with him. I can understand where he is coming from, your passport is your identity card the moment you're overseas so you have to keep it with you at all costs. Apparently, as I found out 2 and a half days later, they kept the passports in their safe and would only return them to us the moment we paid our bill. That's sneaky is what I think.

As a result of that, the Telunas staff had no choice but to bring the guy back to the terminal (which is a 10 minutes walk away from the harbour where we were currently at) to retrieve the passports.

And so, for another 20 minutes, we just sat at the dock, waiting for the man who's wasting our beautiful beach time since we couldn't just leave him behind without a transport to Telunas (we're just too nice).

I guess it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we ended up enjoying the view and buying a few snacks at the food stands nearby.

STAGE 2: ON THE SEAS

The boat ride towards Telunas was almost an hour long and the horrible noise emanating from the engine just made it even more unbearable BUT, if it's any consolation, the sloshing sounds of the water against the boat, the slapping of the wind against your cheeks and the breeze running through your hair should be able to ease that little bump.

Of course my tech geek brother had to bring his phone, he's practically married to it

Need I repeat that it was almost an hour's ride? 

But I have to say, the waters were stunning. I guess growing up in a city like Singapore, you rarely get to immerse yourself into nature despite the abundance of trees. 

STAGE 3: TELUNAS

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

- Nelson Mandela

Telunas was a beauty in itself, everything was still the same as it was when I left in 2012. It was amazing and I'm happy I was able to share it with my family in the 3 days we were there. We kayaked, had pizza, dock jumped, went fishing and just had a very laid-back, relaxing time-something we would never have gotten had we just stayed back in Singapore during the Friday holiday + free weekend.

I'm glad my sister and youngest brother mentioned that they wish to come back again one day simply because it was peaceful and they loved the beach.