All About Your Child

Right from the beginning, 3 posts back, I mentioned that THIS trip to Desaru was an adventure to us because we were traveling without any guide of any form, other than a vague map printed from Google.

However, one thing is always on our mind: ‘Never take a risk that we cannot afford’, especially when we have two young children with us.

No one can watch FireFlies in action in bright daylight, right? So traveling at night, with some bumpy roads which are totally pitch dark, we have zero confidence that we would NOT get lost if we drove ourselves to explore where the FireFlies Cruise in Desaru was.

So we dropped the idea of self-drive and felt the pinch by taking the expensive transport provided by Lotus Desaru Beach Resort to the FireFlies Tour.

It only cost RM10+ per adult (if you go there on your own) but look at the price stated by the resort: ~ *heartpain*

They only provide the transport to and fro and it costs RM40 for adult and RM25 for child. Ouch!

Allan even wanted to drop the idea of going to watch the Fireflies altogether at first… but after much discussion, we went ahead because it would be a great experience, since none of us has seen WILD fireflies before.

The journey there was indeed unnerving. There was this long stretch of road which was, winding, narrow, bumpy and without any street lamps at all. The driver had to drive with his high beam on the whole time!

It was scary, especially when there were a few occasions of oncoming vehicles as well; lack of concentration would have resulted in an accident.

The place was called ‘Floating Seafood Restaurant‘. It was an extra service to provide a separate boat ride (which was made of planks of wood only), to cruise out into the very dark river to watch the wild fireflies in action.

The crew used several of THIS (below), putting them at different parts of the boat, to ward off the mosquitoes. Looks like egg holder, right? Maybe it IS! *shrugged* He simply burned one corner of it with a lighter and that’s it. The smoke lasted the entire tour.

Some of the life jackets were in bad condition. It was disappointing. Instead of ‘locking‘ the life jacket across our chests, we had to tie it and hope it does not come loose.

Still, the Big Grins from the boys tell me that all these were worth it. Often, adults are too concern over mundane things, but my children are always around to remind me of the Real Purpose of coming to this place : To Watch Fireflies!

Yes! It was amazing!!!!
Every other thing did not matter anymore the moment we saw the trees lit up like Christmas Trees!

Everyone sat at the perimeter of the wooden boat. The guide, who stood right beside me the whole time, kept scooping water with a long stick and a spout at the end, and kept splashing water to the trees to agitate the sleeping fireflies; to make them glow.

They glowed, they flew and he catches them and PUT ON MY HANDS!!!! Over and over again, this continued, simply because I was sitting right next to him. So lucky!!!

Then the other tourists started to crowd behind me so that they could also receive a firefly or two from the guide. When the fireflies flew out of their hands and onto the floor of the boat, they rushed to it like children rushing to catch a free ball. It always makes me happy to watch adults putting aside stress and play to their heart’s content.

Remember? It was pitch dark everywhere, even the lights of the boat was switched off! Thank goodness no one had head collision as a result of chasing after fireflies on the boat. *phew*

As I had no issue with getting supply of fireflies, Allan, Keatkeat and Binbin had plenty of chances to hold the super tiny insect in their hands too. So we need not chase after them when they flew away.

So tip of the day : Sit near the guide if you want to go for fireflies tour. *wink*

There were a couple of times, the fireflies landed on Keatkeat’s pants and it freaked him out because he was afraid that it would go UNDER HIS PANTS! *laugh*

Just before we made a u-turn back to the Floating Seafood Restaurant, the guide told the captain of the boat to stop very near to the trees. It was so near, the branch full of leaves was RIGHT ON TOP OF MY HEAD! The fireflies were everywhere on that branch and I felt like my head was glowing! *laugh*

Seriously, it was good fun. Everyone should experience having a firefly or two on your palm in your lifetime. They are so cute!

Next Post : Ostrich Farm in Desaru

FireFlies Cruise in Desaru

It is an awesome idea to put a big aviary at the carpark beside the check-in counter. This place can REALLY ‘babysit‘ your inquisitive kids for a long time, leaving you to do all the paperwork in peace while you are trying to get the keys to your room.

I did the check-in while Allan stayed with the children at the aviary. Not only feathery creatures are locked-in, furry cute rabbits reside in the same place too.

Whenever we are near the resort lobby, the kids will ALWAYS want to spend SEVERAL minutes watching the animals in the aviary, and each time they went back, they saw something new!

There was once they saw a rooster wanting to mate with a reluctant hen. The chase was fierce and noisy! Better than watching those animal channels on tv. *wink*

Then another time, a frantic rabbit ran towards Keatkeat’s direction suddenly and banged onto the steel cage. The alert Keatkeat spotted the cause of the scare immediately! A WILD MONKEY WAS STANDING AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CAGE!

I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED to see the wild animal! Remember our trip to Chek Jawa? I was so excited to see the snake that I forgot about the danger of being so near to it. However, this time, I was more cautious, keeping my boys far behind me while I crept nearer to the fury long-tailed mammal.

Have you been in the situation whereby you are so scared yet you just want to face the danger?

Yup! That was exactly how I felt when I saw the wild monkey! I was afraid that it would charge towards me, yet I want to get a close up shot(s) because the zoom function of my camera phone sucks!

I took more than 7 photos of the agile animal but decided to post 2 here. I was following it as it moved around the carpark like a playful child. What a great encounter for me! *clap clap clap* I cannot imagine what would I be like if I ever go Africa!!! *laugh*

There is also a place where every child would love to spend hours at, inside the Lotus Desaru Beach Resort.

However, the kids agreed that the price of the games there were on the high side compared to the ones at Jusco, they did not play any games, except the punching game which has broken down and the punching ‘ball‘ was dangling without any coins inserted.

On Friday before we checked-out, we saw a cart selling all sorts of beach items and people Parasailing. It looked really fun, but our heart wrenched when we saw the price : RM100 (Single) and RM200 (Double). Ouch!

Not forgetting the food too. Maybe its the relax mood that makes the children’s appetite increase whenever they munch their breakfast at the resort/hotel. *shrugged*

There you have it! All that I want to say about our stay in Lotus Desaru Beach Resort had been ‘squeezed‘ into 3 separate posts.
Related Posts :

1. “Self Drive To Desaru“
2. “WaterPark at Lotus Desaru Beach Resort“

Next up, a total of 5 separate posts, on the attractions we went OUTSIDE the resort. Are you ready for the ride? *wink*