Home
Inspiration
Bio-data
Projects
Travelogue
Links
Email
View Guestbook
Sign Guestbook

Bring me to ...

Tioman

During the recent National Day weekend, I went to Tioman with my friends and a group of German exchange students. Well, glad that the weather was bright and sunny for the entire trip!

Day 1

On Friday morning, we made our way to the Woodlands Checkpoint and we found that there wasn�t a heavy traffic jam there. Great, if not we could have missed our coach or ferry. We first boarded SBS bus 170 to Larkin @ Johor Bahru. Upon reach Mersing by a 2-hour coach ride, we took a 2-hour ferry to Tioman (the 2-way return ferry trip costs about S$75).

By early afternoon, we reached Tioman and alighted at Ayer Batang Village (better known as �ABC�). We stayed at the Nazri�s Place which is quite popular with the western backpackers and the beach there is not as crowded and peaceful. Accommodation at these chalets is considered cheap, as each of us paid only S$45 for 3 nights� accommodation per air-conditioned twin-sharing room. The German exchange students tried snorkelling at the jetty, Marine Park @ Tekek, which is just about 10-minute walk away. We then went shopping to the duty-free shops. I was so amazed by the numerous cans of beer that the German students had bought! Well, the cost of beer indeed is much cheaper (RM 2), which costs the same as a can of soft drinks in Singapore.

Except the higher-end of other resorts, the food at Tioman is quite cheap but definitely more expensive from the Malaysian mainland. At ABC, the food costs about from RM 5 to RM 15 for local, Chinese and Western food. We mainly ate grilled fishes/chicken or seafood for that night and subsequent dinners at Tioman.

After our dinner, the students continued with their chatting and beer-drinking session while the rest of us sat at the beach and looked at the stars in the dark starry night. Not many stars could be seen though as the sky was quite cloudy.

Day 2

After our breakfast, we divided ourselves into 2 groups and headed to the Coral Island by speedboats for our snorkelling trip. Each of us spent about S$35 for the boat-ride and rental of snorkelling mask. Although I could swim quite well, I wasn�t used to wearing the snorkelling mask. I think using goggles are much more comfortable�. Well, it�s just a matter of time to get used to� The German students were more adventurous, swam much further away from our speedboats and a few of them hurt their feet when they dived into waters and hit the corals, causing their injured feet to bleed abit. But it is indeed fun snorkelling and seeing the little �Nemo� fishes swimming around. =)

We made a stop-over at a deserted coastal area, where you can see nice white sandy beach and clear blue sea. Our boatman bought some fishes and some of us helped him to clean and prepare the fishes for cooking. As the fishes are fresh, the grilled fishes tasted quite nice even without much seasoning. And I heard that these fishes cost only about RM 20 and we ate almost 40-50 fishes�We also tried to feed the fish bones to a large monitor lizard nearby�

We took our speedboats again and headed to Salang Village for our lunch where you can find abit of nightlife and the beach is quite nice. We then continued with our snorkelling near Monkey Bay and I finally saw the spiky black sea urchins�

Day 3

Some of us went for jungle trekking from Tekek to Juara, trying to see a waterfall there. The trekking trip takes them at least about 2 hours to make their way up and see the waterfall. It could be quite tiring that most of them took a truck-ride back. Oops..

For me, I decided to visit the Berjaya resort instead which is known to be the only resort in Tioman that meets international standards with 18-hole golf-course, swimming pools, Jacuzzi and its own diving/snorkelling facilities. Nice sandy beach there! I took a few photos at the donkey ranch and the beach. Lunch there can be expensive and doesn�t seem to be special though, so we decided to return to Nazri�s Place for lunch instead.

From the Nazri�s Place, you can enjoy quite beautiful sun-set views. Get your cameras and catch a few good shots around 6.30-7pm.

Day 4

We walked to the other end of Ayer Batang Village where the Bamboo Hill resorts are located where you see a few wooden chalets on stilts among the leafy palm trees and giant rocks. From there, we went for 20-minute trekking to the Panuba beach / jetty where you can see some wooden chalets at the resorts there.

By 3pm, we made our way back to Singapore by taking a 1.5hour ride via a large speedboat. An advice though�Don�t sit at the back of the speedboat, or you will get yourself very wet! :p