Today we signed up for a half day tour round the island.
Early morning we took a boat out to coral island for 2 snorkelling spots and then back to renggis island for final snorkelling.
I am very sea-sick prone but they do not provide any tablets so I just ignore it. we brought our gears to the sea sport centre at the other end of the resort and we missed the shuttle cos we were a little late. it was quite a long walk.
the fee is rm 100 each or so inclusive of gear rentals.
soon we were on the boat after some briefing and leaving tioman behind. it was a nice breezy morning and the sea water look so creamy, I do not remember Bali waters looking like that?
anyway I lost the underwater camera so no pic from the deep sea.
but the guides did say actually the best place to snorkel in Tioman is simply few metres away from the hotel, Renggis island.
we could just swim there
anyway after the second stop i was seasick and so did mrK, we kept throwing up our breakfast.
other than that, we are actually OK. but after a few times we got hungry and exhausted and did not go to the renggis island snorkelling. Instead, we return to the room, changed and showered and get a few winks before going back to catch another boat out.
We asked them beforehand before going back to the room whether we can do so first of course. well they dont mind actually.
so we snorkel for another 40 plus mins around renggis island before catching the boat back.
Dinner today at the chinese restaurant again. and I was having big big headache the whole day.
AT night we catch the movie the taLE of Desperaux , a movie about loyalty, apology and bravery.
its a cartoon actually. this was the first and last time I saw the laptop during the trip and it got stolen.
its a laptop installed with windows 7, and its BIOS n hard disk is password protected. good luck selling it u rotten thief!!!
anyway after the movie we shared a few glasses of Malibu Pineapple, also the only bottle we brought back though we bought 2 other hard liquor.
well in the morning we just had our breakfast and then check out.
the ferry arrive super duper late, and I think its usual, cos we saw ppl strolling in only at 1 pm for the supposedly 12 pm ferry, so we bought some tidbits from the nearby markets.
coconut for some reason is expensive in tioman, so we didnt have any, quite weird considering its a beach destination. maybe the forest behind it makes the water not so salty?
anyway back in mersing, we had durians at some roadside stall.
btw parking is approximately 8rm A day and night so its quite reasonable and very safe. Nothing has been stolen so far.
we also bought the POOR cousin of mangoes. they are small, taste like mangoes but when they are ripe they rot too fast. they are very cheap and usually used unripe for rojak and the like.
do not buy them unless u bought the unripe ones
so we went to JB for dinner at our fave place, Vivo restaurant in Jusco tebrau city. This time instead of parking at our usual basement car park we park upstairs.
we are quite careless and left our bags in the second row, fully visible.
and after grocery shopping and dinner, we found ourselves losing 2 big valuable bags.
one red nike bags containing all our snorkelling gear and clean clothes and another containing our electronics such as my laptop and cables for charging our electronics.
but we still have our phones and digi cam, and another bag containing our dirty clothes.
then we spent the whole night making police reports in malaysia and singapore. we only came back like 2-3 am, and nothing we can get back from the insurers cause the theft is in Malaysia and thats not covered. and nothing happened to the car except for the fact that windows had been forced down and yet no real marks or defects happened
very bad way of ending our very nice holiday
oh well lets close this chapter.
btw I have since went back to JB, its quite ok just do not bring anything and put anything visible inside the car. plus i did not go to tebrau city, i just went to the tesco next door. cheaper stuff but nothing to buy shopping wise unlike topshop and mango in the shopping mall.
but i guess thats why more thief are prowling that area. cos ppl spend longer there with the movie theatre and numerous restaurants n shops present
Long awaited update ok my Tioman trip. Arranged very last minute! My lab was havig safety audit so I gave myself a week break!
Spent 3 days researching on the best place to stay. Most were already full esp those popular with singaporeans like paya beach resort. Other resort were too low end for MrK liking.
So after much research n changing of destination from Tioman to rawa island to Besar Island. We still go back to Tioman because Besar island hotels were mostly fully booked due to a filining of expedition Robinson, a survivor like reality tv show from the scandanavian country.
So we booked ourselves to Berjaya because their rooms r nice n their location just a few meters away from Renggis island, a popular snorkeling spot in Tioman as many reef sharks n live corals have been spotted there.
the jetty at Tekek
the ferry from mersing will stop at a few jetties, first at somewhere near Japamala resort, one of the YTL luxury resort in Tioman. Arguably the best and of course the most expensive place to stay in Tioman. This place reminds me alot of Banyan Tree Bintan, because its also situated on a hill.I think the stop its called Genting JETTY.
Then it will stop at Paya, where paya beach resort and tioman paya resort is located
then it moves on to Tekek, where berjaya and a few very small backpacker hostels are nearby. the airport is also here. Tekek has many many duty free shop and being the main village, the government offices and the polyclinic is also here. there is also the only ATM on the island. Yes tioman is very very laidback and underdeveloped, although the room in Berjaya is nice.
The road in Tioman is only a car width and all the cars are usually 4×4, or motorcycles. Berjaya has shuttle for their guests from the jetty. and their shuttle bus is very very old, sometimes I am quite scared of whether it can make it up the hills. though its quite a blessing cause theygo very slow round the bend and helps me enjoy the view. it was just a short 5-10 mins ride from the jetty.
more about tekek in other parts because we spent 1 afternoon n a half exploring the area by making use of the shuttle bus service.
the next stop is air papan, where all the cheap hostels/backpackers are around. its also called ABC. and supposedly the only nightlife in Tioman. Tioman natives are all muslims so they do not really make merry by drinking and singing loudly all night long. although they are duty free which means very very cheap booze
the last stop is Salang, also very close to the marine park. we didnt get to go because our tour changes itinery and supposedly all u do is feed fishes, more for children.
they used to go round the island to the other side and stop at Juara, a small bay on the other side of the island directly facing the ocean. but no longer. thus making our choice to stay at juara beach resort to be more expensive because we need to hire a 4×4. I get sick easily on bumpy ride and i dun want to start my day in tioman that way. well someday
we book ourselves to berjaya superior room at 300rm per nite for 3 nites with breakfast. if u want to know where we bought it from pls let me know.
we took the 2 pm ferry. there is 3x service for the ferry. 10 am, 2pm and last at 5pm.
we are lucky to get a room near the beach. this is a view from our room. rainy weather sucks i know but its ok, we need to rest inside the room too rite.we got a first floor room.
the superior and deluxe room at berjaya are all duplex, can be quite noisy. the agent told us its gonna be concrete. but we can hear ppl talking still esp the next door.
well basically 1st day, after 2 1/2 hr ferry ride, ferry was quite comfortable. the horror stories about ppl drowning and stuff were quickly forgotten. after all i didnt go during monsoon season
During monsoon season (oct-feb) most resorts are closed. but berjaya, being served by airport remained open.
after walking round the hotel n the beach, we went outta hotel for dinner and sunset. we ate at the chinese restaurant by the beach just outside the hotel.
then we go on monitor lizard spotting before dinner starts. there is a lot of wildlife in tioman because 90% of the area is still primary rainforests. alot of tours offer jungle and waterfall trekking too. but u know, I am a sedentary person plus i dun even bring any trekiing shoes. and we r on a budget. so we need to choose what tour we wanna go for.
and i leave u with the view on our balcony, yes we have a balcony, but we dun really use it but to hang wet clothes because yeah, insects are abound!
next i will tell u how we avoid sandflyn other insect bites and our stolen buys