Disappointment on Pulau Tioman...and a belly full of ants

August 25 2009 - August 30 2009

Mersing to Pulau Tioman (Tekek pier) (35RM one-way)--2 hours

We thankfully got on a proper boat (as supposed to what they called boats to the Perhentian Islands) for the 2 hour trip to Pulau Tioman. The journey was pretty uneventful this time (thankfully) and passing the islands of the Seribuat Archipelago was quite impressive, especially the monstrous mountain of Pulau Tinggi (Tall Island) in the distance. We arrived at Tekek pier on the western coast of the huge and mountainous-looking island of Tioman and had chosen to stay at Juara Bay on the eastern coast.

One of the hardest things to choose when trying to find a place to stay on an island (especially a big island) is which beach to pick. If you want any degree of life you need to lose the idyllic stretch of sand. If you want an idyllic stretch of sand you have to lose any degree of life. We should have taken the former as it was Ramadan. The west coast beaches (where we arrived) were where the touristy, (over)commercialised areas were (Tekek, ABC Beach etc.) . We decided on the only beach on the east coast as Lonely Planet didn't seem to think much of the west coast. In fact Lonely Planet doesn't seem to think much of the island as a whole. Note to self: STOP RELYING ON LONELY PLANET!!! The only way to Juara was by 4WD (RM70 for two) over the mountain and through the jungle. When we got there it didn't look too bad. The only problem we were stuck with the cash we withdrew in Mersing (no ATM's on Tioman) and as we forgot to factor in a RM70 one-way 4WD journey into our budget, we were stuck on Juara. Luckily we had just about enough for the return journey. This meant though that we had no opportunity to explore the rest of the island. We soon found out, after paying for 5 nights in advance, that there were only one or two small deserted places to eat on Juara, and not much else. The fact we had already bought our return ferry and bus tickets meant that we had to stick it out for 5 days. No internet cafes, no book stores...everywhere was closed up for Ramadan or closed up altogether for good. But why complain huh? There was a nice-ish restaurant we ended up eating at a few times until we got sick of the moody / rude staff and the fact we got ripped off with out bill at one time. We decided not to give them any more of our custom and stood our ground. We'd recommend to avoid Santai Bistro & Grill, or at least be really careful about what is going onto your bill and what change you get. We did find a decent-ish Chinese restaurant with a bit of a bland and expensive menu. We survived through playing cards and sleeping late, we swam in the sea at some points. The weather was pretty grey except for the final day when we decided to spend it getting our tans up to date for perhaps the final time until we reach Bali.

All in all Tioman was a disappointment but really it was our own faults. Wrong beach (even though the beach is a gorgeous one), not enough cash and the fact we had overlooked how difficult travelling during Ramadan can actually be.

So instead of seeing Pulau Tioman, we saw just Juara Beach. Regrettably we missed out on what most likely was a great island, but we had to move on with no doubt more places to see and fun things to do. So don't take this negative blog as the whole of the island.

The final night, Dan became hungry and ended up scoffing half a pack of Oreo's, only to realise after he had finished that the (old) pack had become infested with tiny red ants. The rest of the night was a restless one as those ants much have had a party!!

Next up we head out of Malaysia to Singapore for a few days of ultra-urban fun and then back into Malaysia to visit Melaka and Penang before entering Indonesia.

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