Tioman Island — Attraction in Tioman

Just a short flight from Singapore, you can come to the east coast Malaysian resort island of Tioman. (The waterfall scene from the movie South Pacific was shot here.) There are all types of accommodation, from backpacker to high class. I decided to stay in the high end Tioman Island Resort and opted for a bungalow. It was a very nice place with a buffet breakfast included. There is a stage at the outside dining area, and a nightly show is put on with Malaysian dancers, songs, and live music (They might ask you to join them on stage for a dance). I met a nice British family who asked me to join them on a rented boat with driver to go to a nearby small island for some great snorkeling (plenty of fish and coral to see). There is also a golf course at the resort, as well as horses to ride. I decided to go on a trek by myself, so packed a bottle of water, towel, mask and snorkel, and took off on a jungle path past the golf course. During my walk, unseen scurrying things were constantly crossing the path a head of me. I knew there were many monitor lizards and monkeys on the island (I saw them later). Finally, the jungle opened up to expose a beautiful cove with white sand and crystal clear water. There was no one else there, so I settled in and called it my own. I swam, snorkeled, and lay on the beach, but I had neglected to bring any food and was getting hungry. Luckily for me, there was a large mango tree right there. The mangoes were to high to reach, but the night before fruit bats had knocked a few off that landed in the soft undergrowth. I gathered some that had no bite marks and had myself a feast. What a great day. Now dusk was coming, so I figured I'd better head back while I could still see and wouldn't get devoured by the "things that go bump in the night." I highly recommend a trip to Tioman Island and a walk through the jungle to discover your own private slice...

There are three ways to move around in Tioman Island. The prices stated below may be charged differently in other villages or other parts in Pulau Tioman but it was accurate at the time of my travel.

a) Hiring a Taxi

Taxi services use private cars in their operation. The driver inside the security post charged the passengers RM 30 per trip to drive them to Tekek Village that is 5 minutes away. We bargained the price and the man agreed to drive us there for RM 15 (one-way trip).

b) Renting a Scooter

It costs RM 70 to rent a motorbike or a scooter for one day if you want to explore the whole village from the security post. However, this option limits you to explore all of Tioman Island due to obstruction from forest and hill. Hence, it prevents you from driving further to other parts of Tioman.

The motorbike rental costs only RM 35 if you rent it at Kampung Tekek. There are a few shops offering the rental at this price. To save some money from taking a cab, please walk and rent a motorbike over there.

c) Taking a Taxi Boat

You can pay RM 20 per trip for a taxi boat to bring you to other parts of Tioman Island such as Juara and Salang if you are keen to...

The only good thing on island is the nature...but you can get same in Thailand or Bali where people are less greedy for money. Me and my partner booked Juara for 2 weeks in March. We wanted to practice yoga and enjoy tropic fruit. We found no yoga place nor the tropic fruit there. Every time we tried to practice yoga somewhere in Juara (even on beach sand), random person would show up telling us is PRIVATE proprety or ''I have a group coming tomorrow, you need to move away''. There was never a group coming tomorrow (lie) and also the beach can not be a private property (another lie). This happened to us 5 days in a row, after we left Juara village for good. btw if u are looking for tropic fruit its hard to get it in Juara. Most of the fruit salads consists of basic fruit such is apple, orange and watermelon. The cargo is only once a week, and if u are lucky and fast, maybe u catch mango. Also if u are trveling in March, know that waves in Juara are too big to swimm. Resturants are also bad (only Juara ocean is ok). In each dish there is a sugar so if u are into healthy lifestyle just avoid...