Tioman Island, off the east coast of Malaysia, was much nicer
than we had pictured. We'd been to Perhentian Island up the coast previously, having chosen it over Tioman which is closer to both KL and Singapore and, we, thought, crawling with rich travelers from those cities.
But we found Tioman more beautiful, more interesting, and the snorkeling at least as wonderful as the Perhentians. It is a popular place to be sure, despite the difficulty of getting there--thanks in no small part to the utter inefficiency/lack of coordination of local transport options.
It is a large island,
20 km/12 miles long and 12 km/7.5 miles wide, with one real village and 6 or 8
inhabited beaches = resorts. 90% of the
island is high hills covered with lovely jungle--as the rest of Malaysia surely looked
before Palm Oil, and Singapore before law, order and concrete.
Glad we stayed four nights—it was very relaxing, with snorkeling right off the beach in front of our room, and a couple of good jungle/beach walks.
Here is T emerging from the sea
And our room, right on the beach!
and the view down the beach...
One local inhabitant:
and a neighborhood primate
Another lovable primate, on our the porch
The snorkeling right off the beach was not so good, but we did a full day boat trip to nearby Coral Island which was amazing. Sadly, the death of our second underwater camera leaves me no choice but to steal someone else's photos for illustrative purposes
Just kidding...no shark for us
We also stopped at a small island just south of our beach. T and I swam all the way around.
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We were on a boat like this
with two ladies from Sri Lanka and a young couple from France. When we stopped for lunch T suggested we all sit together. It was really nice getting to know them a bit. French lady and I shared bunion stories :-).
Time to leave for the mainland. We had arranged a taxi to take us to the ferry. So had a Dutch family. Here they are getting in, with one more to go. T and I opted for the inside... Thankfully I can report that all survived.
