Titillating Tioman

Eisha Sarkar

Posted On Mumbai Mirror on Monday, August 03, 2009 at 03:42:10 PM

Nine hours, six different vehicles of transport, immigration procedures and tremendous patience is all you need to savour a bit of the world that hasn’t seen the worst of civilisation. Few Indian travellers go to Tioman. It's a far cry from Kuala Lumpur's snazzy malls and Singapore's dazzling heights. But for adventure junkies and backpackers, this is as good as it can get. Armed with Lonely Planet guides, Dutch, British, German and Australian travellers make their way to the remote Tioman Island, 40 kilometres off the Malaysian coast not just to explore the dense rainforests, but to also experience one of the world's cheapest diving hotspots.

A long way to go
It's the journey that makes Tioman a great destination. You take a bus from Queen Street in Singapore, a ride that can cost you S$ 2.40 (1 S$ = Rs 33). There are few buses that run from Singapore into Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It’s a half-hour journey to the Singapore checkpoint, one of the busiest in the world (the train of cars waiting here can be comparable to Mumbai's peak-hour traffic). You clear the immigration and board another bus to cross the bridge that joins Singapore with the Malaysian mainland. You 'disembark' at the Malaysian checkpoint, a building that’s as big as the domestic wing of the Mumbai airport. Another stamp on your passport and then you’re all set to go to Johor Bahru.

At Johor Bahru, you board another bus that takes you to Larkin. The Larkin bus station has plenty of facilities for travellers. There’s a canteen where you can order a Malaysian ‘breakfast’ of roast chicken, rice while you listen to Bollywood hits (don't they love them!) You can also change some money (they accept Indian currency) here. Buses to Mersing on Malaysia's east coast leave every hour. Cost of the ticket? RM 18 (1 RM = Rs 16) per head.

The ferry-ride
No sooner than you alight from a bus at Mersing than you'll find a travel agent by your side peddle RM 35 tickets for the next ferry to Tioman Island. "There's only one ferry service - Bluewater. There used to be another one but the boat caught fire," he will say holding up a laminated copy of a Malay newspaper article with the morbid picture of the ill-fated vessel. He'll then offer you rooms at Panuba beach and Berjaya Resort on the island's west coast. When you say you want to go to Juara on the east coast, he'll dissuade you. If you persist, he'll offer to book you a cottage at Juara Beach Resort, Juara Mutiara or Rainbow Resort. If you agree to pay him the RM 120 per night, he'll even go further and book a 4x4 for picking you up from Tekek, the main town on the island for RM 30 one way. Is there an option? No!

The wait for the ferry can seem endless. The 3pm ferry often does not leave till 3.45pm. The air-conditioned ferries are cramped with tourists and locals - so many of them that you wonder if the place is really as remote as it's made out to be. The ferry-ride should ideally take you two hours, but it’s all at the mercy of the wind and the wave. Often, the ferries stop at Genting, at the south-eastern coast of Tioman and then head to Salang, up north and then again move down south to Tekek.

Tioman, finally
Known locally as Gunung Daik Bercabang Tiga, Tioman is 39 km long and 12 km wide. You disembark at Tekek and take a 4x4 to cross the hill to Juara beach on the other side of the island. The hill's steep and ‘threatened’ by overgrowth. The multiple canopies of trees prevent light from reaching below. The leaves of trees closer to the ground are sometimes as large as an open umbrella. You may also find flying squirrels doing a Mission Impossible and monkeys playing cat-and-mouse. The forests are host to protected species such as Binturong, Long-tailed Macaque, Slow Loris, Black Giant Squirrel, Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Mouse deer, Brush-tailed Porcupine, Frigatebird, Tioman walking catfish and Common Palm Civet.


Lots to do
Juara offers the winning combination of the blue-green sea, white sand beach, a sandbar, small backwater ponds and thick rainforest. Typically, tourists come to Juara opt for either scuba diving or snorkelling around the well-preserved coral reef or exploring the rainforest. Remi, a diving instructor says, "You can complete the scuba diving course in three days and then you are free to go diving anywhere in the world," he said. You can hire snorkelling gear for just RM 20 per head. There's also a soft-shell turtle sanctuary on the island.

Fresh catch
There are few options for food at Juara beach as there are fewer resorts here. The catch from the sea and the cargo boat from the mainland come just once a day so you may not get everything that's there on the menu. Opt for local delicacies such as Sambal prawns (spicy!) with rice and fried squid rings (a little chewy but it's delicious).

Fly to Tioman
There’s a daily propeller plane service by Berjaya Air from the Seletar Airport in Singapore and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Kuala Lumpur.