Thread: Trip Report - Tioman

This weekend I took a half day off and joined some friends from US (one from WN) to head to Tioman Island, Malaysia.

I found out from a friend @ Tiger that we get 50% off Berjaya Air flights - at the moment they fly out of Seletar to Tioman and Redang, but move the operation to Changi Budget terminal tomorrow. No fanfare for the last flight in to Seletar today I might add...

Flight was 3pm Friday, arrived and checked in. Somewhat concerned when captain and ground staff began sniffing and tasting (i think) some fluid that was dripping from the engine/gear. Did I mention it was a Dash 7? Those things are oldddd...

So we waited for the aptly named "rescue plane" to arrive a few hours later and got on our way. Most attractive copilot and FA I had ever seen - she used to work at Ansett, how she ended up at Berjaya after that is as good a guess as anyone.

We arrived on darkness, to a field without lighting. The approach is interesting. You fly direct towards a mountain, then turn sharp right when you see the board - similar to Kai Tak. How they did all these without lights i'm not sure, but now I realise this is why we had to leave by 1830. I've never thought I was going to crash and burn so much as during that landing.

Tioman itself was interesting. Monsoon season has just started so the first day was WET. We also got a 35% discount off their deluxe chalet by the beach, which was OK inside but not as grand as I had expected. The beach was alright, but quite desolate due to the season. The beach chairs were raised a little and not fully on the beach, and no one came around selling drinks or anything which was quite odd.

After the rain stopped we walked into the town of Tekek and back, not really much to see - a few shops and that's it.

Had dinner at a malay stall near the hotel - bbq stingray, satays etc - was great and very cheap.

Sunday the weather was good so we went sea-kayaking out to a nearby island. I got about halfway and turned back as there were a lot of dive boats who were not giving way and it felt a big dangerous. Thankfully I navigated the waves back and didn't flip out - my friend was not so lucky and lost his sunglasses in the process!

The flight back there was some sort of bickering between Singaporean group and the FA - not well handled, but same on the account of the passenger. Up we went, also felt a little nervous on the return and was glad (dare I say it) to be back in Singapore.

Now for work tomorrow....

Got Hong Kong on Tuesday, then maybe Melbourne on Thursday