I've done it in reverse. I'd be wary of the weather as the sea crossing could be quite interesting. I went to the Pehentian's in January and the waves were pretty big!

I saw the golf course in Tioman but didn't play. I have to be honest and say that I think the Berjaya and attached golf course is one of the main blots on an exceptionally beautiful island.

January is still a bit iffy, but I'm figuring that by mid-to late-February most will have blown out, although the water probably won't be that great. I take your point on the Berjaya place, though of course from the locals' perspective it might be a different story.

We did Koh Lanta years ago, long before the airport opened in Krabi and when there were whole stretches of beach with no development whatsoever, you could have dinner with a sea-otter nestled under your table, and a hotel with a pool was as rare as rocking-horse droppings in the nursery. It may well be that the place is now "gone" as far as the early-adopters are concerned, but the local population probably relish the increased income. It's always going to be a two-edged sword when you are "preserving" paradise, and let's face it, simply by flying there in big tin tubes we are screwing the planet a whole lot more.

Was your experience long ago - what sort of costs? Is it "organised" enough that a taxi taking us up there can expect to get a ride back? I had imagined we'd probably have to book both ways in advance. I've found a couple of people who advertise on the Net, but if it's a standard practice it might be easier (and cheaper) to do it while we are in Singapore.

It's very true in what you say slothrop, but i'm underwhelmed by Berjaya Resorts - they often have beautiful locations (Redang, Tioman, Langkawi) but just fail to bring a resemblance of style or quality to what they offer. I've no qualms with hotels / resorts being built respectfully, but everything about the Berjaya Tioman seemed cheap and with a complete lack of respect for the environment. And god knows why an island that small needs a a golf course - I saw an aerial picture that showed the course and how much of the island it had eaten into it. But - with the (now cancelled) Singapore boat, and the daily Singapore & KL flights I think they were primarily targetting richer locals.

I've heard wonderful things about Japamala though, but I don't think it's so accessible to much. I stayed a few nights around the other side of the island (other side compared to most places) and boy was it spectacular. But this was a while ago.

It was a while ago I went to Tioman - have been back to the East Coast more recently. I would personally check with your hotel what they offer and the costs, but i'd be confident (although avoid the weekend if possible?) that you would have no problem organising road & boat transfers when you are there, but I wouldn't necessarily have the confidence to tell you to do the same - just in case!

Thanks. Yes, Japamala gets all kinds of wonderful reviews as a bijou boutique joint, but as you point out it's miles from anywhere, is more or less cut off except by sea, and in my view is probably more suited to honeymooners who want to be pampered when they are not busily engaged in practising for procreation. In this respect it would merely become a SMALL hermetically-sealed "gated community" with little access to anything outside, whereas places like Berjaya CAN be a large "gated community" (in the sense that residents don't have to go outside for anything much), but if you aren't that sort of person, you don't have to stay within the confines to quite the same extent. Personally I'd not want to travel halfway across the world merely to sit within the cotton-wool walls of a ghetto-for-the-wealthy, but your mileage does vary...

I'll keep looking for taxi options - anything that looks a good deal cheaper than flying sounds a better bet to me, especially as one would at least see something of the landscape on the way up and back, without too much hassle.

As for the other side, isn't it so that one can hike across from Tekek to Juara? Is it do-able on a day-trip basis?

I'd love to hear back from you, Slothrop. I'm quite keen to hear how your trip went. Mid-February tends to be when the NE monsoon lessens its grip on the area and starts to retreat back north. But lately, we find the NE tends to linger a little longer. This was certainly the case this year and last year.

Usually, the resorts on the islands awake from their monsoon-induced slumber early to mid-March, but this year, early bird scuba divers were rewarded by cancellations due to inclement weather.

That said, the happy season is now well underway and I'm pleased to announce that the sea visibility in the area is up to 30 meters.

Berjaya had been good for me

Good to hear Curtishulk. How was the visibility?

Cheers.

Time flies...

As we make our way through the Northeast monsoon once again, it may be worth-while to note that Tioman visitors are no longer left at the mercy of the ferry ticket counters in Mersing to get ferry tickets.

Since we go to Tioman quite regularly, we've found that lately more and more travellers arrive at the Mersing jetty too late to catch their ferry, i.e. it's full. The reason being that tickets aren't sold anywhere else but the Mersing ferry counters.

In practice, this means that a lot of Tioman-bound visitors are forced to wait for the next ferry out, or even stay in Mersing overnight after missing the last ferry out. A bit of a pain obviously.

Anyway, I reckon with http://www.Tiomanferry.com this need no longer be a problem.