This used to be a go-to destination of wealthy Singaporeans and KLers. But I get the feeling that the island's hey-day is long gone. The direct flights to Tioman from Singapore stopped a while back, and I never heard anyone in Singapore talk about going to Tioman (these days, it seems to be mostly Bali).
(Search #Tioman on Instagram, and you get a miserable 179,000 hits. #Ubud has 4.5M.)
Tioman, meanwhile continues much like it always has, ignoring the whims of fashion, and getting on with the business of splashing and feasting. The restaurants may be half empty, the resorts may be a bit quiet, but the pool is crowded and the buffet is popular.
So why do some places become fashionable and others lose their lustre? Beats me. I think mostly it has to do with bragging rights. Maybe 20 years ago, you could impress your friends and neighbours by going to Tioman. Then too many people had been, and it wasn't impressive anymore: "You're going to Tioman? Isn't that where Mrs Teacosy from number 32 went last Easter?" So the keeping-up crowd starts looking further afield. Something more exotic. Something less popular. And fashion moves on again. These days you can't throw a stick on Nusa Penida without taking out half a dozen instagrammers (not much of a loss).
I stayed for 2 nights at the Berjaya, a large, half empty resort along a quiet stretch of beach. The "main" section of beach is on the north end of the property, closest to the bulk of the bungalows and the main restaurant and pool. The nicer sand (softer and whiter) is further south, starting near the reception building, but there are no beach loungers on this section of beach. There's some decent snorkling if you head out from the Thai restaurant on this section of beach - at low tide, swim out until it's 8 - 10 feet deep, and you'll find some attractive coral, plenty of fish, and if you're lucky even the odd baby reef shark.
Near here theres is also a small island that is supposed to have some good snorkeling, but it is a bit far for most people to swim out to, so you'd need to arrange a boat from the small house dock.
There are plenty of sandflies on the beach, so make sure you use plenty of repellent (the resort provides bottles at the beaches, a nice touch).
The Berjaya has a nice location and good facilities, but was quite expensive (and I hate to say it, not actually that clean or comfortable), so I moved for the next 2 nights to an apart-hotel by the same owners, Selesa, about 25-30 minutes walk away, where you get a massive 2 bedroom apartment for half the money of the resort's cheapest bungalows. Take the little road through the Berjaya's barely-used golf course, and you'll come to it. They provide regular transport services, but I didn't actually know about these until the day I left, so I usually just walked - most of the time a friendly local or hotel employee would be passing and offer me a lift.
Apart from 3 restaurants at Berjaya, there are a couple of small restaurants just outside the resort gates, otherwise it's a 30 minute walk, or 5 minute ride in the regular resort shuttles, into the town.
Tekek town is very small (don't let the airport fool you) and boasts a few duty-free shops / minimarts, a tiny bakery, and a couple of small restaurants /cafes (half of which were closed on my visit). Riverside Cafe seemed to be the only busy restaurant when I passed through town one lunchtime. The soup served with the chicken rice is probably the reason why. Yum!
Getting there: Bluewater Express runs ferries from Mersing (look for the new ticket office in the fancy-looking air-conditioned terminal building across the street from the dock and the old ticket offices). There's a cafeteria in the new terminal, plus several small restaurants clustered near the dock. If coming from the north, both Bluewater and the nicer Cataferry boats run to Tanjung Gemok, near Endau. Schedules vary with the tides, and are posted on both company's websites.
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