My Singapore Adventure – My Next Chapter

Well I decided that I needed a break from Singapore, so booked a spontaneous long weekend trip to Tioman Island. Tioman is renowned for being a Diving and Snorkeling location – so not being a diver, I would settle for a snorkeling session, as well as just eating, reading and relaxing in the sun 🙂 I know, I could probably do some of that (minus the snorkeling) in Singapore, but the view’s aren’t the same (if you know the Singapore horizon from the (man-made) beaches, you will know what I mean.

Anyway, I did some checks online, and decided that I would go on the 7th-9th June weekend. I know you can do a coach to Mersing and a short ferry hop across to Tioman, but I decided to go with the flight option – going with Berjaya-Air, which goes from Changi all the way to Tioman in 40 odd minutes – perfect! Compare that with a 6 hour journey each leg – which wastes the weekend really! I then went on booking.com, agoda.com, hotels.com, and noted that there was a couple of recommended venues on the West side – which seemed to have pretty good reviews from trip advisor. However, the sites were coming back with a pretty pricey mix, so I decided to check on the airline website to see if they had any package deals – I was going to give up the idea of a long weekend if the price wasn’t right, and then I found an okay bargain.  It wasn’t going to be a ‘cheap-cheap’ trip, but I just wanted a weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the Singapore city-life.

The website had a good number of packages, and there was a couple that were All Inclusive, but these were limited to coming from KL, rather than Singapore.  I looked up the Singapore and there was a “3D/2N Free and Easy Summer Package Weekend from Singapore” listing.  This seemed to be be perfect and exactly what I needed – it was a package but with some flexibility – so the flight and accommodation would be sorted at least!  the offer price for any of the weekends in June was 888RM / person, but as I was travelling alone, the single traveller rate was 1248RM for the entire 2 nights stay.  Then you add the 205RM for the airport tax and airline surcharge.  I then added Renggis Island snorkeling which was another 35RM (which turned out to be 10RM cheaper than doing it at the hotel).  There were only 3 resorts on offer which ranged in price – Berjaya Tioman Resort (4*), Japamala Resort (5*) or Tioman Dive Resort (3*).  I decided to go with the mid-range, as wanted to ensure I was ‘comfortable’ too, during my stay.  According to Trip Advisor, Berjaya Tioman Resort wasn’t too bad…and it was a B&B rate.

The plane was an adventure – it was a Turbo Prop plane – on a really old plane.  But it worked, even though it was quite noisy and ‘old’ (and only supported 48 people).  I was shocked to see I had seat 1A on the outward flight, and no this wasn’t first or business class – ha!  It was actually a funny seat as was right in front of the partition wall diving the pilot cabin and the main cabin – and I was reverse-facing, so facing all of the other passengers – which was a first.  It felt really weird, actually…and is how the steward seats are on the modern Jumbo’s.  Anyway, the arrival hall was small and basic, but did the job.  There wasn’t a “baggage belt” at all – the luggage cart just turned up and everyone just pulled their luggage from the cart’s cage…funny…maybe Heathrow should do it this way…probably quicker and more efficient.  There was a 5RM wildlife sanctuary ‘tax’ which you had to pay on arrival, which wasn’t too bad, I guess.  Once I arrived, the bus transit arrived about 5-10minutes – which ferries people between the Airport and Boat terminal to the Paya Beach Resort and Berjaya Tioman Resort.  It was a 10-15 minute journey, and I arrived pretty hot and wanted to cool off with a nice relaxing shower.  My room was available straightaway, and I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable the chalet was.  It was basic and clean, but met by needs – it turned out to be quite spacious for me.

I then ventured out to the beach area and founded a nice secluded spot when I could relax, read a book and sunbathe – well it was only 3pm 🙂  After a couple of hours, I decided to find somewhere to eat, I found out that there was 2 places just outside of the resort – so I tried the one that had quite a few people there, and the food and service was actually pretty good.  The price was around 18RM.  The price in the resort was over double the cost of this place, so it was cheap, tasty, and probably more yummy that the resort restaurant. The next day, I ventured early to the beach – and then walked down to the Dive centre where the Snorkeling would also take place.   The boat takes you across the water for 2 minutes before you reach 2 man-made floating pontoons where you can relax and then jump into the water to snorkel.  This was Renggis Island – and I was subsequently told by a Singaporean family that there used to me a lot of Coral in the reef, so it is true that you can see the reduction quite clearly over the years!  The coral reefs and exotic fish were delightful – full of colour and amazing sights.  Certainly enjoyable.  I need to invest in an under-water camera for my iPhone – as really need to take some nice video’s of the underwater sealife.   Truly mesmorising!!

I settled back onto the beach after an hour or 2, and chilled for the rest of the day.  For lunch and dinner, I went back to the place outside of the resort – it was a buffet lunch, which was tasty and only cost me 15RM for lunch, and about 19RM for dinner.  Very nice!

The next morning, I checked-out and the bus took us back to the Airport, where we waited for the plane to arrive before heading back home to Singapore.  I was in 6B this time.  Someone actually told me that the safest seat is right at the back – hey-ho…I felt safe enough…hehe!

All in all – a very relaxing trip and I thoroughly enjoyed the island.