Tioman 2010

On Thur 9 Dec 2010 the Star* reported bad monsoon weather for the east coast and specifically mentioned Tioman. As I was going the next day, I packed an umbrella, jacket and clothes suitable for cold wet evenings. Even at Subang airport a weather map showed storms over Tioman.

Berjaya plane and we flew past my condo

Tioman airport.
Arrived to find sunshine, bright but hazy skies, and a calm sea. The Malaysian metereological service had got it wrong! The next days were even better with blue skies and hot sun.

This was about my 15th trip to Tioman, but my first since 2002. And on that occasion I only went to Salang, so it is even longer since I have been to Tekek and ABC. There are so many changes. Arriving at the airport, there is now a duty free (and a bigger duty free up the road past the school).

We paid our RM5 entry fee to the marine park and walked out and were immediately confronted by the new marina. This was a controversial project as it was constructed inside a marine park. Water taxi prices -

Tioman legend

I was playing around with Google Earth and it seems that the area around Tioman airport was 'blanked out' until 2009, as you can't go back in image history.

Next to the airport is a complex of food stalls and shops though most were closed. Opposite is a BSN bank with ATMs, and a post office.

We decided to walk to ABC rather than take a water taxi (RM25). There is a tarmaced road, with road signs, and quite a few cars.

River at Tekek and the beach

The whole stretch has been done up as the grandly named promenade. It was actually quite ugly, an expanse of concrete with no trees or vegetation. There ornate lamp posts were also unattractive.

There is a large area for parking boats (I won't say mooring as it was dry land!). Not a good first impression of Tioman. I was puzzled to see a large statue of a bird, it looked like a myna, and I have no idea of its significance, and there was no signboard. However I was told a sign in the park info centre says the island was named after a bird with a name that sounds like 'tioman'.

The marine park information centre is by the jetty.

It seems that the gov't offices have all moved to this one area, as the animal/vets dept is there as well. Fortunately this is as far as cars can go.

In the 1990s I made many visits to Tioman, staying at Tekek in an A-frame hut on the beach. Now there is no sign of where these huts were. In fact there was nothing that I recognised. There were several derelict buildings however.

We came to the path that goes up and over the small headland that separates Tekek from Air Batang (ABC). Bikes cannot go up here and for a short while we had peace from them. But once at ABC bikes were constantly being ridden along the road. First view of Air Batang -

Big house at Nazri's

As it is monsoon season many of the chalets are closed. After checking out several we eventually decided on South Pacific as it had a restaurant, and got a room on the beach, although a concrete area and unfinished retaining wall separated us from the beach. The room was OK, but the fan couldn't be controlled (speed or direction), the shower didn't work, the toilet cistern rarely filled and one has to buy toilet paper. And no top sheet was supplied. Other than that it was fine!

boat granite rocks and hazy view empty bar washed ashore hello mum !

local style house

more rubbish

nice stream

first view of a large monitor

Air Batang

abandoned chalet

used to be fruit bats in the trees

Panuba

Air Batang beach

Chinese restaurant burnt down

local transport

cemetery

going to Friday prayers

South Pacific

coconuts

no fruit bats now

nice garden Bamboo Hill

ugly cables

Panuba resort

panuba rubbish

Panuba rubbish dump

beach next to Panuba

how does the tree stay up!

jetty

over development

too many styles

cute little guy

South Pacific

rocky beach

diving boat

looking towards Panuba

boats moored

Bamboo Hill

what you looking at

restaurant rubbish

polystyrene boats

solitary fruit bat

Muslim tourists

blue sky despite weather forecast

ready to go home

Impressions of Tioman -

Cats. Too many cats. There were cats everywhere. And many kept following us as they are hungry. Because many of the owners have left for the monsoon season, the cats have been left seemingly unattended. At least they provide food for the monitor lizards. Thw worst place was the food court by the airport. It was full of cats and as soon as my food came, cats gathered around me. And most were manky and sick looking with bad eyes and skin. At least a man was washing one area with disinfectant in an effort to get rid of the smell of cat pee! There was even a cat in the departure area of the airport. Considering Tioman is a supposed to be a nature reserve, the cats should be removed.

cat & monitor

Monitor lizards. Tioman is like monitor city. There are monitor lizards everywhere. In fact they are specifically mentioned on Wikipedia. See my separate album of monitor lizards. They come in all sizes, and can be seen everywhere, alongside the road, in the streams, on the beach, around the houses. Even as I type this one has walked in front of me. Obviously there is a good supply of food for them. Which is my next point :

Rubbish. It was sickening to see the amount of rubbish. Apart from the normal rubbish which gets washed up on beaches everywhere in the world, many of the streams also had accumulations of rubbish. But worst of all was the rubbish dumped by people at the edge of their property. This included everything from household to vehicles and boats. Worst was at Panuba Resort which had a large dump of everything including a computer and even their old signboard! It was ironic to see people carefully tending their gardens yet on the property boundary was an
eyesore of a rubbish dump. Wikitravel mentions the problem of the rubbish.

Bikes. So many motorbikes now, and many have got a large side compartment for transporting goods, which is great for the locals, but means pedestrians have to step off the road when such a bike is coming, as it is the same width as the road. Another negative aspect is that many of the youth ride bikes rather than walk through the village, which is going to lead to fatter children through lack of exercise.

Many restaurants do not allow alcohol, although of course you can still consume it at your chalet. Local Muslims are forbidden to sell, serve or consume alcohol - see photo of the penalties!

The alcohol in the duty free shops is far cheaper than at KLIA but I wonder if it is genuine produce. I bought gin and the labels are definitely suspect. A can of Tiger is RM2.90 RM5+ in KL). Water however is expensive, in the villages it is RM4 for 1.5 l, and RM2 in the duty free.

Tioman became duty free around 2002 and it was hoped to attract Singaporeans. There used to be a high speed catamaran but this stopped running a few years ago.

Talking to the locals it seems they realise that the Tekek area has been spoilt, especially with the presence of cars. Hopefully they won't allow too many developments on the other beaches.

Of course there are still many good aspects about Tioman. The nice beaches, jungle clad hills, coconut trees, monkeys, birds and other wildlife all mean it is still a great place. And at this time of the year it is beautifully empty of tourists. In the 1970s Time Magazine said Tioman was one of the world's most beautiful islands.
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* STAR Thursday December 9, 2010
Weather to remain bad until Saturday

Heavy rain and strong winds are expected to continue over various parts of the country until Saturday.
Strong north-easterly winds of 50 to 60 kph, with waves of up to 4.5m off Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Tioman were expected.
The strong winds will be dangerous to all shipping and coastal activities including fishing and ferry services.
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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission