Tioman Island, Malaysia 1

Pahang, Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia

Tioman is often touted as "one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world." Now I'm not sure who (I'm Glenn, for those who didn't arrive via my home page, by the way) is on the island-rating committee, but, as it turns out, I must agree it is gorgeous. Except for a few paved miles at the capital of Tekek, there are no roads, so there are no vehicles to contend with and the atmosphere is pretty laid back. Malaysia seems to be targeting the west coast, e.g. Langkawi, for tourism, leaving Tioman relatively unspoiled.

Before we went in late March, 1997, I did a net search on Tioman and looked at guidebooks and brochures, but I really couldn't get a very clear idea of what we were in for. Therefore, when I got back to Tokyo from Tioman, I made this site to give those interested some realistic views before going. You might be one of them.

This first page has some of the views I got when I first landed, page two includes a little tour of Salang Beach, page three is a trip down Tioman's west coast, and the last page is a hotel list. Enjoy!

	The southern coast of Tioman - the most dramatic part of the Tioman skyline. It's the first thing you see as you approach and the last as you say good-bye.
We came in on the Seagull Express. I guess it took a couple of hours to get there, but there are plenty of interesting islands on the way, so it wasn't bad. The ferry first stops at Genting, and then works its way north. If you're planning to stay at Salang, as we were, you get a little tour of the west side of the island as you go. Here I was videoing my wife and daughter on the beach when the Seagull pulled into the frame.
	This is Nora's Lagoon, or at least that's what I named it, because that's the reception area of Nora's Chalets you see there (the bungalows are behind to the left). Actually, it is the end of a freshwater river that flows out of the mountains and, for a little way, parallels the sea, which you can make out here to the right of the foot bridge. It was full of giant lizards, which my kids called "alligators." I counted 15 once. One of them appears here, a little too big, thanks to the magic of Adobe Photoshop.
Salang Pusaka, better known as Khalid's Place, where we stayed. To get there, just go right when you get off the jetty and you'll walk right into this scene. The brown building at the far left is a mini grocery, the next to the right is the reception, you can just see our bungalow in the center, and the building at far right is the restaurant. It's a big complex with everything from tiny cheapies to family rooms with hot water, A/C, and color TV. We paid 90 ringgit (80 when we stayed on longer) a night for a big family room with refrigerator, A/C, color TV, and hot water. It's listed in the Lonely Planet, so you can see what they say about it, too.
	Here's a little better look at some of Khalid's bungalows, although we didn't stay in one of these. In case you can't tell, the main thing you see in the center is a picnic table. Never saw anybody use it, but you could.
South end of Salang Beach, in front of Zaid's Place (Salang Sayang). The hotel complex on the hill was just being built while we were there, but it may be open for business by now. Or maybe not - we're talking about Tioman here, not Tokyo! Anyway, the sand is like powder on this end of the beach, so this is where most bathers hang out. In this picture, the sand was still damp from a shower, so the beach was rather deserted. You can see that there's a little island at the end of the headland. I was able to swim to it in 3 minutes or so. If you try it, be careful, because all the boat traffic goes through that little strait.
	Now we've walked out on that beach and looked north. This gives you a good overall look at Salang. It's a long, curved bay with the jetty in the middle and then a little point just to the north of that. I'll show you a view from the north back this way on page two.
As you can see on the map above, Coral Island is just off Salang Beach. Even if you don't go out to visit it, it's always nice to have an island to look at from the shore. This picture was taken after a shower, creating this beautiful evening sky.
	Looking back at Salang from the water, the boat looks like this. That's Zaid's on the left, so this picture continues to the south after the view below.

Here's a couple of overall views of Salang beach. The left is looking north from the jetty; the right one is on the southern end of the beach in front of Zaid's. This was supposed to be a picture of me, but you didn't even notice me there, did you?