Night bus: Cape on Mersing and Tioman
ENNight journey by bus to Mersing without story, even if my neighbor has a little tendency to overflow of his seat and to spread out on mine...
Fortunately, he gets off in the early hours of the night in a big city that I didn't identify, with a lot of other passengers, so that I end up with two seats all to myself. I fell asleep for good and didn't see the kilometers go by anymore.
At the beginning of the trip, during a stop in a bar, I could catch a glimpse of the final on an old rotten TV. The score was already 1-1... The rest, we know it!
When I opened my eyes again, it was daytime, the bus was stopped in a parking lot in front of a river mouth and we were only two passengers. Mersing. Finally.
What followed was easy. A charming lady in a green scarf approached me to sell me a ticket from her agency, for the first speed boat of the day. It was fine with me, except that I had to change money first.
At that time, it was 7:15 a.m. and the boat was supposed to leave at half past. No matter, the lady calls the captain of the said speed boat so that he doesn't leave without me, and her husband takes me in his car to the nearest Chinese jeweler.
Again, excellent exchange rate. The deal done, the guy brings me back to the pier and I pile up with about twenty other people, a majority of Asian tourists and some Westerners, in the boat.
Quiet day. The weather's fine, even warm, and it's a good thing Alain's not going to work. Tending the garden and taking the time to breathe are enough to keep him happy for the moment, a little oasis of peace in a very worrying world... the most recent example being the new Lebanese-Israeli conflagration.
The Tioman beaches are reminiscent of those of Puerto Angel in Mexico, more than 30 years ago, but this little paradise is now well concrete!
Thanks for your explanation of the date "oddities". I'm going to make some curry rice, we're hungry! Have a good vacation, we're thinking of you,
Lydie and Alain.
Hello,
we leave for malaysia at the end of August and I search the night bus schedule from kota barhu and go to mersing to go to Tioman and if it makes a stop jetih because we go to Kecil just before
thank you
Hello Marie,
I have no idea what the bus timetable is from Kota Bahru. Even if I'd written them down during my stay, they'd probably be out of date, as my visit to Kota Bahru was... two years ago!
It's easiest to find out when you get there: hotel and guesthouse reception desks, or small local travel agencies, provide information and tickets for most tourist destinations. It won't be difficult to get to Mersing to go to Tioman Island. There's a good bus network in Malaysia. They run regularly to all destinations.
When you say "Kecil", I assume you mean Perhentian Kecil, the "smaller" of the two Perhentian islands. The Perhentians are very easy to get to from Kota Bahru, and you'll find plenty of transport to take you to Kuala Besut, just a few kilometers away (this is the port from which you embark for the islands): bus, minibus, cab, etc.
When you write "Jetih", I assume you mean Jerteh, the town where I took my night bus south to Mersing (Tioman). There's a big bus station there. But if you need to take a bus to Jerteh, don't worry, you'll find someone to take you there and organize everything. In my case, it was a small agency that also ran a café-internet on Perhentian Kecil, which took care of booking my ticket.
In short: there's no need to plan everything in advance from France. As far as transport is concerned, you can usually find solutions and timetables on the spot.
That's it! I hope I've been able to help you... Bon voyage!
8)
Hello,
I'd been there myself a few years ago... With a storm at sea, thunderstorms, lightning, big waves... panicked Italians screaming as if their last hour had come... Others were praying, and there wasn't even a general brawl over the lack of life jackets... I didn't know if we were going to sink or not, and I didn't know if we were going to sink or not! Others were praying, and there was hardly a general scuffle over insufficient life jackets... I didn't know if we were going to sink or not, and I found the situation "interesting"... Then the "squall" passed and we arrived safely in port!
Tioman, a nice little island, a few dives to be had, big lizards in the forest, rubber tree plantations... Beach, farniente... Malaysian women bathing with the chador! To die for...
Return trip to Singapore aboard an over-motorized catamaran that makes the trip in 3 hours 30 minutes... Well... Why are there seatbelts on the seats... And why is EVERYTHING padded? No sooner had the boat left the quay than it became clear... I tried to take some photos from the upper deck, but it was moving so much that I never managed to get my eye in front of the camera's viewfinder... So I went back down and sat down at the bar... Hard to put the glass in front of the mouth, seasick passengers... Barf in the corners...
It wasn't exactly the kind of boat you'd want to take in monsoon season...!
Georges
Hello George,
Fortunately, I've taken the boat to Tioman, in either direction, during the summer months. And escaped the "interesting", even terrifying, crossings you experienced... I laughed out loud when I read your description of the panicked or shaken passengers!
😆
Having said that, boat crossings in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines never reassure me. The sea is unpredictable and the boats often overcrowded. So far, I've always arrived safely. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way!
As for women bathing fully clothed, even with headscarves for Muslim women, it's surprising the first time, but then you get used to it. As a woman, when you swim next door in a swimsuit, you sometimes feel a little embarrassed.
Even in the Philippines or Sulawesi, where the people are Christian, and in Bali where they are Buddhist, women remain covered for sea bathing: at the very least, a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. But basically, it's more fun than anything else. Because a wet T-shirt that sticks to the body is ultimately more suggestive and "daring" than an ordinary swimsuit...
😉