The following guest post comes from Shaun and Chrissy from We Roam Around. These two crazy Aussie cats are new to the travel blogging game but they’ve already got a bunch of adventures under their belt and they’re preparing to head out on a three month adventure through South America.
With my life being just a tad dull while I’m preparing for my Chinese departure, Shaun & Chrissy were kind enough to contribute a post about their experiences in Malaysia for their honeymoon. Now I want to go there even more!
Malaysian Honeymoon
In October 2011 we got married and decided to have our honeymoon in Malaysia. There were a lot of reasons for choosing Malaysia: price, travel time, and contacts; but the main one was that I wanted to go back to Tioman Island (Pulau Tioman). I first went there when I was 9 years old, and wanted to see if anything had changed, plus thought it would be a good tropical escape for a relaxing honeymoon.
Of course Chrissy wanted to do some shopping, so we couldn’t just go straight to Tioman, and it was our honeymoon after all so we decided to splurge a bit and stay in a clubroom at The Royale Chulan, located very central (within walking distance to the Petronas Twin Towers). The service was excellent and the concierge was extremely helpful with any questions we had. We were fortunate enough to also have friends over there who lent us their driver and car so we could go and see the sights whenever we wanted.
The most important thing for Chrissy however, was the location; it was fantastic! Walking distance to any shopping you could possibly imagine. All the brands: Gucci, Coach, Burberry etc. etc. and huge shopping complexes that you would need all day to get lost in! As you can imagine she spent a lot of time shopping!
Tioman Island was, however, a completely different experience. It’s quite a small island with only one road joining the west and the east sides of the island. The main way of travel is via water taxi, but there is also a walking path that goes right around the island, connecting all the various villages and resorts.
The place we stayed was the Melina Beach Resort, which was quite nice. You do have to be pretty careful at Tioman and really research where you are going to stay because we saw some pretty poor resorts while we were there. We can honestly say that Melina Beach is a safe bet though. Clean, friendly, nice food, quiet, and set on a beautiful beach.
The only downfall (or you could also see this as a good thing) is the location as it’s very tucked away. It’s set between two sleepy villages and it’s not the easiest place to get back to if you want to get a water taxi to one of the other villages for dinner. This was a very nice place for a lazy, quiet beach holiday. Don’t get me wrong though, there’s still things you can do such as, kayaking, jungle walking, and snorkeling straight from the resort.
I guess, what I’m trying to say is; if you enjoy your holidays with a bit more loud music, friendly backpackers and cheap food, don’t spend too long at Melina. I would recommend heading up the island to somewhere like Salang. This had more of a party atmosphere and there were other restaurants.
If I could recommend a holiday to Tioman, I would say do half/half. Spend half your time somewhere like Salang so you can party a bit and make friends then spend half your time somewhere like Melina so you can spend all day on a day bed on the beach, listening to the waves roll in and out, and finishing a good book.
We also ended up doing the four hr trek from Tekek to Juara. This was a huge mission. I would recommend it because the walk was beautiful and not too tough. But I would give this advice: take lots of water and go as early in the day as possible! Also, when you get to Juara drink at least two 100+’s. (A 100+ is a sports drink that you get in Malaysia, you’ll see it everywhere and it’s great for re-hydration). The walk is not too challenging but it’s so humid that you lose so much fluid. I think I drank two litres of water in four hours.
But, when you get to Juara you are rewarded with great snorkelling, some great food, and a turtle hatchery. Generally you wont be able to see baby turtles but they do have a 6-year-old Hornbill who lives at the hatchery. Unfortunately this turtle was born blind so they couldn’t let it into the ocean because it wouldn’t survive. It now seems quite used to humans and even likes a good pat!
So if you want a beautiful tropical destination slightly off the tourist track, be sure to consider Tioman Island as part of your next trip to Malaysia.
Guest Authors Bio – Shaun and Chrissy are a 20 something Aussie couple who run www.WeRoamAround.com, an independent travel blog. They are just about to spend 3 months in South America and will be blogging the entire adventure. Check out their site at www.WeRoamAround.com
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