Our travel blog: from Singapore to Borneo

The Jesselton Point terminal is a single hall, and every counter sits inside it (2 Sep).

2026-09-02T00:44:28+00:00

✓ The Jesselton Point terminal is a single hall, and every counter sits inside it (2 Sep). On the left a row of ticket counters side by side, each with its own price board above the window; on the right the barriers to the departure jetty. A ceiling sign lists the four places you need: Easybook counter, departure gate, arrival gate, information counter. Fees, tickets and boarding are therefore all within sight of each other — you never have to leave the building in between. The hall is not air-conditioned, it is full of ceiling fans, and there are only a few benches along the wall. If you plan an hour of buffer with children, plan it standing up.

Mamutik was overcrowded on 1 Sep — the very island the travel sites call the quiet one (reported by Jens).

2026-09-02T00:44:28+00:00

✓ Mamutik was overcrowded on 1 Sep — the very island the travel sites call the quiet one (reported by Jens). So the crowding is not a paper risk: it happened on an ordinary Tuesday in early September, and it hit the island everyone promises has "markedly fewer people". The next day the family went to Sapi instead, on a mid-morning boat rather than the first one at 07:30. Two things follow. An island's reputation tells you nothing about the day you are on it — the day tours from the city land in one block in the late morning, and on a small island you notice it in the water immediately. And if you go out on two consecutive days, pick the second island by what the crowd did yesterday, not by which name you know.

GrabCar Rent is no good for a day trip — right now the app only offers four-hour cars (30 Aug, checked in the app).

2026-08-30T07:50:32+00:00

✗ GrabCar Rent is no good for a day trip — right now the app only offers four-hour cars (30 Aug, checked in the app). The product is called "Rent": you hire a car with its driver by the hour inside Grab, and the driver stays with you and waits. The price list quoted everywhere runs from four hours at RM250 to twelve hours at RM650, and it was exactly the long packages that could not be booked. Four hours is enough for the city, but not for Kinabalu Park or Kudat: the drive alone eats four hours. If you are planning around this, open the app first rather than trusting the price list — that list lives on travel sites, and Grab itself only shows it as an image.

Above the feeding platform a female hangs from the cable with an infant (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ Above the feeding platform a female hangs from the cable with an infant (sent 30.08., date taken not established). The young one clings to its mother's back while she moves one-armed along the cable. The cables are the route to the platform, not the trees — the animal arrives from above and from outside, so the place to look is beyond the platform, not on it. A single coconut lies on the boards.

The feeding platform is a wooden deck in the forest, and the rope is the way to it (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ The feeding platform is a wooden deck in the forest, and the rope is the way to it (sent 30.08., date taken not established). A rectangular deck on stilts, a good two metres above the ground, planked, with a narrow ladder at the side. A rope runs across it from tree to tree, and that is how the animals arrive: in one picture an orangutan hangs in the middle of the rope above the platform, in the other two sit at the fruit. On the boards lie bananas and peeled greens, nothing else. Closed forest all around, no cage and no barrier — the animals come when they come, and the audience stands on the ground in front.

The chalets branch off the main path along a wooden walkway, with the forest right beside it (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ The chalets branch off the main path along a wooden walkway, with the forest right beside it (sent 30.08., date taken not established). A narrow boardwalk with a rope handrail on wooden posts runs between the buildings, roofs of green corrugated iron, walls of dark timber. Between walkway and wall there is no lawn but standing bush: leaf litter covers the boards and the foliage reaches the handrail. A single solar lamp on a post is all the lighting visible in the picture — so for the walk back after the 21:00 night walk, carry the torch.

The monkeys along the river sit in the crowns, not down by the water (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ The monkeys along the river sit in the crowns, not down by the water (sent 30.08., date taken not established). In the picture three animals sit on a bare horizontal branch high up, a fourth further to the right. The branch lies clear above the canopy — from the boat that is the height to search, and the reason binoculars beat a zoom lens.

A monitor lizard walks across the exposed mud on the bank (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ A monitor lizard walks across the exposed mud on the bank (sent 30.08., date taken not established). A full-grown animal, a good metre and a half including tail, pale banded, out in the open between driftwood and roots. The water level sits visibly below the bank edge: that exposed strip of mud is the surface where things show themselves during the day.

By day the crocodiles lie out in the open on the mud, not only in the water (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ By day the crocodiles lie out in the open on the mud, not only in the water (sent 30.08., date taken not established). The batch holds five pictures of crocodiles on land, all of them on the exposed strip of mud between the waterline and the bank edge. The sizes vary widely: one animal spans half the frame, another is barely a metre long and palely marked. This completes the entry further up, where only the head showed above the water — both are true, and the water level makes the difference. With the mud exposed you see a whole animal from a distance; with the water high you are looking for a line.

The macaques sit on the same strip of mud where the crocodiles lie (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ The macaques sit on the same strip of mud where the crocodiles lie (sent 30.08., date taken not established). Two long-tailed macaques on the cracked dry surface close to the water, one grooming the other's neck, both sitting calmly. Other pictures in the same batch show crocodiles in exactly that place. From the boat this strip is the surface where anything shows itself at all during the day — monkeys, monitor lizards and crocodiles share it.

The oil palms stand right at the bank edge (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ The oil palms stand right at the bank edge (sent 30.08., date taken not established). On the right of the picture tall broadleaf forest runs down to the water; immediately to the left stands a row of oil palms, not thirty metres from the river, with only a band of grass and scrub between. That is the Kinabatangan corridor in one frame: along much of the river the forest is a narrow strip in front of the plantation. It is why what you see gathers at the water — not because the river is especially rich, but because nothing else is left standing beside it.

On the night walk a small blue-and-white bird sits asleep on a thin twig (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ On the night walk a small blue-and-white bird sits asleep on a thin twig (sent 30.08., date taken not established). It sits out in the open on a slender green shoot, upperside a bright blue, breast white, and it stays put in the torchlight instead of flying off. That is exactly why the night produces birds you never get in front of a lens by day: they sleep on bare, thin twigs, because a swaying branch gives away any climber.

A small snake lies coiled in a cushion of ferns at night (sent 30.08., date taken not established).

2026-08-30T05:14:50+00:00

✓ A small snake lies coiled in a cushion of ferns at night (sent 30.08., date taken not established). Pale brown, smooth, in several coils across the fronds, barely thicker than a finger. It lies out in the open in the greenery and does not move in the torchlight. For walking in the dark that means the torch belongs not only on the ground but in the scrub to the left and right, at hand height.

On the same night walk a house centipede runs across a trunk (28 Aug).

2026-08-28T13:19:38+00:00

✓ On the same night walk a house centipede runs across a trunk (28 Aug). A centipede with 15 pairs of legs that grow longer towards the back; the rearmost pair is longer than the body, and together with the long antennae at the front you cannot tell at a glance which end is which. It sits out in the open on the pale bark, no cover, and shows up instantly in the torch beam.

A whip scorpion sits on a mossy trunk on the night walk (28 Aug, 9 pm local time).

2026-08-28T13:07:00+00:00

✓ A whip scorpion sits on a mossy trunk on the night walk (28 Aug, 9 pm local time). Deep black and motionless on the moss, found with a torch on a trunk at head height. It is not a scorpion: at the back sits a thin, whip-like tail instead of a sting, at the front stand two heavy grasping arms, and the first pair of legs is rebuilt into long feelers — which is why it walks on six legs. The board puts the night walk at 8 to 9 pm; the photo was taken at the end of that window.

On the feeding platform of the orangutan centre an animal sits over the fruit that has been put out (sent 27 Aug, day of the visit not established).

2026-08-27T10:54:10+00:00

✓ On the feeding platform of the orangutan centre an animal sits over the fruit that has been put out (sent 27 Aug, day of the visit not established). The platform is a black timber deck on posts, a good head-height above the ground, with steel cables running to the surrounding trees. The fruit lies loose on it, in no bowl and no container. The visitor area is lower down and a fair way off — the brim of the cap of the person in front creeps into the bottom of the frame, and that is the measure of the distance.

At the sun bear centre the bears are down in the forest and the walkway is above them (sent 27 Aug, day of the visit not established).

2026-08-27T10:54:10+00:00

✓ At the sun bear centre the bears are down in the forest and the walkway is above them (sent 27 Aug, day of the visit not established). Two animals were in view at the same time: one climbing a rotten stump, one lying on the ground and feeding. The view goes down from above, the forest floor is open and light, and there is no mesh in between — which still does not make it close. A black plastic tub of water stands on the left; it is the only piece of equipment in the frame.

Borneo pygmy elephants stand on the bank during the afternoon cruise (27 Aug).

2026-08-27T10:54:10+00:00

✓ Borneo pygmy elephants stand on the bank during the afternoon cruise (27 Aug). At least three animals, one of them clearly smaller, were feeding in the tall grass above the bank while the boat sat out on the river; they took no notice and stayed where they were. The bank has broken away freshly at that spot: a bare wall of clay, a strip of grass on top, closed forest behind it. None of this is on the board. What is announced is a boat trip, not a species — the elephants are luck, not a scheduled item.

A crocodile lies in the shallows right at the bank, and there is almost nothing to see (27 Aug).

2026-08-27T10:54:10+00:00

✓ A crocodile lies in the shallows right at the bank, and there is almost nothing to see (27 Aug). Only the narrow head breaks the waterline, and it is the same colour as the mud behind it; the rest is under water. In the photograph you find it only once you know where it is — the more conspicuous thing in the frame is the flowering water hyacinth beside it. So anyone scanning from the boat is looking for a line in the mud, not for an animal.

A reddish-brown animal sits high in a fruiting tree — and that is all the photograph gives you (27 Aug).

2026-08-27T10:54:10+00:00

✓ A reddish-brown animal sits high in a fruiting tree — and that is all the photograph gives you (27 Aug). The tree stands on the bank and carries round fruit; the animal sits far up among the branches against a bright sky. From the boat it was visible, in the picture it is a smudge. That is the honest difference from the feeding platform: there the animal sits at eye level and at rest, here the distance decides — and the species cannot be settled from the photo alone, because orangutan and maroon langur are both reddish-brown and both at home here.

The afternoon cruise runs into dusk (27 Aug).

2026-08-27T10:54:10+00:00

✓ The afternoon cruise runs into dusk (27 Aug). The board has it starting at 4:00 pm and dinner at 6:30 pm — the sun goes down in between. On the way back the river already lies in the last of the light and the forest on the bank is only a silhouette. Two practical consequences: the final half hour is cool and windy on a moving boat, and anyone who wants photographs has their light earlier. The trip does not end because it gets dark, it ends because dinner is waiting.

The lodge's daily schedule is written on a whiteboard by the path, and both packages are on it (27 Aug).

2026-08-27T08:12:40+00:00

✓ The lodge's daily schedule is written on a whiteboard by the path, and both packages are on it (27 Aug). Heading: "2D1N & 3D2N Basic Itinerary" — one plan for two programmes. Guests staying one night and guests staying two read the same day 1; the split comes on the second morning. Day 1: 3:30 pm tea, 3:45 pm wildlife briefing, 4:00 pm afternoon river cruise, 6:30 pm dinner, 8:00 pm night walk, 9:00 pm end of activities. The briefing comes before the first boat, not after it — turn up at the jetty and you have missed it.

The full day holds two boat trips, and it starts at 5:30 am (27 Aug, from the board).

2026-08-27T08:12:40+00:00

✓ The full day holds two boat trips, and it starts at 5:30 am (27 Aug, from the board). Day 2 as posted: 5:30 am coffee and tea, 6:00 am morning cruise, 7:00 am breakfast (one hour), 9:00 am day jungle walk, 12:00 pm lunch, 3:30 pm tea, 4:00 pm afternoon cruise, 6:30 pm dinner, 8:00 pm night walk, 9:00 pm end of activities. The two cruises sit at the edges of the day, the walk in between — that is the order of the whole stay, and it repeats unchanged.

The departure morning is over at 8:30, and the boat leaves at 8:15 (27 Aug, from the board).

2026-08-27T08:12:40+00:00

✓ The departure morning is over at 8:30, and the boat leaves at 8:15 (27 Aug, from the board). Marked with a red asterisk and identical for both packages: 5:30 am coffee, 6:00 am morning cruise, 7:00 am breakfast, then 8:00 am check out, return the room key at reception, settle the bill, 8:15 am transfer across the river, 8:30 am end of activities. So the morning cruise comes before the packing, not after it — take it, and you have to be packed first. One-night guests run that same sequence at 8:00 am on the second morning, while the others set off on the jungle walk at 9:00.

The canopy walkway is a steel structure on lattice towers, not a suspension bridge (26 Aug).

2026-08-26T11:09:23+00:00

✓ The canopy walkway is a steel structure on lattice towers, not a suspension bridge (26 Aug). The deck is made of steel grating, the expanded-metal railings reach chest height, and the whole thing rests on cross-braced tubular steel towers that rise out of the undergrowth every few dozen metres. It is wide enough to stand still and let others pass — which you do, because you see nothing while walking.

The height is posted on the Hornbill Tower: platform 2 is 27 m above the ground (26 Aug).

2026-08-26T11:09:23+00:00

✓ The height is posted on the Hornbill Tower: platform 2 is 27 m above the ground (26 Aug). A sign on the support tube reads "Hornbill Tower — Platform 2. You are 27 m (90 ft) above the ground", with a photo of a rhinoceros hornbill below it. So the tower has more than one platform, and the number is where you need it: up there, not in a brochure.

An orangutan sits in a tree in the forest at the RDC — no platform, no scheduled time (26 Aug).

2026-08-26T11:09:23+00:00

✓ An orangutan sits in a tree in the forest at the RDC — no platform, no scheduled time (26 Aug). The animal crouches freely in the branches above the trail, working at the twigs. Next door at the rehabilitation centre the feedings are on the timetable at 10:00 and 15:00; here nothing is on a timetable. You only find an animal like this by its movement — sitting still, the reddish brown all but vanishes among the leaves against the light.

From the walkway the canopy is at eye level, and it is not a closed surface (26 Aug).

2026-08-26T11:09:23+00:00

✓ From the walkway the canopy is at eye level, and it is not a closed surface (26 Aug). From below the rainforest looks like a roof; from above it is a landscape of hills and holes with single bare giants sticking out of it. In the last hour before sunset the light turns low and warm, and afterwards the sky tips into grey-pink within a few minutes.

There is a lake with water lilies at the RDC, and it is quiet there (26 Aug).

2026-08-26T11:09:23+00:00

✓ There is a lake with water lilies at the RDC, and it is quiet there (26 Aug). The lake lies between forested slopes, with a wooden pavilion on one shore and a shelter on the far side, and the water is still enough to mirror the whole forest. The path along the bank is called the Lakeside Trail; it is the flat counterpart to the walkway.

You can walk from the resort to the Rainforest Discovery Centre along the road (26 Aug).

2026-08-26T05:57:53+00:00

✓ You can walk from the resort to the Rainforest Discovery Centre along the road (26 Aug). No transfer needed; the road is paved, has a kerb and a roadside shelter, and runs between palms and rainforest.

The staircase up to the English Tea House is called "a thousand steps" and has 239 (25 Aug).

2026-08-25T09:24:17+00:00

✓ The staircase up to the English Tea House is called "a thousand steps" and has 239 (25 Aug). The Malay name at the foot reads Tangga Seribu, "a thousand steps"; the English sign turns that into "One Hundred Steps". Counted, there are 239. The bottom is on Lebuh Empat, the top comes out on Jalan Istana a few paces from the Tea House. A corrugated iron roof on white posts runs the whole length — in an afternoon downpour that is the difference between arriving up there wet or dry. The risers are painted with red hibiscus flowers and green leaves, the posts carry purple scrollwork. There is no handrail, only a low parapet on either side. The roof alone is no good for recognising it, by the way: four other staircases within 400 metres are covered too.

At the top stands the English Tea House, a colonial bungalow with a lawn and gazebos (25 Aug).

2026-08-25T09:24:17+00:00

✓ At the top stands the English Tea House, a colonial bungalow with a lawn and gazebos (25 Aug). A white-painted house with a long veranda under a tiled roof, and in front of it a wide lawn with open gazebos, tiled as well. A wrought-iron arch facing the path carries the lettering "English Tea House & Restaurant". The address is Jalan Istana 2002. By its own account the place is modelled on the Agnes Keith House, which sits 150 metres further along and closes at 17:00. Anyone who wants both should therefore do the museum first and the lawn afterwards, not the other way round.

In Sandakan you walk down the stairs onto the apron (25 Aug).

2026-08-25T04:54:03+00:00

✓ In Sandakan you walk down the stairs onto the apron (25 Aug). The terminal is a single long hall under a wide brown canopy, with the name spelled out in green letters along the roof edge: "Lapangan Terbang Sandakan". There is an air bridge, but our aircraft did not use it — the stairs came to the door, and from there it is a walk across the asphalt to arrivals. That is a few dozen metres without any shade, and at midday the sun stands straight above it.

The "I ♥ SANDAKAN" sign stands at the harbour, and you cannot get to it (25 Aug).

2026-08-25T04:54:03+00:00

✓ The "I ♥ SANDAKAN" sign stands at the harbour, and you cannot get to it (25 Aug). The colourful letters stand right at the quay edge of the harbour promenade, with the bay and the hills on the far side behind them. In front of them, however, runs a row of black steel gates across the full width, so you can neither step between the letters nor stand in front of them; in every shot taken from the promenade the fence is in the picture. A few metres to the right hangs a yellow picture frame, and through that one the view of the sea is clear.

The Bukit Nanas forest park closes in the evening, and its gate is not the gate to the tower (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T11:11:56+00:00

✓ The Bukit Nanas forest park closes in the evening, and its gate is not the gate to the tower (24 Aug). At 7pm the arch of Taman Eko Rimba KL had a locked steel gate across it, with two signs on the leaves: closed during bad weather, and closed on Fridays anyway. The forest shuts at 6pm. KL Tower sits on the same hill but has its own entrance on Jalan Puncak, a good 500 metres around the hill. Follow the forest and you end up at the wrong barrier.

In the week before Merdeka the towers are lit in the national colours, and there are fireworks for no occasion (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ In the week before Merdeka the towers are lit in the national colours, and there are fireworks for no occasion (24 Aug). Not floodlit as usual: the telecoms tower stood in red, white and blue, Merdeka 118 beside it in blue, yellow and red, and fireworks went up over the roofs between them. An ordinary Sunday evening, no ticket, no announcement we could find — seen from the window. If you do not have 31 August in mind, you take it for coincidence.

The Petronas Towers only fit into one frame from a distance (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ The Petronas Towers only fit into one frame from a distance (24 Aug). From the park behind the shopping centre both towers stand complete in the frame, with the skybridge between them and the flat roof of Suria KLCC below; in front lies a pool that reflects the whole thing. Stand at the foot and you get one tower and no sky. That answers the view from Jalan Sultan Ismail: it is not the exception, it is just the wrong spot. This is the same rule for the third time on this trip — Merdeka 118 from Jalan Hang Kasturi, the Batu Caves staircase from the forecourt, and here: distance makes the picture, not proximity.

On Bukit Bintang the malls stand in a chain at the same junction (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ On Bukit Bintang the malls stand in a chain at the same junction (24 Aug). Starhill Gallery with its black-and-silver faceted facade, fahrenheit88 opposite, a three-tier fountain between them and the entrance to Pavilion — all within two hundred metres. You do not pick one, you walk down the street and you are in all of them. If you came for the air conditioning, one is enough anyway; if you are looking for particular shops, know in advance which building they are in, because you cannot tell from outside.

A moth the size of a hand was sitting inside the shopping centre (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ A moth the size of a hand was sitting inside the shopping centre (24 Aug). First on the polished floor between the shops, then outside on the doormat at the entrance: grey-brown, with a pale band across both wings and short points along the wing edges. It stayed put while people walked past it, and let itself be photographed from half a metre away.

Sculptures stand in the water of the pond in the park behind Suria KLCC (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ Sculptures stand in the water of the pond in the park behind Suria KLCC (24 Aug). A humpback whale stands upright in the shallow water, head down, with two dolphins and a mirrored sphere beside it. Behind them lies a shallow pale-blue basin that children can wade into. The view runs over the treetops to the high-rises around, Traders Hotel and Lexis readable on their roofs. It is the same park the towers fit into one frame from — just looking the other way.

A walkway runs along the river through the city centre, with no traffic and no lights (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ A walkway runs along the river through the city centre, with no traffic and no lights (24 Aug). The river runs there in a concrete bed and was carrying little water; along the right bank lies a narrow wooden walkway with a metal railing, densely planted at the edges, running straight towards a blue steel bridge. Across the far bank stand the towers of the centre, and a white dome among them. If you want to walk a stretch through the centre, this gets you along without waiting at a junction.

The platform of an elevated station is a free viewpoint, and in the evening the sun drops straight into it (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ The platform of an elevated station is a free viewpoint, and in the evening the sun drops straight into it (24 Aug). The station at the POS Malaysia headquarters sits above the road; across the tracks the view runs over treetops, a minaret and the hills behind, into which the sun sets. No observation deck, no ticket beyond the fare, and you can stand there as long as you like — the next train is coming anyway.

At the gate to Petaling Street, Merdeka 118 stands directly behind the roof (24 Aug).

2026-08-24T06:41:44+00:00

✓ At the gate to Petaling Street, Merdeka 118 stands directly behind the roof (24 Aug). The Chinese gate with its red lettering and lanterns, the market hall roof behind it, and above that, with no gap at all, the pointed glass tower. Old and new in one frame, and all you have to do is stand under the gate and look up. The rapidKL buses pass right in front of it.

From Jalan Hang Kasturi, Merdeka 118 stands at the end of the street (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T09:33:50+00:00

✓ From Jalan Hang Kasturi, Merdeka 118 stands at the end of the street (23 Aug). At Central Market the street runs straight at the tower, and because only two- and three-storey shophouses stand in front of it, you get the whole thing into one frame, base to spire, with the old town in front. On the left a yellow guesthouse with Chinese characters, on the right the market buildings and a green bus, and between them the pale blue glass needle. The tower is a good kilometre away and still fills half the picture. You cannot take that shot at the Petronas Towers, because there you are standing right underneath them.

Merdeka 118 is the second-tallest building in the world, and you still cannot go up.

2026-08-23T09:33:50+00:00

○ Merdeka 118 is the second-tallest building in the world, and you still cannot go up. The tower measures 678.9 metres and has 118 floors; only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is taller. It stands on Jalan Hang Jebat next to Stadium Merdeka, where Malaysia declared its independence on 31 August 1957. That is where the name comes from, because "merdeka" means independence, and the diamond-patterned glass facade picks up the raised hand of Tunku Abdul Rahman at that very moment. The building was finished in November 2023 and inaugurated in January 2024. The observation deck "The View at 118" on level 116, at roughly 519 metres, is still not open to visitors in August 2026, and the operator gives no date. The shopping centre at the foot of the tower is missing too: in May the word was August 2026, now it is November. The only part open is the Park Hyatt from level 75 upwards, and all of its restaurants sit on that floor; whether you can ride up without a room, we could not establish. If you want to go anyway: from Central Market it is a good kilometre on foot along Jalan Hang Jebat, about fifteen minutes. By rail, take the MRT to Merdeka station on the Kajang line, exit A, and walk about ten minutes from there.

The Green Line is the shopping line (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T09:12:30+00:00

✓ The Green Line is the shopping line (23 Aug). It connects Suria KLCC at the foot of the Petronas Towers with Pavilion in Bukit Bintang, and Platinum Park, Grand Hyatt and Life Centre sit in between. If shopping is what you came for, you need no second line: both addresses that every guidebook names hang off a single loop.

The old town is the Purple Line's job, not the Green Line's.

2026-08-23T09:12:30+00:00

○ The old town is the Purple Line's job, not the Green Line's. The Purple Line (GOKL-02) is a loop of its own between Bukit Bintang and Hab Pasar Seni: 16 stops, one round takes about 14 minutes, running daily from 06:00 to 23:00, from 07:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Four stops matter to visitors — Central Market (Timur), Kota Raya at the edge of Chinatown, Muzium Telekom and KL Tower (Selatan). In Bukit Bintang you board at Bintang Walk or at Bukit Bintang MRT station, where the stop is called "HSBC" — the same corner the Green Line uses. Merdeka Square, Masjid Negara and the National Museum are not on this line; they are on the Red Line (GOKL-03).

The app for the bus is called GOKL and comes from the city council (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T09:12:30+00:00

✓ The app for the bus is called GOKL and comes from the city council (23 Aug). It shows the stops near you, which lines call there and when the next bus arrives, plus how full it is. That solves exactly the problem above: because all four lines look the same and the interval swings between 5 and 15 minutes, the arrival time on your phone is the only reliable information you get at the pole. It is published by DBKL, the Kuala Lumpur city council; free for Android and iPhone, last updated in December 2025.

The gold figure and the coloured staircase only fit into one frame from the forecourt (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T05:33:28+00:00

✓ The gold figure and the coloured staircase only fit into one frame from the forecourt (23 Aug). On the left the gopuram of a small temple, on the right the gold Murugan statue, and between them the staircase running up the rock face as a narrow band of red, yellow, green and blue. Step any closer and you get either the statue or the stairs, not both. The scale comes from the wall behind it anyway: grey limestone with vegetation, rising as far again above the figure. From the pond side the same statue stands above a long, continuously painted row of temple frontages, with a blue footbridge over green water in front of it.

At the top the view back is worth more than the staircase itself (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T05:33:28+00:00

✓ At the top the view back is worth more than the staircase itself (23 Aug). From the topmost step you look out over the railings down the whole flight: the paved forecourt, coaches and car parks behind it, a motorway ramp on pillars and, in the haze, the high-rises of Kuala Lumpur. The steps are steep and have no landing to rest on; going down, you look at the city the whole way. A second, unpainted staircase runs alongside on the right.

There is a whole temple inside the cave, and the light comes from above (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T05:33:28+00:00

✓ There is a whole temple inside the cave, and the light comes from above (23 Aug). Behind the stairs a hall opens up, high enough to make the stalactites on the ceiling look small. Inside it stands a colourful temple tower, signposted as Sri Velayuthar Temple (Main Temple). A single shaft of light falls at an angle onto the floor through a hole in the ceiling — that is all the lighting there is in the middle of the hall. At the far end another staircase leads up to a second opening; from below all you see up there is rock, greenery and a small canopy on the rim, several storeys above your head.

Macaques run along the wall beside the path (23 Aug).

2026-08-23T05:33:28+00:00

✓ Macaques run along the wall beside the path (23 Aug). No enclosure, no distance: a full-grown animal walks along the rock parapet right next to the path, a juvenile behind it, a third sitting on the edge. They stay exactly where the visitors walk.

You come into the centre on an elevated road, and the first tower is not the one you expect (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T12:01:13+00:00

✓ You come into the centre on an elevated road, and the first tower is not the one you expect (22 Aug). The last stretch runs on a concrete viaduct above the rooftops: on the right the empty carriageway with its crash barrier, on the left a wall of residential towers, and between them shells of buildings, green netting and cranes. Far back in the haze stands a slim needle — Merdeka 118. From this side you cannot see the Petronas Towers at all. (Shot from the car; the wing mirror is in the bottom right of the frame.)

From the window you see the telecoms tower, not the Petronas Towers (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T12:01:13+00:00

✓ From the window you see the telecoms tower, not the Petronas Towers (22 Aug). The flat sits high enough for the view to carry across the rooftops: in the middle Menara Kuala Lumpur with its collar, to the right of it Merdeka 118 again, and in front a carpet of office towers and building sites out to the horizon. Look the other way and it drops almost vertically onto two hotel towers with a pool landscape between them — and onto a station with a curved roof, an elevated track running into it. If you are looking for somewhere to stay on Jalan Sultan Ismail: the view here gives you half the city, but not the landmark.

Here the flag hangs down half a facade (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T12:01:13+00:00

✓ Here the flag hangs down half a facade (22 Aug). What was strung out in rows on the boats and fences down south is a single enormous flag in the city: on a bank tower it hangs flat down the glass front across a good ten storeys, the company sign above it, the street with buses and hoardings below. Small flags stand in dozens on the lamp posts alongside. Nine days before 31 August this is no longer decoration in Kuala Lumpur, it is the streetscape.

The Petronas Towers stand on an ordinary street (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T12:01:13+00:00

✓ The Petronas Towers stand on an ordinary street (22 Aug). No forecourt, no flight of steps: come up from Jalan Sultan Ismail and the towers are suddenly there at an angle above you, between street lamps, a power pylon and the branches of a tree. The skybridge halfway up is clearly visible from below. A few steps further the traffic in front of Suria KLCC begins — six lanes, coaches at the kerb, palms on the central reservation. The view you know from photographs is the exception; day to day the towers stand in the rush hour.

In the evening the towers stand behind the flags at Saloma (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T12:01:13+00:00

✓ In the evening the towers stand behind the flags at Saloma (22 Aug). In front of the lit "Saloma Kuala Lumpur" lettering a row of Malaysian flags hangs from angled poles, and directly behind them, above the tiled roof of the low frontage, the two towers stand floodlit against the night sky. It costs nothing and there is no queue — the spot is right on the street.

The coach carries a second company name, and it is Thai (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T06:21:14+00:00

✓ The coach carries a second company name, and it is Thai (22 Aug). The booking says Sanwa Express, and "Sanwa" is written large on the red flank. Above it, small and in Thai script: ซี.ไอ.เอ็น.ทัวร์ หาดใหญ่ — "C.I.N. Tour, Hat Yai" — plus a Thai mobile number. So a Malaysian long-distance coach can carry more than one name. When you are looking for your bus, go by the destination in the windscreen and by the boarding pass, not by the lettering on the side.

The break is at an ordinary roadside petrol station (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T06:21:14+00:00

✓ The break is at an ordinary roadside petrol station (22 Aug). No service area with a food court and rows of stalls: a white canopy over the pumps, a shop at the side, concrete all round, and oil palms and forest starting immediately behind it. The coach refuels during the break, luggage hold open. If you get off, you have the forecourt and the shop — there is nothing else at this stop.

The route runs up the coast road to the north first (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T06:21:14+00:00

✓ The route runs up the coast road to the north first (22 Aug). A signpost at the roadside: left for "Kuantan / Segamat", right for "T. Gemok / K. Rompin", and below on green the fire station, mosque and hospital. Tanjung Gemok and Kuala Rompin both lie north of Mersing — so the coach to Kuala Lumpur does not head straight inland, it runs up the coast first. For anyone whose ferry ticket says Tanjung Gemok rather than Mersing, that is the practical part: the turn-off is on this route. (Read off the picture, not reported by us.)

Nine days before Merdeka the flags are on the boats as well (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T06:21:14+00:00

✓ Nine days before Merdeka the flags are on the boats as well (22 Aug). At a river harbour along the way, fishing boats and speedboats lie side by side, and lines of Malaysian flags are strung the whole length of the superstructures, dozens on every boat. White tents stand on the bank, and young mangroves grow out of the mud in front of them. A large flag hangs flat on the wheelhouse of a blue and yellow fishing boat. The same sight as on the fences in Johor and on the masts along the Mersing seafront, only on the water. Where exactly this was is not recorded here — Jens sent the pictures without naming the place.

"Village" is only half of it — people in Mersing also live in two-storey blocks of flats with a playground out front (21 Aug).

2026-08-22T02:04:01+00:00

✓ "Village" is only half of it — people in Mersing also live in two-storey blocks of flats with a playground out front (21 Aug). A few streets on stand two identical residential blocks, cream walls under red metal roofs, washing and potted plants along the open access balconies, cars parked underneath. In front of them: mown grass, a concrete storm drain, a fence, street lights — and round the next corner a playground with yellow and blue equipment on a surfaced residential street. This is not a kampung that grew on its own, it is a planned and maintained housing estate. Judging the place by the stilt houses alone sells it short: Mersing has both side by side, and the residential part is the larger one. These pictures came without any text either.

The town centre is a village, not a small town — timber houses on stilts, and the jungle starts at the kerb (22 Aug).

2026-08-22T00:26:39+00:00

✓ The town centre is a village, not a small town — timber houses on stilts, and the jungle starts at the kerb (22 Aug). Walking through Mersing early in the morning: a grey timber house up on posts behind coconut palms, next to it a pale blue cottage with a red tiled roof and a grilled veranda, both lived in and in use rather than done up. Between the plots sits waste ground with high grass, and where the road ends the dense growth begins with nothing in between — trees, creepers, no fence. If you book Mersing as a stopover, know that you are sleeping in a village, not in a small town with a centre. Jens sent the pictures without a line of text, so what he did there is not recorded here.

There is a Tamil temple from 1892 in the middle of town (21 Aug).

2026-08-21T11:16:25+00:00

✓ There is a Tamil temple from 1892 in the middle of town (21 Aug). The date is on the building itself: above the entrance, under the Tamil line, "KUIL SRI SUBRAMANIAR (1892)". Anyone who takes Mersing for nothing but a ferry stop is about 130 years out. The tower is covered from top to bottom in painted figures, and it does not stand apart — it is right on the street among houses, power lines and parked cars, so in the town centre you walk past it almost unavoidably. We saw it from the outside; whether and when it is open we did not check.

RM800 was the answer, for four people across three island days (21 Aug).

2026-08-21T10:11:31+00:00

✓ RM800 was the answer, for four people across three island days (21 Aug). Our estimate of RM800–1,200 was right at its lower end: RM267 a day for four, about 169 euros for the whole island stay. What matters more than the number is where it applies — on Tioman almost no stall and no small restaurant takes a card, it is the most cash-dependent place on this trip. In Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu the card carries most of it. Anyone extrapolating RM267 across three weeks will withdraw far too much.

Petrol comes from the shop, in bottles, for RM 4.00 (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T07:24:55+00:00

✓ Petrol comes from the shop, in bottles, for RM 4.00 (20 Aug). No pump, no nozzle: a pale blue plastic crate stands on the tiled floor, holding about twenty used plastic bottles of yellowish fuel, each with a different screw cap. A piece of cardboard hangs off the front on two purple ribbons, hand-lettered: "PETROL RM 4.00". Behind it stand three blue jerrycans stencilled "JM PETROL", one of them fitted with a brass tap on top — that is where the bottles are filled. A water bottle stands among the petrol ones, plastic bowls and a stool are stacked beside them. It is an ordinary village shop, not a fuel dealer.

The path to Juara is largely built, not worn (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ The path to Juara is largely built, not worn (20 Aug). The board in Tekek calls it a jungle trail; underfoot it is three different surfaces. For long stretches a narrow concrete track with a herringbone pattern combed into it, just wide enough for a scooter, green closing in from both sides. Where it gets steep, a flight of concrete steps takes over, mossy, buried in dry leaves, one person wide between the undergrowth. In between there is packed earth with roots and stones. At the top the growth opens and the view runs out over the canopy to the sea. What is not here, because it was not measured: how long the walk takes and how much climbing it involves.

A yellow wildlife department sign stands beside the path (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ A yellow wildlife department sign stands beside the path (20 Aug). Two steel posts, a yellow metal plate, the Malaysian coat of arms at the top, the PERHILITAN emblem on the right. The text reads "RHL TIOMAN IALAH KAWASAN PERLINDUNGAN — DILARANG MASUK TANPA KEBENARAN", and below it "Arahan Ketua Pengarah Jabatan PERHILITAN". Translated: RHL Tioman is a protected area, entry without permission is prohibited, by order of the Director-General of the Wildlife Department. RHL stands for Rezab Hidupan Liar, wildlife reserve. It marks a boundary, not a route: whether the prohibition covers the path itself or the forest beside it is not written on it. The path to Juara is walkable and is walked.

A grey pipe follows the path, and it carries red paint marks (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ A grey pipe follows the path, and it carries red paint marks (20 Aug). Arm-thick, pale grey, resting on concrete saddles above the forest floor, bolted at intervals, splashed with red paint in places. It runs downhill in the same direction as the path and stays visible where the trail itself blurs into leaves and roots. As a handrail for the eye it beats any mark on a tree, because it neither weathers nor gets overgrown.

A monitor lizard lay on the path (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ A monitor lizard lay on the path (20 Aug). Grey-brown grainy skin, heavy claws, tail stretched out towards the slope, head turned aside — it lay on the packed earth among ginger-like leaves and did not move as the path went past it. From head to the visible base of the tail it takes up a good half of the path's width.

The path runs through closed forest, and a stream crosses it (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ The path runs through closed forest, and a stream crosses it (20 Aug). Clear, barely moving water over a pale bed, palm fronds hanging down to the surface, a trunk lying across it behind. Higher up the forest closes over the path: climbers with leaves the size of a hand cover everything up to head height, and single very tall trees push out of the canopy on pale straight trunks with small crowns. This forest is not open like a park, it is a wall with a notch cut into it.

An iridescent blue butterfly lay on the forest floor (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ An iridescent blue butterfly lay on the forest floor (20 Aug). Wings open on the damp soil between twigs and leaf litter, the upper side dark brown at the edges and brilliant blue in the middle — not a pigment but a sheen, and it stands out of the gloom. The butterfly is damaged, part of one wing edge is missing, and it did not move.

Juara greets you with a masonry arch over the village road (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ Juara greets you with a masonry arch over the village road (20 Aug). Two piers faced in brown stone, a white arch between them: "WELCOME TO JUARA VILLAGE — PULAU TIOMAN". Behind it a concrete road begins between low blue and red painted buildings with red tiled roofs. Pick-ups stand at the roadside, a motorbike with a trailer, a wheelbarrow and sandbags: building is going on here. Whoever comes out of the forest stands in the middle of the village with no transition.

Juara has a board about the flying foxes — and it confirms what was only looked up above (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ Juara has a board about the flying foxes — and it confirms what was only looked up above (20 Aug). A white metal panel at the entrance to the village, carrying a life-size flying fox with its wings spread and the heading "ISLAND FLYING FOX — Pteropus hypomelanus — Keluang Kecil". The boxes on it say: Gardeners of our forest — the animals feed on fruit, nectar and leaves, they are key pollinators of durian and disperse fig seeds. Threatened by hunting and habitat loss — a protected species, catching, killing and harassing them is illegal, Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716). Admire from a distance — do not stand underneath the roosts, touch nothing. Living safely with bats — coexistence is safe as long as you seek no direct contact. You can be a flying fox guardian — anyone who sees an attempt to catch or harm them calls the PERHILITAN hotline 1800-88-5151; there are wildlife officers patrolling the island. At the bottom stands the author: "a project under Rimba", with support from Rufford and Mandai Nature among others.

Juara faces the open sea, and you see it at once (20 Aug).

2026-08-20T06:37:45+00:00

✓ Juara faces the open sea, and you see it at once (20 Aug). Unlike the flat, mirror-smooth bay at Tekek: here surf runs onto the beach in several rows, the water is grey-green at the edge instead of turquoise, and the sand drops to the water in a broad, hard step. The bay is long and slightly curved, closed at both ends by wooded headlands that reach down to the water. Behind the line of palms stand single houses and a long restaurant with a wooden terrace and parasols, boats lying in the sand in front. Speedboats lie off the southern headland. Around midday exactly one person was on the beach.

Almost every cat here has a short, often kinked tail (20.08.).

2026-08-20T01:33:18+00:00

✓ Almost every cat here has a short, often kinked tail (20.08.). Not one animal but the normal case — about half length, many with a knot at the end.

A dismantled light aircraft lies among the building materials in the village (19.08.).

2026-08-19T10:34:14+00:00

✓ A dismantled light aircraft lies among the building materials in the village (19.08.). White with a dark blue trim line, the word Cirrus on the tail, the registration 9M-ZWP on the fuselage — 9M is Malaysia. The cabin is stripped, doors and side windows are gone, the canopy is still there, one wing lies broken off beside it. The whole thing rests on a stack of black plastic pipes and steel beams, with a backhoe loader next to it and a red-tiled shell of a house behind. No fence, no tape, no sign: it lies there like the rest of the building material.

A white cat with two differently coloured eyes (19.08.).

2026-08-19T10:34:14+00:00

✓ A white cat with two differently coloured eyes (19.08.). One eye blue, the other amber, and a blue collar with a bell — she belongs to someone, and she is stretched out on the artificial turf. The fourth cat of this trip after the three in Mersing, and the first one that gets out of nobody's way.

The duty-free shop in Tekek sells cognac in three-litre bottles — and it costs more than at home in Germany (19 Aug).

2026-08-19T08:30:14+00:00

✓ The duty-free shop in Tekek sells cognac in three-litre bottles — and it costs more than at home in Germany (19 Aug). Three three-litre bottles stand side by side on the counter, with shelves of Johnnie Walker, Chivas, Dewar's and more Martell behind them. The yellow price tags carry the shop's name, Star Glory: Martell XO 3 l at RM 3,980, Hennessy XO 3 l at RM 4,775, Martell Cordon Bleu 3 l at RM 3,300. At the 18 Aug rate (RM 1 = €0.2128) that is €847, €1,016 and €702, or €282, €339 and €234 per litre. German retail asks €154, €178.50 and €122.89 for the same three brands in the 0.7-litre bottle — €220, €255 and €176 per litre. The duty-free bottle is therefore 28 to 33 per cent more expensive than the same brand at home. One caveat belongs with it: three-litre bottles are a special format in Germany too and carry their own premium, and the comparison here runs against the ordinary 0.7-litre size. That does not change the direction.

The breakfast pancake is a rolled crêpe with banana (19.08.).

2026-08-19T03:53:20+00:00

✓ The breakfast pancake is a rolled crêpe with banana (19.08.). Not a stack of American pancakes but a thin sheet of batter, rolled up, dusted with icing sugar and topped with three slices of banana. The filling is pale brown and coarse; the photo does not say what it is. With it comes coffee in a glass mug and a bottle of amber syrup or honey on the table. Nothing savoury is on the plate — no egg, no toast, no bacon. Whether you can ask for that, we did not ask.

The bay is not one continuous beach, and late in the morning it is empty (19.08.).

2026-08-19T03:53:20+00:00

✓ The bay is not one continuous beach, and late in the morning it is empty (19.08.). One stretch of the shore is armoured with a bank of pale boulders, several metres wide — anyone expecting a single unbroken sweep of sand is wrong at that spot. Next to it the sand starts and runs in a shallow curve along the bay to a wooded point, where a pavilion with an orange tiled roof stands on yellow-painted posts. Far out beyond the bay lies a small wooded rock island. Along the tree line a few things sit in the sand: a black net, an old sack, a pale sheet of metal — nothing here is raked. Just before twelve local time there was not a single person on the beach.

The place is called Coral Reef Holiday Resort, and breakfast is served on the sand (19.08.).

2026-08-19T03:30:20+00:00

✓ The place is called Coral Reef Holiday Resort, and breakfast is served on the sand (19.08.). Until now the name stood here as "Coral Beach or something" — that is settled. The tables stand outdoors between the palms and the waterline, white cloths, black plastic chairs, a parasol among them. Behind the tables runs a line of pale boulders as a breakwater, and behind that the turquoise water of the bay. Breakfast came with two tall glasses of fruit drink, one magenta from dragon fruit, one pale yellow. Whether they are included or paid for separately is not measured here — breakfast itself is included according to the booking.

Flying foxes hang in the needle trees along the shore in Tekek, dozens of them (18 Aug).

2026-08-18T10:37:34+00:00

✓ Flying foxes hang in the needle trees along the shore in Tekek, dozens of them (18 Aug). Just before half past six in the evening, a good hour before sunset, they are still there: dark bundles on the thin branches, head down, each wrapped in its own wings, three or four side by side on some boughs. More than sixty can be counted individually in the enlarged crops; where they hang densely they merge into one another, so the colony is larger. The strip of trees stands between the concrete path and the sand, with the beach behind it. From the path you only see them if you look up — from below they are shadows in the branches.

A board on the waterfront in Tekek sorts the whole island at a glance (18 Aug).

2026-08-18T10:24:29+00:00

✓ A board on the waterfront in Tekek sorts the whole island at a glance (18 Aug). A blue frame with "Pulau Tioman" down the side in large letters, holding a drawn map with one box per village. Tekek: the marina, the marine park centre, a golf course, the jungle path across the island to Juara, and a zip line at Keluang. Salang in the far north: a whale rock sculpture and the forest track over from Panuba. Juara on the east side, the only village facing the open sea: two waterfalls, a viewpoint, a surf school. Nipah and Mukut in the south: a cave, kayaking, the Asah waterfall and a via ferrata on Gunung Nenek Semukut. Between the villages lie the dive islands — Chebeh, Tulai, Labas, Sepoi, Soyak, Renggis, Jahat — each marked with a diver or snorkel symbol. Whether any of it holds up goes here once we have seen it ourselves.

The rainforest starts right behind the houses of Tekek (18.08.).

2026-08-18T10:07:06+00:00

✓ The rainforest starts right behind the houses of Tekek (18.08.). Behind the row of houses at the edge of the village the slope rises straight away, densely overgrown up to the ridge, with single tall trees standing out above the canopy. Between the last roof and the forest there is neither a field nor a garden. Stand on the village road and you have corrugated iron roofs on one side and the forest on the other.

The village road in Tekek is a concrete strip, and not much drives along it (18.08.).

2026-08-18T10:07:06+00:00

✓ The village road in Tekek is a concrete strip, and not much drives along it (18.08.). One lane wide, orange and white plastic barriers along the edges, small shops under metal roofs between them, a blue gazebo with a chest freezer in front of it and a bridge with a white railing. On the road: one scooter, a goat crossing it, and a single pickup with a company decal on the door. Malaysian flags hang from poles and fences.

The place we stay sits directly on the sand (18.08.).

2026-08-18T07:03:23+00:00

✓ The place we stay sits directly on the sand (18.08.). Not a hotel building but a row of white cabins side by side, each with its own door onto the beach. Between the bottom step and the water there are a few paces of sand and no road. Kayaks lie in front of the doors for guests, and hand-painted signs on a tree point towards breakfast and showers. Anyone expecting a lobby and a reception desk will look in vain: the door of the cabin is the entrance.

The bay is shallow and calm, and the jetty at the far end is in sight (18.08.).

2026-08-18T07:03:23+00:00

✓ The bay is shallow and calm, and the jetty at the far end is in sight (18.08.). Bright water without waves, clear a long way out, forested hills running down to the shore behind it. A hammock hangs between two posts at the waterline. Just before 3 pm local time the beach was empty. At the far end of the bay stands a long jetty with a few roofs in front of it — from here that is all one can make out.

The waiting hall is an open pavilion, not a building (18.08.).

2026-08-18T03:41:11+00:00

✓ The waiting hall is an open pavilion, not a building (18.08.). A tiled roof on posts, open at the sides, ceiling fans overhead, fixed rows of seats, two screens with the departures. There is no air conditioning here and there cannot be — anyone counting on a cooled hall is dressed wrong for the midday wait. The shade is the whole offer, and it is enough.

You board from the pontoon, right alongside the hull (18.08.).

2026-08-18T03:41:11+00:00

✓ You board from the pontoon, right alongside the hull (18.08.). The queue stands under a canopy, everyone still carrying their own luggage. The boat is a catamaran and the operator is Cataferry — the name is painted in large letters on the side, so you can tell from the pontoon whether you are standing at the right boat.

You travel in an enclosed cabin, not on deck (18.08.).

2026-08-18T03:41:11+00:00

✓ You travel in an enclosed cabin, not on deck (18.08.). Airline-style seating, screens on the bulkhead, a board on the wall listing the forbidden items. A safety video about the life jackets runs before departure. Whatever you need during the crossing therefore belongs in the bag at your seat, not in the luggage you hand over as you board. At 11:32 local time we were in our seats, with departure scheduled for 11:30 — the timings in the table below held all the way to the seat.

Only the marine park fee was charged (18 Aug).

2026-08-18T02:39:10+00:00

✓ Only the marine park fee was charged (18 Aug). That settles the question the sources disagree about in the paragraph above: at the office by the jetty the marine park fee was the only thing collected — no second amount and no second counter. The author of the guide who wrote that he never met the Johor fee in practice turns out to be right. We would still carry it in cash: one Tuesday morning in August does not overturn a published schedule of fees, it only shows that on that day, at that spot, nobody collected it. What the marine park fee came to in the end goes here as soon as it is reported.

The fees are not collected in the terminal but in an office near the jetty (18.08.).

2026-08-18T02:16:53+00:00

✓ The fees are not collected in the terminal but in an office near the jetty (18.08.). Jens reported it on the morning of the crossing: the office sits away from the terminal building, with a pavilion in front of it — that is how you find it. So the boarding passes come from one place and the fees are paid at another. That is an extra walk, and it was not in our plan further down. Which fee is charged there is two paragraphs on; the amount is still open.

A mamak stall in Mersing charges RM 6.50 to RM 11.00 for a full plate, and RM 3.50 for breakfast (17 Aug).

2026-08-17T11:42:46+00:00

✓ A mamak stall in Mersing charges RM 6.50 to RM 11.00 for a full plate, and RM 3.50 for breakfast (17 Aug). Figures off the menu board, not estimated: nasi goreng, mee goreng, kuey teow goreng and mehoon goreng are RM 6.50 each; with chicken RM 10.00, with beef RM 10.50, with mutton RM 11.50. Plain rice RM 2.50, vegetables RM 2.00, a fried egg RM 1.50. Roti canai RM 1.50, tosai RM 2.00, capati RM 2.50. Drinks run RM 1.50 to RM 3.50, teh tarik RM 2.00 hot and RM 2.50 cold — cold costs 50 sen more here, across the board. So breakfast of roti canai and teh tarik is RM 3.50 (about €0.70), and dinner for four with a plate and a drink each is RM 34 to RM 54 (€7 to €11). Takeaway adds 20 sen per box; that is the only footnote on the board.

The Singapore eSIM does work in Malaysia — the table was right, not the small print (17 Aug).

2026-08-17T11:02:11+00:00

✓ The Singapore eSIM does work in Malaysia — the table was right, not the small print (17 Aug). The plan is Singtel hi!Tourist eSIM, S$15 (about 10 euros), 30 days, 500 GB, and the country list on the sales page names Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong alongside Singapore. That was exactly the open question: the same terms say under 2.3 only "local calls, local SMS, local data" — a Singapore-only card, in other words. The country table is what holds. You buy and activate it online before the trip and install it by QR code; it is registered against your passport, and one passport takes no more than three.

In the late afternoon the town happens on the seafront promenade (17 Aug).

2026-08-17T10:38:12+00:00

✓ In the late afternoon the town happens on the seafront promenade (17 Aug). A paved path between coconut palms and the sea, pavilions to sit in, playground equipment, and behind it the road with the parking spaces. In the photo families are walking, children are cycling, and the flags for Merdeka are already up on the masts. If you are waiting for the ferry in Mersing and do not know where to go: here — this is where everyone is in the evening. (Read off the picture, not reported by us.)

And this is what it looks like (17 Aug, 18:20 local).

2026-08-17T10:38:12+00:00

✓ And this is what it looks like (17 Aug, 18:20 local). On the evening before the crossing the small boats on the far bank were sitting in the mud while the two larger boats at the pontoon were still afloat. That is not storm damage and not a bad day — it is the ordinary tidal range, and it is the reason the departure time in Mersing is different every day. Once you have seen it, the timetable explains itself.

Garden Rhapsody in the Supertree Grove — free, no ticket, and you simply stand underneath it (16 Aug).

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✓ Garden Rhapsody in the Supertree Grove — free, no ticket, and you simply stand underneath it (16 Aug). No barriers, no rows, no admission: the audience spreads across the plaza between the trees and a lot of people lie flat on their backs, because the show plays upwards. You need no particular spot for a photograph — you need distance, because up close a single Supertree fills the entire frame. In the wide shot below a good number of umbrellas are up in the crowd, so the show carries on in the rain. (That is read off the picture, not something we reported.)

There are CCTV cameras in the coach, and the complaints number is stuck to the windscreen (17 Aug).

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✓ There are CCTV cameras in the coach, and the complaints number is stuck to the windscreen (17 Aug). Two dome cameras in the ceiling above the aisle, plus a sticker from the Malaysian transport ministry reading "Talian Aduan MOT" with a freephone number and a QR code. If you are wondering how regulated Malaysian long-distance coach travel is: regulated enough that the supervising authority puts its complaints desk in every passenger's line of sight. For a traveller that reads as reassuring rather than bureaucratic.

The town is full of cats (17 Aug).

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✓ The town is full of cats (17 Aug). Jens's message about it was one sentence: "we love all the cats". The photographs show three different animals in three places in the town centre, all well fed, none of them running away: a black one in the shade under a market cart, a ginger-and-white one stretched out asleep across a tiled floor, a black-and-white one glancing over as it walks past. This is not a quirk of the day — it is what a small Malaysian town looks like.

The BSN cash machine in Mersing paid out, on a travel credit card and with no fee (17 Aug).

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✓ The BSN cash machine in Mersing paid out, on a travel credit card and with no fee (17 Aug). This is the most useful line in the section, and it contradicts what we had assumed beforehand (see "Paying"): the card was not refused, no foreign-card fee was charged — and it happened at the very bank we had warned against. Anyone carrying a travel credit card without a foreign transaction charge needs no money changer for Mersing and does not have to stock up on cash in Johor Bahru.

RM500 was the amount, and that is tighter than it sounds (17 Aug).

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✓ RM500 was the amount, and that is tighter than it sounds (17 Aug). RM165 of it is already committed: RM105 marine park fee at the ferry counter in Mersing and RM60 tourist tax at the accommodation on Tioman. That leaves RM335 for four people across three island days — breakfast is included at the guesthouse, boat rides between the bays and a snorkelling trip are not. We had budgeted RM800–1,200 for those, but that figure is an estimate and carries no source. Anyone who would rather not find out tops up in Mersing while five banks still stand side by side; on the island there is exactly one machine, and an island machine can be empty.

From the border to the ferry terminal in Mersing: a good four hours (17 Aug).

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✓ From the border to the ferry terminal in Mersing: a good four hours (17 Aug). Measured between "we're through the control" at 12:01 local time and the photo of the ferry terminal at 16:11 — that covers everything: the way to Larkin, the waiting and the ride itself. If you want to catch the ferry to Tioman on the same day, budget half a day for this leg.

Malaysian long-distance buses have a USB socket at the seat (17 Aug).

2026-08-17T06:38:03+00:00

✓ Malaysian long-distance buses have a USB socket at the seat (17 Aug). Two USB-A ports, set into the side panel under the armrest, so below seat level and not at eye height — you only find them if you go looking. Which means your own cable belongs in your hand luggage and not in the suitcase in the hold. The socket was reported with a photo from a bus leaving Larkin Sentral; exactly which line it was is not established.

On a Monday morning we were through on the Malaysian side by about 12:00 local time (17 Aug).

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✓ On a Monday morning we were through on the Malaysian side by about 12:00 local time (17 Aug). We set off from Little India. How long the control itself took is not recorded — other people's experience is that almost all of the time goes on queueing rather than on the distance; the Causeway is a good kilometre long.

The signage in the border hall is already there.

2026-08-17T05:46:51+00:00

✓ The signage in the border hall is already there. After the control you stand in front of signs reading ↑ JB Sentral. JB Sentral is the station directly next to the border building and the place everything continues from — bus, taxi, train, all of it there. You do not have to ask anyone.

A bus runs from JB Sentral to Larkin, and it is the easiest way (17 Aug).

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✓ A bus runs from JB Sentral to Larkin, and it is the easiest way (17 Aug). Larkin Sentral is the long-distance bus station from which you go on into the country — about 5 kilometres from the border building. The bus from JB Sentral takes contactless cards and Google Pay, see “Paying” below. What you will usually be recommended is a Grab for around RM20; the bus does the same thing for a fraction of it.

On the bus from JB Sentral to Larkin you can pay contactless, by credit card and with Google Pay (17 Aug).

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✓ On the bus from JB Sentral to Larkin you can pay contactless, by credit card and with Google Pay (17 Aug). Both were accepted, with no preparation and no local transit card. That is the practically most useful thing we learned that day: for the stretch from the border building to the long-distance bus station you need neither ringgit in cash nor an app, and the bus is far cheaper than the taxi you will otherwise be steered towards.