Salang Beach

"I've visited Tioman a few times and have stayed with Salang Sayang family rooms. Staying in Singapore has certainly given us advantage. A short 2 hour drive brought us to Mersing Jetty where we could park our car safely for few dollars per day. Another 2.5hours ferry ride will bring us to Salang. We enjoyed Salang as there are more choice for restaurants and snorkeling easily accessible from beach.

There is always downside to wonderful destination. Accommodation in Salang is sub-standard. Don't expect 4 star hotel service. Rooms or rather chalets are very basic and do note that not all amendities in the room are in good condition. The shower heater burst on us on our second day while my son was taking his bath. The shower head hung on the floor as there is no latch to it. Toilet paper holder had came off, therefore we could only placed the toilet paper on top of the flusher. The tap on the washing basin had came loose, such that whenever you turned the tap, it will move with you.

What is most disturbing is the sand flies. We did not encounter them during our previous visits. However it was plentiful in September. We got nasty bites even after using insect repellent. We observed and realised that most patrons on the beach were with at least few bites, so we guess it is not only us. We are not sure if it is due to season or its just there nowadays. Our previous visits are mostly during May and June.

I have mixed feeling for Tioman. Will I return. My answer is probably yes as it is easy from Singapore. But my answer will probably be no for those who takes great pain to get there. 

I will be giving it one more try. If sand flies persist, I will write off Salang from my list as they really cause too much discomfort and pain."

"I was a bit wary about picking Salang Sayang due to the mixed reviews earlier, but I decided to go for it anyway as I thought I was only going for 2 nights and if it was truly grotty, I could find somewhere else to stay.The good points first: As the previous reviewer said, Salang Sayang is situated slap bang where the best part of the beach is. It's shallow enough for adults or kids to walk quite a long way out into the sea and is great for snorkelling as there is plenty of fish, even near the shore. We had a great balcony from which we'd sit and drink beers in the evening or just watch the monkeys scarpering around and the occasional monitor lizard strolling along the path. 

The not so good points: There was a mix-up with the room reservation -- I had booked the air-conditioned, Banana Hill room but this was mistakenly given to someone else. Miss Pisa was very apologetic and she said she'd give us a triple room that was free but charge us the same price as the Banana Hill. While supposedly bigger, the triple room was --to put it very nicely -- extremely basic. the level of cleanliness was just about bearable and I tried not to spend too long in the bathroom. There was no hot water and the toilet seat came right off the toilet. It may be that there were much nicer chalets at Salang Sayang and we may have been unlucky to have had one that has been somewhat neglected. Like I said, it was ok for two nights (if we had been staying for longer, I think I would have requested a different room or gone somewhere else) and we spent most of the time outdoors. Overall, I wouldn't completely write off Salang Sayang as a potential place to stay (the staff were nice and there's the great beach nearby) but I'd look at what other choices of rooms there are first

"Took quite a while to get pass work and other commitments before I finally got to Tioman island! Since this was my 1st time, I've tried to research by gathering words of mouths through personal relations and googling to look for the best "where X hits the spot" match so to speak. As my standard rules of thumb apply, I've ruled out 5 star creature comforts out of the equation and had chosen Salang Sayang specifically based on those criterias. Plus numerous online accounts had somewhat focused on Salang beach at anything's Tioman so that's why I flipped the coin to the place. It's important to do so since Tioman is quite expansive with 5 different fishing villages as locations for most resorts.This time it took me 3 business days to get past the e-mails' quirks. Miss Pisa from Salang Sayang had probably forgotten to add that I should have called in to secure my chalets' reservations in her last e-mail reply but luckily I kinda got a whiff of that. I don't blame her at all as she had probably gotten confused since my inquiries was mostly revolved around the 2 nights' package and since we planned the trip in a small group of 4 we weren't qualified for that. But it took just a call to clear the air and for me to place my name on the reservations' list. 9/10 points from me there.

 It was roughly 10.30am when our boat arrived to Salang's jetty. Thanks to some helpful Mersing jetty's staff tips, we were able to locate a BIG signboard to look out for Salang Sayang. Almost half a day's worth of journey's fatigue trickled easily off our backs when we walked below the "Welcome" arch and saw families and other guests out and about on the beach, front of Salang Sayang's restaurant. A very, very uplifting scene to say the least. Miss Pisa was manning the desk so it was a relief when she quickly checked us in and informed us that we should allow some 15-20 minutes duration for our chalets to be prepped. We had no issues there as this had came off as an opportune request for us to soak up a bit of an introductory air of Salang Sayang as we proceeded to a free table at the restaurant and ordered some breakfast. The beach was so nice that we didn't realize we had spent a good 45 minutes staring and talking about it right through breakfast. We got the keys and walked to our chalets by Miss Pisa's directions and we were nicely greeted with the sight of the little garden where out chalets were located. It's well manicured and planted with some exotic flower plants that I couldn't identify really. We had chosen to go with chalets w/ fan (non-AC). The chalet was equipped with a decent enough double bed, a cheap vanity table that serves its purpose well enough, well hung mozzie net, a tad noisy with NO speed control (Salang Sayang people should take note of this seriously, it was effing noisy), electric wall fan and an attached bath with cold shower (No complains here. 24/7 running water and a clean toilet gets 10 points from me) though the door was with a broken plastic slide lock. Oddly enough there wasn't a single clothes hook to speak of in my chalet, in the room or bath but a string clothes' hang place out on the balcony. Out on the balcony there's thoughtful additions of individual brooms and water pipes at the bottom of the steps. Handy to wash off those excess sand off the feets and sandals. 2 plastic lounge chairs and a coffee table completes the picture along with a balcony light. Not that there's much use of the light but a handy thing anyway if you need to chill out at the balcony at nights. For RM70.00/night currently, I've seen worse don't worry.

On the outdoor to crowd ambience aspect, it's good to note that Salang Sayang can cover the base as long as it can cope with its guests' counts. People from the opposite northern end of Salang tends to flock over to Salang Sayang's beachfront (yeah it's that nice) for some sun worshiping etc but nothing gets out of hand as there's ample space for everyone. At least that's through my observations on this trip and this is well into the peak season. What to do there? Light snorkeling off the beach are possible along with some fun in the sun along the likes of beach volleyball and soccer. The latter though was nowhere to be witnessed during my stay but there's goal cages set aside for the purpose. It's pretty much kids-safe and there isn't any regular appearances of mozzies (we didn't use the net at all and I slept "commando" with no adverse effects thankfully). Ran into 1 monitor lizard (quite a big almost over a meter's length) trying to cross the concrete bridge leading up to Salang Sayang that last wee early morning but it was harmless as it was quick to make its getaway. There's a lone macaque (monkey) that seems to be prone at choosing Salang Sayang but it's not aggressive and seems to be allergic to childrens' howling that it'll scamper off quickly.The place is spot on for families or people with "quieter" inclinations such as any prolonged intentions of beach side reading sessions and/or sun bathing. Now this is where I draw the conclusive lines. Readers should assess that although I've rated Salang Sayang as "above average" (look at the ratings), this can wildly vary when you factor in some more circumstances accordingly to your expectations. Our ultimate intentions for a fitting time filler was snorkeling as we're no divers. Paid a good amount of RM70.00 per head inclusive of gears and got 4 stops with an hour each. Duration-wise it's a good value but other than that I must say that it's a tough call. Why? Luckily the 1st 3 stops centered around Tulai's (called Coral Island by Salang's people) snorkeling spots was OK at best. Corals are fast approaching dead status and there wasn't much fish to be seen. Maybe it's a seasonal thing and/or we had missed our window but that's what my findings are in that aspect. Diving types should consult with well placed dive centers (more like dive huts if you ask me but hey it works) scattered along Salang beach. For the best bang per buck value, you'd want to book a minimum of 3 nights, chalets' ONLY deal at Salang Sayang. For gastronomy concerns, that's why my suggestion is to stick away from packages as there's enough restaurants on Salang for you to compare and try. Salang beach are known to be as the bit more "happening" part in Tioman but don't worry because Salang Sayang are well away off the places. Not too far but still a brisk walk is necessary to get to the said restaurants and bars.