Pulau Tioman

Getting there from Singapore:

Bus Singapore to Mersing

Really easy. Took the yellow "causeway link" bus to Johor Bahuar for
S$2.40. Causeway link looked like they had nicer buses than the other
company. The bus drops you at the Singapore checkpoint, you go through
immigration, then get on awaiting bus on the other side which drives
you across to Malaysia where you repeat the process then get on
another waiting bus to the Larkin Terminal in JB.

At the Larkin terminal in Johor Bahuar there are buses going everywhere in Malaysia. I used the same company (causeway express) to go to Mersing for RM11.70
Another company, transnational also goes there but they wanted to
charge me RM26 because they said their system could only give me a
ticket to some other town much further up the road. Dumb. The terminal
isn't too bad actually. 4 ATMs, a bunch of shops including a dunkin
donuts and a mcdonalds with free wifi. I bought 2 sim cards both with
Celcom. One was for broadband and is a great deal at only RM20 for 7
days unlimited and the other was a normal cell that seems to send
texts to the US for only RM.15

Mersing
Is bigger than I expected. Got stuck here for a night because the
ferry wasn't running in the afternoon due to low tide. Stayed at
Omar's backpackers for RM15. The price was right but it was very run
down. I had the place to myself though and Omar was super grumpy at
first but after he took a nap he was real friendly. One of the beds in
a double room definitely has bed bugs. I don't think the bed I slept
in in the dorm room did. I'd only recommend staying there if on a
tight budget but it did the job. Street noise can be loud. Omar
doesn't run his island tours anymore. The ferry to Tioman is pretty
nice, costs 35RM one way and sometimes they crank the AC so it can be
freezing. The schedule changes ALL the time.

Tioman:
AWESOME! Went to Salang. Lonely planet's description of Salang is
totally wrong. No "spring break vibe", theres only 1 or 2 bars and its
sweet. I was told Salang is 5 times the size of ABC, where i was
thinking about staying. If that is true than ABC must be tiny, and it
did look that way from the boat. Recommend Salang. It's got just the
right amount of amenities without being too touristy. Gili Trawangen
village in Indonesia for example was WAY bigger. Probably at least 15
times the size!

Stayed at Ella's Place in a private bungalow with 2 beds and a little
porch right on the beach for 30RM a night. Talked them down from 50RM
since it was the off season. Really nice place, definitely recommend.
The next place down "Salang Hut" also looked like good value. Got my
PADI advanced open water cert. With Fisherman Divers. My instructor
was Mazlan and he said he owned the place and had been diving in
Tioman for 15 years. Young looking guy though, really cool. First day
of diving was great but then weather got bad and visibility sucked.
Course cost 750RM talked down from 800 and I got a free fun dive so 6
dives total. They run 2 tank dive trips with lunch for 180RM. Beer is
cheap on the island and the best meal I had was Squid Sambol (squid in
chili sauce with rice) and it was delicious! Ate it 3 times.

Leaving Mersing I took SS bus company to Johor Baru for 11.50RM then
SBS to Singapore for 2.10RM I think Causeway Link is better than SBS
because it it runs express. My SBS bus was a public bus and took
forever to get to the city. Took the subway out to the airport from
the Bugis St station which is two blocks from the Queen St bus
station. Flew on Jet Star for 66 Singapore dollars with 20 kg of
checked baggage and I bought the ticket the night before! At check in
they didn't ask if I had an exit ticket out of Thailand (which was
good cause I didn't).