Singapore Expats

Anybody been to Desaru lately? I went there last year and it was pretty dire, mostly thanks to the awful hotels, but the long-awaited highway from JB seems to finally be inching towards completion and I hear the hotels are sprucing up their facilities. In particular, Lotus Desaru -- the first new hotel in 20+ years -- appears to have soft launched, although they haven't gotten around to creating their website and pretty much the only solid info on it I can find is this eyeball-blisteringly formatted blog and a separate promo offering rooms fo RM160/night. Worth a try...?

I took the ferry across last time, which is OK but pretty expensive, so this time I was thinking about taking the bumboat across from Changi Village to Pengerang, then hiring a taxi and going to Desaru via Sungai Rengit. Feasible? Apparently this is a popular outing among hardcore bicyclists, but I'm not a member of that particular fraternity...

I used to live in JB and Desaru was fun then. But now i'm not too sure if it's still worth the trip. The Pengerang route will be different but like you mentioned, it may be more exciting for the cyclist. You may want to consider other island resorts around Johor - Pulau Sibu, Rawa or even Aur. Dont mind an update on that new hotel in Desaru though if you happen to stop over...

Have fun

Flew over the Sungai Johor Bridge on the upcoming Desaru highway just today when landing at Changi and virtually nothing seems to have been done since January -- main span still not up, last bits of approaches not up, no sign of paving on the highways leading to it. No way the highway is going to open in early 2010 like it was supposed to

Re: other islands, it's monsoon season already and most of the resorts are already battening down the hatches.

Yes, monsoon coming up... i didnt know about the highway but you're probably right about it not opening up in time. I guess you could always stick to your original plan of cycling to Desaru....

Cheers

Cold December Rain wrote:I guess you could always stick to your original plan of cycling to Desaru....

Now if only I liked cycling

And the problem with the Pengerang route is that the bumboats only go when they get the full complement of 12 pax (or you pay ~$100 to charter), so with just two people there's a fairly high risk of long waits or getting stuck. Need to rustle up a bigger posse... anybody up for cheap seafood at Sungai Rengit?

On weekends, you probably will be able to get the number for the boat....

when do you plan to go? I dont mind if it's like a weekend or something...
or i can just join you for the seafood - i'll drive in...

Cold December Rain wrote:On weekends, you probably will be able to get the number for the boat....

when do you plan to go? I dont mind if it's like a weekend or something...
or i can just join you for the seafood - i'll drive in...

Currently looking at the weekend of Nov 6-7th (two weeks from now), so seafood night would probably be Saturday Nov 6th. And that car of yours could come in real handy -- you've got PM.

Ooh, looks like Lotus Desaru is finally officially open, although the website is still kind of half-assed and they need to shoot their photographer:

http://lotusdesaru.com/

Weekend rates from RM207 net.

And latest guesstimate for the expressway is "June 2010". I'm not holding my breath...

I was estimating on going to Desaru for the Easter weekend... any inputs?
Is it a good time to go there?

Also has anyone been to Sibu?

Did you go to the Lotus in the end?

We went a few weeks ago - we were quite disappointed with it really, it's like a 1950s holiday camp, not a very good design - not much of a view even though it is by the sea. It's also expensive, Singapore prices in Malaysia.

The bumboat was a pain - it was mid-week when we went so we had to pay $3 extra per person as there weren't enough people for the boat and we'd all been waiting nearly an hour. Coming back we had to pay even more as there was nobody else around. If I ever go again, I'm going to go from Tanah Merah.

jpatokal wrote:

Cold December Rain wrote:I guess you could always stick to your original plan of cycling to Desaru....

Now if only I liked cycling

And the problem with the Pengerang route is that the bumboats only go when they get the full complement of 12 pax (or you pay ~$100 to charter), so with just two people there's a fairly high risk of long waits or getting stuck. Need to rustle up a bigger posse... anybody up for cheap seafood at Sungai Rengit?

From Sg Rengit to Desaru, approximately 15km.
There are more passengers on Saturday and Sunday, if you choose to go in weekdays, there's a high risk of long waits.
During festive season or public holidays, full of people getting stuck there and they have not enough bumboats.
There are many seafood restaurants in Sg Rengit, the popular one would be Good luck seafood restaurant and Jade (Fei cui) seafood restaurant.
Enjoy the fishing village!