Pulau Tioman - Day 2
Tired from a long day of travelling we slept in a little today. Compared to Singapore the night was strangely a little cold due to all of the rain, the first time I have been cold since arriving here! We had breakfast at a nice place right on the beach (it's not a great pic but gives you an idea)
Finally around noon we got our act together and followed the only path on the island south to Tekek beach.
Just beyond tourist beach we found ourselves walking through the actual city of Tekek, where people really live permanently. It appeared to be quite a nice little place but you could really see how poor some of these people were compared to us. Whole families were living in houses built on stilts that were nothing more than two or three rooms and a toilet. But good thing is all of them seemed to be super happy and were always friendly.
Tekek is on the west side of the island along with about 5 other beaches. There is also a beach on the east side but the only way to get there is by boat or to hike. Of course we chose to hike, but leaving so late we would only be able to hike part of the 8km trail. Leaving the nice beaches behind we followed the trail up and into the thick island jungle. I was a little nervous at first, not knowing what could be in there or what to expect, but that feeling soon was replaced by excitement. Not long after leaving the coast we ran into a family of about 4 monkeys in the trees above us. There were really scared of us and disappeared before we could take any pictures, but they continued to watch us from the trees. We also saw tons of lizards, some a few feet long. But other than that there wasn't much wildlife except billions of bugs and ants and a few birds. I have never been in a jungle before so it was exciting to see how thick it can get in places. It is kind of like you are walking in the middle layer of a giant sandwhich with mud and roots below you and huge leaves and vines and trees completely sealing up the canopy above. The sounds were also really cool, it sounded just like an attraction at Disneyland would lead you to believe with all sorts of animals singing their song. It was also super humid and sticky in there; once you got wet you would not dry. Leaving so late in the day we didn't quite make it to the east coast, but we made it over the main hill and could see Juara beach! Satisfied at that we turned around and headed back home eager to go for a swim.
Samson on the trail:
After a refreshing swim in the bathtub warm water we strolled on over to the other restaurant for some seafood bbq. We ordered some fried rice and fried noodles but the main course was the interesting part: Barracuda and Shark meat!! I have never tried either before. The barracuda was quite good, cooked in a sambal chilli sauce. The bbq shark on the other hand was a little strange. The meat wasn't really like fish at all, it was kind of stringy and dry, but it still was pretty good.
Posted by Evan at 8:01 AM
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