I am on the South China Sea…  On the eastern coast of Tioman Island there is only one settlement – Juara.  They tried to build the mountain road to this village but what was born is the single lane concrete track with a gradient 45 degrees in many places so only  4WD cars allowed on it.

Planing a hard walk to Juara I decided to take rather the old jungle trail. It starts at the mosque (masjid) in Tekek. It was 9.15 am when I took a picture of empty mosque (Malaysia is Muslim country but it seems that few people go to the Mosque on Friday) and started to walk uphill. You do not need a guide to follow this trail. It is clear, single path with no alternative routes. Water is present in many places since you are going along the pipes who transfer catched water from the mountain to the ssettlement.  Trekking boots required. A lot of concrete stairs, but around you have real, lush jungle with giant, old trees. A lot of sweat!  On this jungle trail I met only 2 other tourists – from France.    After 1,5 hours I reached the pass on the altitude of 380 m – that’s what my GPS said.

It is not written any guide that 15 minutes later the jungle trail joins the concrete Tekek – Juara road!  It took me one hour more to  come down to Juara village located in the beautiful bay. The beach is beautiful here – see the top picture. There are already small guesthouses and restaurants, but few tourists because this difficult access (drivers ask 25 ringitts one way pp).

Exhausted after few hours of the walk in the heat I started to hitch on the exit bridge from the village. No, locals didn’t stop to pick me up. You know who finally took me up after one hour of waiting?    Russian tourists!  Shame on you, Malaysia!    &     Sposibo bolshoye, rebyata!

Here are monkey pictures you wanted :