Pasir Juara

Our last full day on Tioman Island. We arranged a jungle tour the day before, so headed off at about 9.30am with Lam, our guide. Also on the adventure were Marcus and Frederika. We stopped about half way to Juara (a town on the other side of the island) and walked in the jungle for about an hour and half. There is a path that leads through the jungle from Teckek (where we were staying) to Juara. It takes about 3 hours to hike. Lam used to travel weekly along this route as a child to go to school each week, so he knew the area extremely well. We saw close to 20 chameleons and several flying lizards. Afterwards, Lam took us to his home to meet his wife and to show us the many jungle orchids that he and his wife have taken from the jungle and maintained. After lunch at Juara, we stopped at a waterfall on the way back – cold water, so we did not swim – just relaxed. On the way home Annette chatted to Lam, trying to figure out where she had been when she visted Tioman a few decades ago as a young traveller. Lam took us to Berjaya (the next settlement to Teckek); home to the first resort on Tioman. It had a nice sandy beach similar to the one Annette remembered and the resort once had horses, as she also remembered. As best as could be figured, she stayed at Juara and travelled to Berjaya. Interesting how hard it can be to reconstruct after so many years have passed. Back at the resort, we swam for one last time in the warm waters of the ocean, and ended up having dinner with Marcus and Frederika.Read more