It has been a full month now since leaving San Francisco. I spent the last two nights on Pulau Tioman off the south east coast of peninsular Malaysia. All I have to say are remote beaches on a jungle island are awesome. Seriously the island could have been the set for LOST! And I felt like I was Indian Jones when I trekked 7km across the island to Juara beach on the east side. However, relaxing on these beaches is not incredible when visiting them solo. Maybe if I was escaping a stressful life situation or something it would been more. But sitting on a beach and reading a book was never really my thing to begin with. Not to mention it rained every day; one day with a morning and evening 30min rain and the other day of a consistent soft rain. Beside that, if on a beach I rather be surfing, playing beach volleyball, beach boccie, grilling or corn-holing. None of those activities are possible by yourself (well the surfing and grilling, but there was no surf and I had no grill). And to add to it, everyone else on the island was a couple enjoying a romantic retreat. I guess I am saying I miss all my family and friends. But this is not a story for pity or sympathy. I am having a great trip, a truly unique experience. I am still glad I made it to the island for the trekking I did. I went on a sunset hike the first night, south from Paya to Genting. Had myself a sunset swim and returned by headlamp. The next day I trekked from Paya to Tekek then inland through the jungle to Juara on the other side of the island. Great scenery and animals; monkeys, large lizards, huge snails and squirrels. I also watch a local go swimming with his monkey. No that is not some perverted activity, he literally had a pet monkey on a chain and they went for a swim together. The monkey loved to crawl up the mans back and launch himself off his head into the water. It looked like a lot of fun.
