After our time on Juara we headed back to the West coast for a couple of days. Tekek was fully booked and Air Batang looked a bit too rough around the edges, so we took a taxi boat to Salang in the North for the rather expensive price of 35 RM (each). 
 
Salang is nice and laid back, but there is little to do here other than laying on the beach and snorkeling/diving . It is similar to Perhentian Kecil with a good backpacker vibe but seems popular with families and locals too.
 
Fortunately we located a hiking trail from Salang which heads South past Monkey Bay and onto Air Batang, mainly through the jungle. Someone said it was hard going, someone else said there was nothing much to see other than jungle. I would contradict both those opinions, at least, it's only hard if you are not keen on hiking and there's only stuff to see if you open your eyes or look around rather than just at the ground.
 
The first part of the hike is quite steep and the jungle is pretty dense, although the path itself is marked out enough that you can avoid rubbing against trees/leaves most of the time, just make sure you wear bug spray as the mosquitoes hang out in droves here.
 
After about 30 minutes the ground flattens out, as you reach the top, and then descends back down through much of the same. The downward part is harder on the knee's, but even with a knee injury I managed ok. Another half hour or so and the jungle becomes more open and there are beaches scattered close by . Most of these are deserted, but surprisingly clean and remote enough that you could pretend to be Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. If you get too hot and want to head to the coolness of Panuba Bay which is shaded and has a nice resort, it's just 10 minutes further South.
 
It's just another 20 minutes more to Air Batang, also referred to as ABC, and the numerous chalets/resorts along the not so nice beach (it's a bit rocky). I recommend heading past most of the places here and stopping at Sunset for pizza, you can't miss it as it's the last place before heading up some steps towards Tekek.
 
There are more beaches and resorts further South but I was given the impression these are more up market and catering less to backpackers. Everywhere is accessible by taxi boat, although the prices are as much, if not more than, a trip to the mainland, so choose your destination wisely if you are heading to more than one place.

We decided to get the ferry from Salang back to the mainland so didn't get around to checking the rest of the island out.