The well of Tok Sheikh

Continuing from The superb views from on top of Gunung Jerai.

Soon it is time to head for another section of Gunung Jerai.

First you have to take a winding route downhill.

Nope. We're not leaving the mountain. It is just we're going down to get to the saddle between two peaks, the second highest which we have just left and the highest which we could partly see in the background.

Notice where the road evens out?

From there the journey is uphill again.

We stopped at the saddle to get to a certain place.

Here lies a small stream and besides it is a well.

Legends say this is where Tok Sheikh, a magical elderly and saintly figure used to take abolution for prayers some 900 years. Tok is a Malay call of respect for the elders, coming from the word Atok or Atok which means grandpa. Sheikh usually means a religious teacher or spiritual master. Don't mistake it with the Sheikhs of oil-rich Arab states which tends to carry a negative aura of unbridled indulgence in worldly passions. For the record this is the 656th article in this blogspot.