Saturday, May 26, 2007

Malaysia, Taman Negara: May 19-23

We had to get the adventure started somehow so we decided to head for the jungles in Taman Negara. A bus picked us up from our hostel and dropped us off a hotel where we had to transfer to a bigger bus. Then from that bus, we had to transfer to a boat to get to Kuala Tahan. We arrived at LBK restaurant where we booked for a trip into the jungles. The people there were really nice and were able to arrange something for us despite there being a shortage of guides at that moment. They were getting ready for 1000 Singaporeans to come in a few days after us. That night, we stayed at Tahan guesthouse which had a decent bathroom where you shower over the squat toilet but the room was super moldy and stinky. I would rather sleep in a cave...which we did in the jungle.


We ended up with a guide from orang asli (stands for aboriginal people) and he was really great. It was his first time guiding people on the Keniam trail because he normally takes people on a different trail but his cooking was good and he taught us about different plants and things. He also liked us so much that he offered and extra day of activities for free. Also with us was a Malaysian who lives in New Zealand and a Danish couple.


But, let's start from the beginning. For our first day, we got to take a boat ride to the canopy walkway first. It was neat, you walk along a bridge among the treetops but half of it was closed for renovations. I'm sometimes afraid of heights but I was lucky that the fear didn't kick in at that time. Next, we took a boat to the start of our hike and from there we hiked 8km/4 hours to a cave where we would stay the night. We were gross and drenched in sweat but the little brown stream didn't look appealing enough to bath in. So we hung our stinky clothes on a line and put on our jammies for dinner and some sleep. Mosquitos were not a problem but leeches were a big problem. Bug spray over shoes and socks work to some extent but wearing shorts is the best so that you can hopefully catch them before they crawl up to your more delicate body parts. I had one on my thigh even though I was wearing shorts. They don't hurt but they sure do leave a big mess.



The next day was another 8km hike but at the halfway point, we stopped at a bigger steam. The water was a little less brown but the swim was very refreshing. I know I probably shouldn't be swimming in frech water but I swim in the lakes in Canada and there are parasite there too so that was my justification. There aren't supposed to be leeches in the water but on my way out I found one on my arm. They're small ones but it's still discomforting to find something sucking your blood.



At the end of the hike, we took a boat to Kuala Tahan to restock on water and food before going to the orang asli village. The village was fun. Liz and I played with the kids who didn't know a word of English and they were interested in us but refused to join in as we sang and danced. John our guide cooked us dinner and we ate in his hut which was covered with cochroaches. It was quite the unique experience. Back at the hut where we were supposed to sleep, I discovered these massive spiders on the ceiling (size of my palm). Some of them were holding onto eggs which made them even nastier. It started to rain lightly and a couple of them dropped from the ceiling which really feaked me out. One of the other guys was more afraid of spiders than I was and I felt a relieved when we asked to stay in another hut. I still couldn't sleep that night because the jungle noise was too loud for me.



The extra activities that our guide provided us was night hunting where we saw a baby leopard, a hike out to a bat cave where we slide in bat droppings and I got a bat in my face, and another stream where we went for another swim. We also got to try the blowpipe and Liz actually hit the head of our target. That was kind of cool. I was so tired during our hike that I started to clap my hands and at one point I didn't realize that the group had stopped so I ended up slapping both of Liz's butt cheeks. It was quite funny and from then on, I was just being silly to stay awake. We danced for the kids at the village again and back at Kuala Tahan, we talked to a guy who introduced himself as Brad Pitt. He was a funny one and he reminded Liz of someone. We actually started calling him Eric.



We had to stay one more night in Kuala Tahan before moving on to our next destination and this time, we stayed at Liana Hostel I think and it was much better than our last. There was even a nice frog in the room that scared me at first because I couldn't figure out what the thumping sound was coming from. Better than a big nasty spider!

Pictures: On the way...I need faster internet!

1 Comments:

At 9:22 AM, Blogger Alan said...

Palm sized spiders??? Damn.

 

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