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Published: December 23rd 2006
Guest Blog: Abi Knight (Rider)
Tommy and Laura have entrusted me with the care of the almighty blog for this installment. I'm deeply proud.
Our next pit stop was in Taman Negara National Park, the main jungle area in peninsula Malaysia, where we bedded down in Nusa Camp - the lodging located furthest down the river and thus furthest into the jungle. Though there have been tiger, leopard and elephant sightings here, we would have needed to trek for several days into the jungle for a glimpse so instead we contented ourselves with the staples of the Nusa Camp experience.
It's rare that I find myself paying good money to walk into a pitch-black jungle actively searching for poisonous insects, but that's precisely what we did on our first night at Nusa. Decked out like a bunch of paranoid amateurs, with our trousers tucked into our two pairs of socks and our T-shirts in our knickers - as if leeches would be repelled by how ridiculous we looked, we set off for a night-time trek. To name check a few choice sightings, we saw a tarantula, several scorpions, a massive centipede, fireflies, glow worms, to name a few,
and Tommy did us proud by pointing out a small garden snail and a tiny spider! While we did all get leeched, our paranoia paid off, since we'd managed to avoid any flesh wounds.
The following day we set off for a trek up the hill, for an awesome view over the jungle. I don't know how the others managed it but I seemed to be incapable of walking more than 5 paces without falling over or walking into something. The view was entirely worth it, as we posed for snaps at the top.
Next up was the highest (45m) and longest canopy walkway in the world. Unfortunately for us - but actually probably quite fortunate in the long run - part of the walkway was closed for refurbishment, but that still left us with an ample portion of the walkway to contend with. We were warned against swinging the walkway before we set off to avoid weakening the structure, but this proved impossible as every step we made was magnified 100 times by the time it had wobbled its way down the rope bridge to the person walking behind. However, the "Nerves of Steel Trio" here barely
batted an eyelid and just enjoyed the view.
We finished our day with a spot of Rapid Shooting. This is a bit like white water rafting but involves a canoe with an engine on the back. Taylor took the front seat, which meant he missed out on getting soaked as the waves only built up to be big enough to hit anyone sat in second or third place. The girls at the back, whose job it was to bail the water out as quickly as it was coming in, evened things out a bit by throwing a couple of buckets of water over his head. Quite right.
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