In the JUNGLE !

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well the jungle .......

we went to the jungle of taman negara. it in the middle of malaysia and its a protected national park. the setup is that there is a small village on one bank of the jungle, with all (except for 1) the hotels/guesthouse on oneside, and to get to the jungle you have to cross the river to the otherside to get in. see the attached map picture i made. this also shows the various treks we did while we were there.

so what did we do, first we decided we wanted to do the canopy walk, which i guess is the first thing everybody wants to do when they get there, cause its well cool, your basically 50+ meters up off the jungle floor on a suspention bridge which goes from tree to tree, now this thing aint no feat of engineering, its basically a net with a plank on top of a ladder thrown into it, whicdh was fine except there were a few times where you have to move slowly cause every step sends the walkway up and down nealry a meter in deflection ! So anyway we done the canopy walk on the first day and that was cool.

later that night we decided to do the hingh safari, on the back of a jeep. no when i say safari we were told that there was the possibility to see leopards etc. and i was all psyched up for it, even though they say there is only a 30% chance of seeing one (i was thinkin this will be my lucky night !) anyway i should'nt have bothered, it was pretty shit ! the only things we saw were an owl, frogs, a cow, a little bird, a wild pig and a slow lauris (which was hangin outa a power cable which lost a bit of the jungle mystic for me !) i guess the problem is that the safari route was on the more developed side of the river, not the jungle side. anyway, the cool part was just standing up on the back of the jeep on the way home !

so day 2, this day me and larry decided we would go all out on a big trek. wegot up early and headed over cross the river to the jungle .....

ASIDE.

THE JUNGLE IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE, NOW IF YOUR GOING REALLY FAR AS IN SAY, OVERNIGHT TRECKING AND STUFF, YOU PRETTY MUCH HAVE TO TAKE A GUIDE, BUT IF YOUR ONLY GOING FOR THE DAY, YOU CAN DO MOST ALL OF IT BY YOURSELF. THE SHORTER TRAILS, SAY 1 HOUR FROM THE START ARE WELL EASY TO FOLLOW, AND EVEN AFTER THAT THE TRAILS ARE GENERALLY EASY ENOUGH TO FOLLOW. SO SINCE WE WERE NOT STAYIN OUT OVER NIGHT, WE DIDNT BOTHER WITH A GUIDE.

..... we walked for ages past the canopy walk, and up onto this hill where you can see for really far around which was good. we stopped for a little while on top for lunch and soon after we moved on. about half way (what we though wa half way, but really say 1 third) we met a guy and his kids. they said they had bee alkin for a bit, but that if we kept going we could get a boat back. since we were about halfway through our water we thought, grand we will keep going and get a boat back. right then, that bastard and his kids were full of shit, cause we kept going and we found nothing ! we went on a monster treck for housr after that and eventually made it to the river. we luckily hailed a passing boat which was the last of the day ! which for the grace of god brought us back, as we were picked up, the heavens opened on us. the rain wa really bloddy heavy, and to be honest it hurt when it hit ya. anyway we were glad to be on our way back, and we were lucky enough to get a boat. the walk was the best part of 10k but in the jungle that hay as well be 30 cause it was all up and down hill. which is a killer on the knees.

also on that day i encountered my most hated creature on the planet. LEECHES !!!. the bastards are disgusting, but the best part is how horrofied larry was of them ! they are like worms, and stand up straight and cling/jump onto you as you walk past. they are so fast its unnatural. then the stick onto yawith both ends and suck your blood. the only way to get them off is to burn the little bastards (since we had no salt), this was the only time i was glad larry was a smoker ! they are small enought, and ya dont eally feel them on ya, but the soon fill up and enlarge as they fill with blood. they are horrible creatures to remove, sometimes if you see them before they get hold you can flick or pull them off. they move so fast though, i seen one little bastard go throught the fabric of me shoe and me sock !

anyway take me word for it, theyre horrid, and everywhere !

that evenin was pretty good, it was cool due to the rain, and our neighbours in the dorm next to us were from ireland and we had a great chat all evenin/night.

right then, day 3. the trackin was a bit easier, the terrain was flatter and we were a bit more used to it. we decided to make our way to an animal hide where you can stay over night (but we didnt, we just came back before sundown). it was a good day, and we enjoyed it. kinda glad we didnt stay, cause when we got to the hide, there was a logbook, and over the last year or 2 people had seen feck all animals. there were some rare sightings of elephants, and the odd leopard but mostly pigs, deer etc. anyway we only saw leeches and lizards that day and it was enought for us .... especially the bloody leeches !

on the last day, before we caught the evenin bus outa there, me and larry decided to do a treck down to see the one of the native tribes .....

ASIDE.

WHEN WE THINK OF TRIBES, WE ALL WANT TO BELIEVE THAT THEY WILL BE AMAZED BY US AND THAT WE ARE SOME KIND OF DISCOVERER .. BUT WE ARE NOT. THESWE GUYS HAVE CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD. BUT THE MAGIC IS NOT LOST, THEY STILL LIVE WITH THE TRADITIONAL WAYS, THEY STILL HUNT MONKEYS WITH BLOWPIPES, AND LIVE IN TRADITIONAL HOUSES. BUT THEY DO HAVE CONTACT WITH THE WORLD OUTSIDE, THEY HAVE A GENERATOR AND 1 TV, AND A WATER PIPE WHICH RUNS THROUGHT THE JUNGLE (I WOULD HATE THE JOB OF RUNNIN THAT THROUGH). BUT THEY DONT SEND THEYRE KIDS TO SCHOOL ANYMORE, BECAUSE THE Y SAY THAT THE KIDS PICK UP TOO MANY BAD INFLUENCES LIKE SMOKING ETC. BUT ANYWAY ITS COOL, THEY MAKE A LIVING BY LETTING PEOPLE INTO THEYRE VILLAGE, SHOWING THEM THEYRE TRADITIONAL WAYS AND STUFF, AND THEN THAT MONEY CAN GO TOWARDS THE TRIBE ETC. WHIC IS FINE I THINK. I WOULDNT EXPECT ANYONE TO LIVE IN THE STONE AGE, I SURE AS HELL WOOULDNT!

..... which was not too bad trecking, but there were 2 murderious hills we had to pass, which even the locals find hard ! and those guys are cut from stone in terms of walking. anyway ,eeting the tribe was pretty cool, we were unexpected (as we just walked in and didnt come with a tour). the tribes people took us around and showed us the place. they showed us some of theyre traditional stuff like how to make a fire (which i failed miserable at) and how to shoot a blowpipe (which i was not bad at, but larry was much better at!)

what i found funny was that they can build a hut in a day, but a blowpipe takes a week !

anyway, amazed at how good she was with a blowpipe larry bought one and now we have to lug it back to oz. so anyway we went back to the village and got the evening bus to jerantut and caught the overnight train down to Kuala Lumpur (which didnt leave till 2am)

thanks for all the comments on the last blog.

MIKE - no 50 times same message doesnt count (but cheers for the one)

AL - Asia would be a nightmare in a wheelchair, especially toilets. some cities aint bad, but it will be years befor they ever catch up with the rest of the world. Your best bet is to travel either ALIEN RESSURECTION STYLE (strapped to someones back) or find a giant and sit on someones shoulders 'master blaster' style like in MAD MAX BEYONE THUNDERDOME. first way prob best, especiall in the jungle.

VALENTINA - yeah the underwater pics were fun to make, and better than i expected to get from a disposable waterproof camera with no flash !

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Comments

[blondie]

GOOD to see you are haveing a good time cap; some cool shots under the water ill hotmail u over the wend did u feel tall wit your hobbit mates cant beat the old zip for good fire all the best

[AL]

Nghh!
Blow-pipe would be great for when crits go bad! Maybe a bit un-wieldly. But, can you imagine the size of the bugger needed to carry me on his back, or on his shoulders for that matter! Best ALN

[d and b]

trees
them trees remind me of glenart just like home hehe