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Published: August 24th 2007
Here I am back in South East Asia at the beginning of another big trip, and within three hours of the plane touching down, I had already broken our first rule of travel: no motorbikes! From previous travels, we had run into so many people with various bandaged limbs which usually turned out to be motorbike related. Therefore, we have a firm rule that motorbike travel is to be avoided at all costs, that is until you hit Bangkok traffic!
One of my first jobs upon arriving in Thailand was to take a taxi for the 20-minute trip to the hospital to get all of my injections for the trip. After 30 minutes of completely stand-still traffic, my taxi driver suggested that I change into a motorbike taxi and zip through the traffic if I ever wanted to get there. So, I decided to go ahead and do it, despite my reservations. The taxi driver negotiated a price for me and off we went, zipping through the crazy Bangkok traffic, darting in and out of cars, trucks, and buses. At one point, the motorbike driver even went up on the curb so as to get ahead of the crowd. The
Kuala Tehan
The village and headquarters were set around the muddy river.only comforting factor was that we were getting closer to the hospital with every hair-raising moment. Luckily, I arrived safe and sound, if not a little dishevelled! Within 40 minutes, I had seen my American doctor (Dr. Nick), had four injections, and had picked up my malaria pills, all for $150, something which would have cost $600 to $700 in the USA!
By that afternoon, I was on an overnight train, smoothly cruising through lush rice paddies and mountains towards Malaysia where I was to meet my parents.
Thanks to email, I was able to meet up with my parents with no pre-planning and no cell phone! I was quite glad to see that they had a nice room with air-conditioning and hot shower waiting for me - I certainly had some sleep to catch up on!
The next morning, we were on the Jungle Railway bright and early at 6:20am. The bad news was that we had tried to buy tickets but when it was our turn at the front of the queue, they closed the window and said "no more tickets". We got on anyway, along with a handful of other foreign travellers, and found
Floating Restaurants
Remarkably, no-one fell in! seats. At each new station, however, the train filled up and we were soon kicked out of our seats. In the end we spent most of our time seated in the buffet car, munching on the snacks we had brought with us!
Taman Negara National Park is supposedly the oldest rainforest in the world. The headquarter town of Kuala Tehan is set along a brown muddy river in the middle of the park. On arrival, we took a taxi boat across the river to the park headquarters and bought our parks passes. I think I was much more alarmed to see a photo of a tarantula on their wall than I was to see one of a tiger! As it turned out, we didn't see either one thank goodness.
We met up with a couple called Fergul and Mica that night who my parents has met in the Perhentians Islands, and all went out to a floating restaurant, and amazingly no-one fell off the shaky wooden access plank. It was probably a good job that nowhere served beer, or it would have been inevitable!
We did a canopy walkway, which was basically a string of metal ladders
strung across the tree canopy with several fraying ropes to hold them up. Not sure this was the best feat of engineering in the world, but it did the job! If you are wondering why we have the ridiculous fashion of our socks tucked into our shoes, it was because of the infamous leeches. We were all a bit paranoid of them I think. At the beginning of our 3-hour hike, I watched the ground and trees meticulously, trying to avoid touching anything at any cost. I was so scared one of the little suckers would latch onto me and I wouldn't even know! A little way into the walk, I noticed a "twig" sticking up from the ground, waving around. We soon realized that it was actually a skinny leech looking for a meal. They were nothing like what I had envisioned! Mum was the only one to get a leech - two in fact! She was quite alarmed at first to see it on her white sock, creating a growing circle of blood. My dad came to the rescue and pelted it with a tonne of insect repellent until it was gassed out on 50% DEET and let
go. Nasty! Later on when she got another of the little suckers, she wasn't so stressed.
The scariness of the jungle was interspersed with fun and games such as swinging on a vine like Tarzan, and it turned out to be a good day. We ended it with a boat ride back to "civilization" on the river. Next stop...the beach!
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Chris P
non-member comment
Wheres Scott?
Great to see you have ablog. I expect updates everyday from now on! I think you have forgotten to take something with you though. Wheres Scott? I thought you were going to Africa first aswell but you seem to be in Malaysia. Are you heading to Africa next?