Malaysia..Taman Negara, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur

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Hello there. So since I did the last blog we've been in Malaysia for 2 weeks. From Kota Bharu we got he early jungle train to Jerantut where you get the bus to Taman Negara. The train journey was really cool as it was straight through thick jungle almost all the time, so there was a lot to look out and see. The whole journey took about 10 hours but it flew by for me because of the scenery. The only bad thing about the train was the abundance of cockroaches, there were so many! I saw more of them on that train than all the trains in Inda put together. But after a while I got used to it and me and the cockroaches were cool. So any way when we got to Jerantut we got on the next bus to Taman Negara.

Taman Negara is this national park in one of the oldest jungles in the world. We wanted to do some sort of trek there and maybe stay in the jungle over night. We found a hostel when we got there and were sharing a room with 4 other guys. That night we went out to dinner with them and all decided we would do a trek together, we got some info the next day and then decided to trek for 3 days and spend 2 nights in the jungle. After deciding this we met an Italian/Swiss guy named Roberto who told us of these French people recently who got lost in the jungle for 18 days...great! So that day we got our supplies together, which meant getting hold of trekking boots and food mainly. My food consisted of a few pot noodles kind of things, half a loaf of bread, some chocolate bread, crisps and some water. So we book the places we were staying in the jungle. The place cost 20p because it was literlly just a roof inthe middle of the jungle and the 2nd night cost us 1pound as it was a bit more elevated and apparently there was more chances of seeing animals.

That day also me and Jay did a bit of a warm up walk inthe jungle to the Canopy walk which was incredible and also the view point which was really hard work but was also incredible. So that was good to loosen up our bodies before the big trekking.

The next day we set off, we started with 6 of us. Me, Jay, Eli (German guy who we got on with really well), Matthew (older English guy who had loads of supplies like water filters what saved us) ans a Swiss couple. One of the first things we saw was a dead wild boar with flies all over it, but the weird thing was that it had a lot of meat on it still. So we came to the conclusion that it was bitten was a snake and died..the Swiss girl really didn't like that. We had heard about leaches here before and a couple hours in, they were everywhere. Thankfully is wasn't raining because apparantly thats when they get really bad but they were still bad, little shits! The crazy thing is that they can go through socks and some other materials so you have to be aware and try to burn them off with a lighter when you see one, which ends up with you burning your leg more often. If you pull them striaght off then you leave their teeth it and you bleed for longer. They can't give you any disease or anything they're just really really annoying. After seeing the leaches and one very coourful exotic looking snake, the Swiss girl couldn't take it anymore and the Swiss couple went back...and then there were 4.

On the way to the first place we were sleeping that night we got lost a few times and got some really crap advice from some other trekkers but we eventually found the river we had to cross. After trekking in the heat of the Jungle for about 7 hours it was really nice to go through the cool river but unfortunately Jay and Eli were enjoying it too much and forgot their camera's were in their pockets...shit! After we got through the river we found where we were staying and we couldn't quite believe it...it was literally a roof with a concrete floor in the middle of the jungle with some picnic tables. So stashed our stuff there and went off to the river where there were some deep pools to have a swim in. At this piont we stripped down to our boxers and I noticed Eli had a big red mark on the bum of his boxers, it turned out that he had had a leach on his ass, awesome! After the swim we got back to the 'lodge' and starting boiling some water and cooking some beans and noodles. When it got dark we got on the tables and in our sleeping bags and tried to get to sleep..which was impossible. We got up and checked out the stars which was amazing, I've never seen so many. We made a fire for a bit and then tried to get back in our sleeping bags and sleep. It was amazing how dark it was, I think when you live in the western world you never really know pitch black darkness, this was crazy. This night was one of the scariest, exciting and best nights of my life. It's hard to explain really, all of us in our sleeping bags on picnic benche sin the middle of the Malaysian jungle ha! With it being pitch black and hearing the sounds of the jungle, my imagination was going crazy, everysound I was hearing I was wondering what animal made that sounds and hoping it would piss off! One sound was a really large peice of wood cracking in two...i was thinking that animal has got to be heavy! There are tigers and elephants in the jungle, the chances of seeing them are so slim but it was scary to think about, not to mention the spiders and snakes lurking around.

When I woke up I was happy to get through the night and after some breakfast off we went again to the next place to stay. This path was pretty intense, really thick jungle where you questioned if you were on the path anymore. And here I stopped wondering how those french people got lost. We decided to check out a different place to stay that would have made the last days trek a bit shorter as we were running out of food. Me, Jay and Eli didn't like it though so we left Matthew there and went on to the planned place. And then there were 3!

We got there and set up our stuff. There were some other people here this time, they got the boat there and could spare some food which was great. These Polish guys that we met earlier that day turned up there about 30 mins before dark and looked pretty bad, they had got lost and tried to follow the river down and had ruined all their camera's. They were so happy to see us and we gave them a map, some water and directed them to where they could get a boat. They were so lucky they found us before dark!

The next morning we had some breakfast and set off again on which was our hardest day by far. Me, Jay and Eli had picked up an Irish guy who came with us and we went on our last part of our trek. It was the hardest day ever! We had no food and the path was up and down up and down all the way. Parts we had to climb. At one point the Irish guy pulled out a orange and cut it into 4, I could have kissed the guy. The last couple of kilometers I was walking like a boxer thats been punched to many times. We finally made it back and we all went straight to the resaurant and ate sooooo much, it was well deserved. This trek was amazing and one of the best things I have ever done. And in it made a good friend in Eli who maybe one day will visit in Berlin...maybe. He told me al about Octoberfest which sounds awesome by the way and taught me some rude things in German, which is fun!

That night we slept back in our dorms and in the morning got the bus to Kuala Lampur (KL). We only stayed in KL for one night and then went to Melaka in the morning. Melaka is a city on the south coast which has been a tradinf port for a really long time so has so many nationalities there; Indian, Chinese, Dutch, Portaguese etc. We stayed in China town and it was Chinese new year there. This was good and bad as that meant all things were closed in the day so there wasn't alot to do but in the night the festivities began. My favourite part was they gave their kids these massive fireworks to play with in the street, it was crazy! We found a great Indian restaurant which rekindled my faith in Indian food after my traumatic experieces in...India ha! There's not too much to say about Melaka, we stayed 3 night and jusst chilled out and enjoyed some great food which was what we need after our trekking.

So after 3 nights we got the bus to KL. Again we stayed in China town. One of my favourite things about Malaysia is that it's like a melting pot of Asian cultures, which means the food here is so different and you get get so many different things, a lot of the time for really cheap and on street stalls. We went on a sight seeing day here where we I visited the mosques, Little India and and China town. Also we went to the Twin towers on Malysia which was really cool. You have to get there really early and get a ticket for later in the day but it was worth it. That night we went up the Menara KL tower which is even higher and shows amazing panoramic views of the city, at night it was lovely. We've also done some shopping here, the prices are amazing for clothes, we want to stop here on the way home to stock up on stuff. Oh ya met this disabled Malaysian guy who pretends or thinks he's Mr Bean, freakin' love that guy, always brings a smile to my face. Our hostel had been really good, met alot of cool people and some interesting ones. Met this lovely spanish girl named Lorena last night, I could seriously listen to here speak for ever...another reason to go to Latin America one day ha! One thing that sucks about Malaysia is the expensive beer, they put loads of tax on it and it's more expensive than England, so we've stayed away from it because Bali is next. I've really rushed through KL and Melaka because I;ve just looked at the time and I've got to be on the bus to the airport really soon so gotta go! My camera is playing up again so will put pics on here as soon as I sort the freakin thing out. So tonight we have a flight to Bali, our last stop in Asia before Australia. Speka soon x

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