Blogs from Taman Negara National Park, Pahang, Malaysia, Asia - page 2

Arrived into tropical Kuala Lumpur, staying in the centre of the bustling Chinatown district lined with street-stalls and markets, and dining on seafood at an excellent Malaysian restaurant. Early the next morning took a coach up to the Cameron Highlands, driving along steep roads lined with a huge panoply of election posters (the majority depicting the blue scales of the incumbent Barisan Nasional government). Took a hot walk through the jungle to find the world's largest flower, the bright red splash of colour (about 1m across !) incongruously standing out from the dense green undergrowth. Later had a tour and a great cup of tea overlooking the Boh plantation up in the hills, followed by cake with freshly-picked strawberries at a local farm. Headed south to Taman Negara in the dense jungle heart of the Malay ... read more

ooh oooh, Ahh ahhhh! . . .Er . . . I mean, we've landed in the jungle of Taman Negra National Park :) Taman Negra National Park covers 3 areas of Malaysia, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu. The rainforest has been recorded to be 130 million years old and is the oldest tropical rainforest on the planet as it was not affected by an ice age and has no volcano activity nearby. We are staying in a wooden hut about a mile out of the main spot for entering the park which is really peaceful, the only noise we get is of the surrounding jungle. . . The first day we went rapid shooting, which basically means you go thrashing into a rapid head first in a thin river boat and get absolutley drenched! good fun! after ... read more

If ever two nights and three days were to stand out in our travelling experiences, these are the ones. I (M) booked this adventure knowing that we would be stepping outside our comfort zones, and we were willing to stretch ourselves a bit. We thought to leave our two duffel bags at the Maytower hotel, in free storage, and just take our smaller backpacks with us, a decision that made our trip simpler and much more enjoyable. After taxiing to our meeting point in Chinatown, we registered along with about 20 others, all of course at least 20+ years our junior. We boarded a reasonably modern bus and headed 3 hours into the centre of the peninsula to Jerantut, where we were given lunch before we boarded another bus for the jetty on the Tembeling River. ... read more

After the Perhentian Islands I headed further south to Taman Negara national park. This has a reputation as the oldest untouched rainforest on earth and is home to animals such as the Asian elephant, Tigers and Leopards. As well as a plethora of birds, snakes, monkeys and insects. I took the train from a nearby city which cost 5 pounds and landed me a short bus journey away from Taman Negara; the views from the train were inspiring, constantly zigging past huge rivers and mountain highways. Similarly the bus journey had some awesome views, endless forests and palm tree fields made the trip in a small van barely noticeable. Upon arriving at Taman Negara I checked into a dorm for 10 ringgit and went to meet my German friend, the town is very small and didn’t ... read more

Part 1 by Jan – Leaving Perhentian Internet access was a bit scarce over the last week or so and we were not able to update you as regularly as we hoped. Luckily we have our netbook with us and we can write our adventures down as they happen and upload them with a bit of a delay. Polona wrote the last entry just before we left the islands and we managed to upload it once arriving at Taman Negara National park. But before the park we still had a night out on the Perhentian Islands. Chris and I did end up dressing up as girls. Between Kay (owners of Chris’s bikini top and hair band), Sandra (kind enough to lend me a top and Chris her skirt) and Polona (lending me her skirt and a ... read more