Taman Negara Jungle Treks

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The trip to Taman Negara National Park was a bit of a dissappointment. We had heard some great things about 'The Jungle Train' - which was supposed to give you some amazing views of the Malaysian Jungle. To me - it seemed like just an ordinary train. Except for the fact that it stopped at 5 minute intervals. So if someone tries to sell you the Cameron Highlands - Taman Negara extortionately priced ticket with the slogan 'you get to experience the JUNGLE TRAIN' - tell them you'd rather take a public bus back to KL and head up from there.
So with a dissappointing journey behind me, I didn't have high hopes for the National Park. Little did I know that even in the most foul of moods Taman Negara couldn't even begin to dissappoint! Although the town isn't much to rave about - the atmosphere is great, and everyone is pumped on the prospect of doing some good treks in the jungle!
I had some stomach trouble (of the Immodium kind) on the trip over, so I hadn't had a thing to eat all day...so once in Kuala Tahan (the main town) we found the nearest restaurant and had some great food. I'm finally learning some Malay for the foods - Mee Goreng is fried noodles, nasi goreng is fried rice, and kari ayam is curry rice. We were joined by a German guy - Mike- who had been on our bus, and Danielle, an English girl. While we were sitting there, we heard a loud 'hello' behind us...it was Harj from the Cameron Highlands!
Later that evening once Mike and Danielle had gone home and just Keith, Harj, Nassir, and I were left, we were all looking around the local mini-mart, and Tom and Sara (also from C.H) turned up! We ended up going for a drink and stayed up for hours just chatting and - once again- playing question games. Harj and Nassir were insisting Koh Phi Phi was FAR better than the Pyrintheans...
The next day Keith and I attempted to wake up early to start our two day jungle trek. However, when we got to the tourist information where you rent a bed in the over-night huts they told us #20 was FULL! This put a damper on our plans, seeing that this was the only hut which you could hike to a. without a guide b. that took longer than 2 hours. So we had to change our plans, and decided to book a closer hut for that night, and go to #20 the following night.
Since we couldn't start hiking to the farther hut, we decided to do the canopy walk instead. This is a walk on high walkways above the canopy of the jungle. They are extremely high up, and at one point all I could think about was how someone could cut the end of the ropes on one side, and I would have to hold on to my ropes - Indiana Jones style. Unlike the Cameron Highlands, walking in the jungle in Taman Negara is a sweaty business.
After the canopy walk, Keith and I had a bit of a dilemma - seeing that we had only planned to go hiking for 2 days, we only had enough food to last for that time. We could have either bought more cookies and chips from the over-priced supermarket, or head back to the other side of the river to eat lunch and buy some more food. We decided to head across the river...seeing that we had some time to kill before night-fall.
Once we had eaten a delicious lunch, and bought some more chocolate and other unhealthy provisions, we finally began our hike. The 'hike' to #6 was more of a walk - although an excuisitely beautiful one at that. It only took about 2-3 hours, and we were at the hut well before nightfall. In a mad attempt to save carrying weight, I had left my book in my large bag...and so didn't have much to entertain me during the evening. It was only me and Keith, and once the sun had gone down and an evening rainfall had started, I didn't have too much choice but to call it a night. It was probably for the best, since the next day's hike was predicted to be a long one!
The evening rainfall turned into an all-night affair. In the morning the ground was wet, and there were still a few raindrops falling. Keith wanted to take shelter from the rain and stay in the hut, but I couldn't stand the thought of an entire day being cooped up in a hut - so I decided to head back into town. However, on my way to town, I realised that the wetness didn't actually affect the hiking too much. It just gave it a bit of a refreshing touch. So I walked back to the hut, persuaded Keith to come along, and were FINALLY on our way to hut 20. Although we were quite silent the entire way to the hut, we weren't lucky enough to see any animals. We saw elephant footprints - and heard some elephants in the distance...but all we experienced visually were the thousands of leaches that attacked us from all sides. They made stopping impossible. and we had to pause for constant 'leech checks'.
The leeches were quite smart though, you could see that the instant they sensed you, they would stretch up as high as they could - like the arms of school children as they yell 'teacher me me me pick ME'. Or if you stop and they're close enough, they make a speedy 'run' for you. Nevertheless - however they did it, they were definitely successful in getting onto my shoes and legs.
Other than the leeches, the hike was great - it was so great to be outdoors and doing something active. Keith and I kept a good pace, and we made it to the hut in record time. We probably arrived at the hut at around 1 - where we had predicted around 3-4. After my shower (YES - this jungle hut had a SHOWER!)....I took a nap. At this point I REALLY wanted a book, for some reason Keith and I weren't talking much - and so I couldn't rely on him for entertainment, although we DID play a few games of cards.
The next to arrive at the hut was a Japanese family. Although they didn't speak English, I though the two children - aged around 6 and 9 - were amazing. They had been hiking in the jungle for HOURS, they were obviously exhausted and hungry, but they were still happy and quiet. They took showers, ate, played a bit amongst themselves, and at around 8, they fell asleep. No-Hassle Children. Where do you order them from?!?
The final inhabitant of hut 20 were two French guys who arrived around night-fall. They were very friendly, and I chatted to them until the Japanese family went to bed, when we thought it was about time to be quiet.
That night was one of the most memorable nights on my entire trip. Once we were all quietly lying in bed, I started to hear a scuttling noise. From the previous night in hut 6, I knew it was rats. They didn't scare me, I knew we had hung all our food up and that the rats were used to human visitors.
However, at around 2 AM (hadn't fallen asleep yet), the French boys started to make some noise and turned their flashlights on. What I later found out was that they had kept their bread in their bed, and they had been woken up by a rat tugging at it. All I ended up seeing in the light of their flashlight, was the BIGGEST rat I could ever have even imagined running down the pole of their bed. It was HUGE. I think it could have eaten me for sure. 😉 . This DID scare me, and I curled up in the sleeping bag (head and all)...and hoped I would get to sleep at some point.
When the sun came up, I was extremely grateful. Keith and I left the hut quite early - at around 7. The hike back to the village was much more demanding than the previous day's hike. We were drenched in about 5 minutes. The land was very hilly - and every steep downhill was followed by a vertical uphill. But it was JUST the kind of hiking that I wanted. X-treme. My favorite part of the hike was when Keith lost the way, and we ended up crawling up a hill hand and foot.
We finally got into town at around 12:30. We took showers at our hostel, grabbed our bags, had lunch, and headed to the river to catch our slow boat to Jurantut. The boat ride took 2 hours, and it was beautiful. The day was sunny and beautiful, and 2 hours was perfect for a bit of relaxation in a beautiful setting.
On the other side we were met by a bus which took us into town, where we had a 7 hour wait for our train up to Kota Bharu - where we would catch the ferry to the Pyrintheans. The wait went by fast - we were even joined by our French friends who had taken a bus from Taman Negara. Even Keith was on form - he showed the most amount of life I've seen out of him as he spoke to some beautiful Jordanian girls. I guess he can act lively when he wants to.

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Photos

Taman Negara
Breakfast

Taman Negara
Hiking

Taman Negara
LEACHES!