Advertisement
we took the 'jungle train' from kota baru headed for taman negara at 6am. it's a really beautiful 6hr journey that ploughs right through the mountains and thick jungle (or so i'm told, i slept most of it). we stayed the night in another crappy 'in-between' town, and headed into the jungle the following morning by boat along the river.
the jungle itself is over 4,300 km2, and over 135 million years old. it's been a protected national park for 60 years.
the first day ruairi and i set out to do the canopy walk. it's 50 metres above ground in some sections and about 500 metres long, though only half was open as they were repairing ropes. which, although dissapointing, was also comforting as we balanced on a 20cm wide plank, gripping onto a couple of ropes with our heads in the trees. the idea is to spot monkeys and birds and take in the views, but you end up concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and forget to look around.
that evening we took a night safari in an open jeep through the palm tree plantation. the jungle is home to
tigers, leopards, rhinos, elephants, wild boar, deer, tapirs, monkeys...etc. our guide, who was sitting on the roof with a huge spotlight, spotted something rather big roaming through the trees, so we backed the car up and there it was...a huge, white...cow! couldn't believe our eyes! it was hard to follow up such a sighting, but we also managed to spot a barn owl, a kingfisher, a small bird, and a 'slow lorris' ( a small monkey species that moves really slow), but the fact that it was on a telephone wire kinda took something away from it. ruairi, who took the torch for a bit spotted a mouse and an insect (he has very good eyesight).
the following day, we decided to go on a big trek by ourselves. we walked for hours along a marked trail and it was bloody tough. up and down, up and down. we were on all fours on most 'ups' and abseiling down ropes on all the 'downs'. it was full on. throw in 55 deg temps, a humidity of 107%, sweating like a...well, sweating alot, enough leeches to drain us of any vital fluids we may have left...and about a cups worth
of drinkable water on us. now picture this. ruairi screaming like an old banchee as another leech grasps hold of his leg and demands that i light a cigarette to burn it off. i had to literally had to take smoke and fire past my shrivelled, cracked, dry lips and push it forcably into my dehydrated, 'closed-for-business' lungs. it was ridiculous! ruairi screaming for me to light a ciggarette and me not wanting to! haha! but, it's the only way to get the little mongerals off! this seemed to go on for hours. the track started getting really, well, non-existant and we started wondering whether we had gone off track. then after the 27th leech attack and water was emptied, we decided to follow a creek down to the river and flag a boat down to get back.
the first boat we waved to just waved back at us. captain, crew, all of them! just smiling away! even with ruairi screaming 'we're stuck! take us with you!'. the second boat nearly did the same thing, but luckily the passengers made the captain come back for us. it was a long-tailed boat that was taking the 2 passengers on a
rapid-shooting trip. so we tied the camera in a plasic bag and off we went tearing up the river, smashing through waves and getting completely drenched. then the sky went black and the heavens opened up and we were in the middle of a huge storm and torrential down-pour (to couple with our up-pour). we had got out of the jungle just in time.
that evening, we met our irish neighbours and sat chatting with them for a bit. the good people they were, they shared their litre bottle of smirnoff with us that the little sister had just brought over duty-free. i haven't had a drink for about 3 weeks, malaysia being a predominately 'dry' country and it being so bloody pricey when you can find booze. so that with the day we had, it went down a bloody treat. aaaggghhhh.
the 3rd day, we went for another trek for more punishment, but this time it was a shorter, easier track. we headed to one of the hides and salt-licks. its basically a wooden, open-ended hut on stilts over a little creek set up for animal observation. there was no-one there as people stay over-night for better
chance of spotting animals. the record book showed that some people had spotted an elephant, others just leeches. hehe. who, evidently i forgot to mention, actually stand up on their little wormy bodies, hunt you down and launch themselves at you! little bastards!
the last day, another little trek in search of one of the few tribes who live in the jungle. we came across one of the tribesmen on the outskirts of his village and he took us for a wonder through. himself and another tribesman showed us how to make fire and blow darts. ruairi tried to start a fire, but his head looked like it was either gonna explode or he would pass out. i offered him a lighter but he wouldn't take it. he never started a fire. he had a go at the blow darts, shooting at a target on a tree. he had about 6 shots and missed every time. he and the other guy harassed me to have a go but i was scared a child may end up with a dart in the head. i gave in eventually and hit the target second time. ruairi wasn't happy.
the guy told
us we could go around taking photos of the tribes people, but we both felt really invasive so we didn't. just took a few photos at a distance. regret it a bit now though cause there would have been some great shots.
so thats all! KL next! cheers for all the comments guys!
larry
oh, and a special 'shout out' to monique for her birthday! happy baarsday bouma!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0653s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
d and b
non-member comment
cows
now you have met a malaysian cow now you can add this to irish,english and aussie cows you met cheers keep having fun.