Advertisement
Published: October 22nd 2010
Kuala Tembling Quay
Waiting to board our canoe to take us into the rainforest.Travel Blog
Day 4 Travelling to Teman Negara Nationa lPark
We were up bright and early, had our Malaysian fried rice for breakfast and donned our backpacks (wow they feel very heavy!) and walked to the Crown Plaza Hotel to catch our bus.
The bus cost 70 MRM each and arrived pretty much on time with our guide for the day, whose name was “Apple” on board. Nice air conditioned coach, but with no more than 9 people on board. Apple explained that there had been a problem with the original bus so we had a different bus and a driver that had never driven to Taman Negara before!
The journey started well but we were disappointed with the scenery - just miles and miles of Palm oil trees in huge plantations! Not what we had expected at all. It is a travesty that the rainforest is being systematically destroyed for Palm Oil!
About half way through the 3 hour coach trip the driver pulled over, got out and started to fiddle with the coach. It appeared that the pressure in the brakes had gone and it was too dangerous to continue. So Apple called ahead and asked that another
bus be sent to pick us up and take us to our destination at Kuala Tembling.
After about 50 minutes a very small mini bus arrived and we all squeezed in! The driver turned out to be a wannabe rally driver. We sped along as fast as the minibus would go - often right up the rear end of the car in front! We all just hung on for dear life but then we hit the top of a hummock in the road so fast that I swear we took off from the tarmac! Thank God we were nearly there.
Kuala Tembling is a jetty where the small boats dock to take you into the heart of the rainforest. When I say small boats I mean sort of long thin canoe type boats with aluminium roofs to keep the sun off and a small outboard motor on the back. The boats take 14 people maximum plus any luggage.
So at about 2pm we were off for a 3 hour trip up the river to Teman Negara. It was a fantastic trip seeing the rainforest becoming denser and denser, spotting kingfishers along the banks and being joined on the trip by
Teman Negara National Park
View from our hotel balcony huge butterflies!
After about 2 hours our bottoms were numb! You sat in the bottom of the boat on a thin cushion and after a while it was very uncomfortable indeed, but it was worth it! Teman Negara came into sight - as it happens it is just lots of floating restaurants along the bank and a few hotels and backpacker lodges.
We were staying at the Rainforest Resort and a man in a pickup truck came to get us - we climbed into the back with our backpacks and away we went. I think that it’s fair to say that if you imagine your room at your local Butlins you wouldn’t be far off what the hotel was like. It was clean, but basic. However Stuart had paid for an executive room with a balcony - that turned out to be a rear patio with a couple of chairs on it!
We decided to wander down to the river and book some excursions. We signed up to do the “Night Safari” , The Canopy Walks, and a trip to Lata Berchow Fish sanctuary (whatever that was). The night safari was a waste of time really. We saw 2 stick
Canopy walk
Rope walk through the canopy insects, some giant ants, a small green snake in a tree and a beetle! I could probably see more than that down at the bottom of my garden!
Meanwhile, halfway through the hike Stuart was very sick - we are not sure whether it was a reaction to the malaria pill or the huge chilli that he inadvertantly swallowed that was cunningly hidden under his fried rice! Needless to say that we now do a full reccy of each mouthful before we eat it.
We both slept really well though that night and woke up ready for the excursions that were on offer.
Day 5 Exploring Teman Negara
The day started with a very basic breakfast and then we walked down to the river to take our tour in the rainforest. We all climbed into the canoe and crossed the river and then proceeded to climb up through the forest. It was so incredibly hot and humid that within a few minutes we were all absolutely soaked with sweat.
The track started as very steep man made steps, but then turned into a basic well trodden path trough the trees. It was incredibly steep in places and the
tree roots made for wonderful natural steps. we climbed up to a viewpoint which was at 448 metres to view he forest and have a well earned rest.
At the top we spotted a snake curled up in a bush. It turned out to be a green viper - apparently deadly according to our guide. So of course Stuart tried to get closer to take a photo. Luckily the snake seemed not to take umbridge and bite him!
We then climbed down to the start of the Canopy Walks. It consisits of 7 rope bridges precariously strung between the 40 metre high trees in the rainforest canopy. Quite scary but spectacular!
We finished the tour and crossed the river again to have lunch at "Mama Chops" restaurant - 5 MRM or £1 for a huge bowl of Chinese fried rice! Excellent. it was lovely to cool off. A super afternoon.
There's not much to do in Teman negara after dark so it was early to bed.
Day 6 Return to KL
The afternoon tour was a private boat ride into the rainforest - it was beautiful. We parked the canoe and then hiked up to a cascade where we
had a swim.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0549s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
jholloway
Julia Holloway
In the rainforest
Go to http://www.travelblog.org/fred.php?id=540107to see my Travel blog!