Blogs from Kuala Tahan, Pahang, Malaysia, Asia - page 4

Etter å ha vært på reisefot i nesten 24 timer, hvor vi testet ut så og si all typer transport Malaysia har å tilby, annkom vi endelig regnskgen i Taman Negara. Klokken var 6 om morgenen og vi var trøtte, slitene, skittne, sultene, men humøret var likevel på topp - endelig var vi i regnskogen, jungelen! Vi nynnet på ”Hakuna Matata” fra The Linon King, mens vi vandret fra gjestehus til gjestehus, det holdt motet oppe da vi fikk det ene avslag etter det andre. Det første gjestehuset var fullt, turen til neste gjestehus var lang og det var ett utrolig nederlag da vi oppdaget at de enda ikke hadde åpnet. Videre vandret vi til Durian gjestehus, oppkalt etter Asias ekleste frukt (som faktisk er forbudt på togstasjonen i Singapore - så ekkel er både lukten ... read more

Taman Negara is one of the oldest rainforests in the world, estimated to be 130 million years old. The entire park is about 4,343 sq km (or about 2,692 miles). There can be found tigers, elephants, monkeys, tapirs, birds and insects as well as interesting plants and flowers and loads of German tourists. There are hiking trails, caves for explorations and a canopy walk. For the extremely adventurous, they offer huts that are out in the middle of the jungle (it took one guy 6 hours to hike there) where you can stay overnight in an observation hide (sticks stuck in the ground with a tarp on top basically). At one of these hides you might be able to come in contact with one of the afore mentioned animals (except the German tourists- they are not ... read more

Lying back in the humid air, sweat dripping of our faces and plagued by numerous insect-life, we eventually left the hostel and were picked up by a coach which would take us to a small town on the outskirts of Taman Negara National Park, from where we were organised into Long-Boats for the 2 hour journey upstream to the heart of the park. Having been sat on trains and buses, the freedom of travelling by motor-boat with the sun beating down and a cooling breeze in our faces it truly was an amazing couple of hours. Despite occasionally nodding off with the gentle bobbing of the boat, we saw monkeys, birds and huge 4-5ft Monitor Lizards patrolling the sand banks. A good introduction to the rainforest, we thought. After being allocated to our room - we ... read more

February 1st: Semi-recovered from the previous day's long trek, we decided to go to Gua Telinga (the Bat cave) which was supposedly a 2 hour hike each way. We set out early so we could catch the afternoon bus out of the jungle. After breakfast we took the ferry across the river and started on our trek. The sign said it was 2.8 km to the cave, but we were skeptical. The first part was also a really long, really steep section that made it feel longer than it was and had us worrying that if the whole trail was like this, we might not make the bus. We went as fast as we could, which really wasn't very fast, but luckily the trail flattened out after two hills. It took about an hour to get ... read more

We're at the end of our jungle adventure and it's been really quite good! We set off for the scenic river trip from Tembeling at around 9am on the 18th and we arrived in the National Park's village at around 1pm on the same day. The river trip was something that was highly recommended as it's very quiet, tranquil and the chance to see some wild animals is quite high. For the latter, the reality is quite different, but the other descriptors are true - the journey is very peaceful and it's a great introduction to the laidback way of life in the jungle for the people that live there. After a bum-aching three hours, we arrived in Taman Negara and quickly found a very cheap place to stay - unfortunately, that place stunk so we ... read more