Taman Negara

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Headed to Jerantut - nice little stop-over with night market for yummy food..with rice of course! - then off the next day for taman negara. relaxing long boat ride over to the jungle. great little spot & staying in a cute chalet. took an easy stroll through some jungle stuff to begin, over a hill for nice views & then karen & shell wanting to give up early, but luckily i made some jungle friends who would persevere. amazing jungle sounds, lots of lizards, millions of termites, birds, etc. loving it!

went over the highest canopy walk in the world? asia? somthing - anyway, wasn't actually very scary, but enjoyable all the same, journey back was more interesting - probably took a slightly wrong path & ended up in a village settlement somewhere, but very interesting & we were well received & managed to find our way back out again. then properly visited an orang asli village, spent some time with the people watching them make fire, prepare to hunt animals with bamboo stick & darts, etc. nice little hangout spot.

made friends with a guide here, Man (Manmas) who took us to a waterfall the next day - was meant to be an easy trek but turned out not to be quite such a little stroll in teh park! actually quite challenging again, contemplating how to climb over various obstacles, trekking thorugh streams, up & over rock - but all this didn't really bother me too much, actually very much enjoyed it. karen & shell hated it at the time so i felt quite guilty. the LEECHES on the other hand were not so great. quite disgusting anyway, & all over the place - hard to dodge. but we leanrt how to successfully pull them off our legs before they could suck too much blood, & then after a while, it didn't really bother us at all. they are actaully quite harmless & if they wana get you, they find a way in, the slimy little buggers! anyway, i came away from the whole jungle experience quite unharmed & actually very refreshed. hope to do it more!!
locals had a party that night too, with barbecue & everything, so that was nice!!

i also spent some time at the local school - really surprised how well developed it is - actually meant to be one of the best in malaysia despite being stuck in a jungle! nice to get back in teh school again - i have missed it!! real difference to england tho - more talk & write, use textbooks & teacher sat at desk & not very thrilling display - Alex Tate - you would be appalled!! : )

all in all, a wonderful jungle experience!

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