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Published: August 19th 2007
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Jungle river
waiting to board our boat Journey to the Jungle We regretfully left the haven of Traders Hotel, abandoning half our luggage with concierge, and walked in the steaming heat to Crowne Plaza Hotel around the corner. After behaving far too British by patiently waiting while all the French and Italians pushed to get their names checked off, we were on the coach, which was thankfully cool and comfy. Our coach guide was a hilarious Chinese guy called Wong, with the most creepy long fingernails ever. He made the most dreadful gags during our journey - so unfunny you couldn't help laughing. He obviously thought he was a real comedian. We arrived at Kuala Tembling and had Chicken Rice at a small cafe, before braving the worst toilets in Malaysia. Most of the public toilets so far had been pretty good and free, but these cheeky sods charged for using the loo and extra for tissue! Only one was a proper sit down lav - the rest were traditional squat jobbies, and all had filthy buckets of water for the old-fashioned cleaning method. Even so, it was much better than most of the African efforts.
After much chaos on a fragile, flimsy jetty we eventually hopped
Happy couple
With our fetching life jackets on and the HIGHLY annoying people behind us. into our vessel, a narrow motorised wooden canoe. One tour group had been having a heated argument with the boat guys on the jetty and lucky us, their tour leader decided to climb in the seat behind us. The woman sitting next to him was obviously incensed about something and proceeded to yak for the whole 3 hour journey up the river in the loudest voice, in some Scandanavian sounding langauge. Our tranquil riverboat ride turned into a complete nightmare, especially as we had the gobby woman's kids sitting in front of us, wriggling around and splashing us at ever opportunity. Eventually we arrived at Kuala Tahan and found a bus to shuttle us to Rainforest Resort. We had pre-booked a package with the resort, which marketed itself incredibly well, claiming to be the premium resort in Taman Negara. The accommodation wasn't too bad and came with a free pet lizard hiding behind the curtains that we affectionately called Larry. The resort was staffed by the sweetest, inefficient girls who didn't have a clue - it took about eight of them to check us in. The resort hardly lived up to its claims - there was certainly no business centre
Other boats
other boats taking people to the resort or internet and the cafe was shut. The food was pretty horendous but the restaurant had a cute resident cat that we fed all the fish dishes we had mistakenly selected (it was nearly all fish or seafood - yuk!).
Jungle Night Walk We DEETed up and tucked our socks in and nervously departed for our night walk around the rainforest. A friendly German couple joined us and we hopped into one of the small boats that crosses the river to Taman Negara. Inside the National Park, we followed our torch light into the forest. However, the experience wasn't as eerie as we had imagined as the trails were plagued by noisy tourists that ignored the common sense advice of keeping quiet so all the wildlife wouldn't be scared off. Fortunately there was still plenty to see and we were secretly pleased to see a huge Huntsman spider sitting on a tree, its many eyes glimmering in our torch light. Our guide also pointed out glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, spiky caterpillars and and stick insects, including one that rolled up like an innocent looking leaf. We climbed up the steps to a hide by a salt lick, the type of little
shed we had initially considered sleeping in! We perched on the bench and sat silently watching a small deer by the salt lick and a squirrel creature in a tree. Huge moths danced in our torch light!
After such a sticky walk around the jungle, we decided to refresh ourselves with a quick drinky at the bar. The bar was completely empty save for a disco ball and a TV. Jase flicked through the tiny CD collection and picked what he thought was a rock album. The bartender whacked the CD on, which actually turned out to be a terrible karaoke DVD that projected onto the wall. The Malaysians appear to take their karaoke very seriously and we desperately tried to keep a straight face when the bartender launched into song. When he disappeared outside for a ciggie, we posed about with the mic, but when he returned we declined to sing for him.
Jungle Trek Beer isn't the best form of rehydration when you've been sweating copiously in the jungle but we managed ok the next morning for our jungle walk. Unbelievably we discovered that the Canopy Walk for which Taman Negara is famous was closed due
Stick insect
On Our first night jungle walk to high winds damaging the bridge two days previous. Therefore, our guide took us on an extended walk up to a viewing point where you can see all the rainforest sweeping below you. Everyone else must have had the same idea, because the trail was disappointing congested. Initially we felt slightly silly in a jungle gear, wearing light trekking trousers with our socks stupidly tucked in to keep the leeches out, especially as there seemed to be young girls walking around in mini skirts, cropped jeans, brigh pink vest tops and gold sparkly trainers. We felt vindicated and had the last laugh when the trail got tougher and we ascended an endless staircase of tree roots up to the lookout point. Rach was suffering a bit at the top with the heat and exertion and went a lovely shade of red. It was more difficult descending because you had to really concentrate on where you placed your foot - one slip and it could easily be a broken ankle. We were also very reluctant to cling onto any branches or lianas for support, because you never knew what critter was lurking there. We saw a particularly evil looking centipede and
Stick insect
Playing dead on the guides hand! a mammoth Tiger spider who sat impatiently waiting for his breakfast, firing across his web to catch any unsuspecting fly victims who dared land nearby.
Shooting the Rapids! In the afternoon we cooled off by Shooting the Rapids in a small, narrow canoe that seated us in single file. Rach was in the front, followed by Jase and then the German couple. Our boat was first off from the jetty so we had the jungle to ourselves for the afternoon. We charged through the river rapids, Jase getting soaked from the waves overwhelming the canoe. We stopped off at a little beach and hopped out the canoe. Jase plunged into the river for a swim - he was soaked already - but as we were all hot, Rach and the German couple dived in too. We did wonder what was lurking beneath our feet but it was such a great feeling, swimming in the jungle, that we dismissed our fears.
Back to civilisation We left the resort the next day and had a very peaceful, relaxing boat ride back to Kuala Tembling, although we were sitting together in the tiny seat at the front and were rather cramped.
Rach and karoke!
Did she or didn't she sing!!?? We climbed aboard the coach back to KL and reclined our seats for a read and a snooze.
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