Kota Bahru/Taman Negara National Park June 18-21

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Once Sarah and I had left the island and made our way to Kota Bahru, we settled in at a hostel and set out to get ourselves organized for our trip into the jungle!! We ventured out to the local night market, which was a little disappointing as it was mostly stalls filled with cheap knock-off and tacky nick-nacks.

Close to the night market we stubbled on a couple of huge costco/wal-mart type stores, which was perfect for the things we needed to pick up. At 10pm on Thursday night the place was absolutely packed. We entered the store close to the cosmetic section of the store, plucking things off the shelf as we went. As you turned the corner you ended up surrounded by shelves cluttered with car tires, oils etc. From there we found sheets and towels, a whole row of head scarves and Korans, which then led into stationary and decks of cards. Sarah and I couldn't understand why everyone was staring at us in the store, but when we took a look around, we were actually the only foreigners in the store and at that we were the only woman who were not covered from head-to-toe. Needlesstosay, everyone was so helpful and friendly~!

We boarded the 'jungle train' (the local train), at 4:15 am on Friday morning with the 3 British girls. We were in the 3rd class car, only costing us RM15 ($5CND) and luckily there was hardly anyone on the train at this point, so we had plenty of room to sleep. The train stopped at small towns and villages along the way, and the scenery was beautiful. We arrived in Jerantut (the main hub for people heading into the Park) at 12:30pm. A bus was there waiting and able to drop us off at the travel shop where we had to book our transport into the Park. We took a 30 minute bus ride to the river jetty, where about a dozen backpackers boarded long wooden boats. The boat ride was about 3 hours and was definitely worth it (you could just take a bus in to the Park about 1 1/2 hrs), we cruised along with the jungle meeting the water, spotting Monitor Lizards, Water Buffalo, and a Monkey. We arrived at one of the floating restaurants around 4pm. The entrance to the Park was just across the river from where there was a small town, with hostels and the rocky shore had small floating restaurants lining it.

Sarah and I checked into one of the hostels just up the embankment, RM 10 each a night for a dorm (4 beds) with shared bathrooms and fans in the room. We ended up having the room to ourselves! Once we had settled in we went down to one of the floating restaurants for dinner and organized what we were going to do while in the jungle! There were various tours you could join varying based on how adventurous you were willing to be (4-5 day treks sleeping in caves quite thick in the jungle, or short night treks and the canopy walkway). The woman running the hostel was quite helpful, and pointed out some challenging routes that we were able to do on our own, which we opted for as the price was right: FREE. Later in the night we met up with the 3 Brits and we all planned to do the canopy walkway in the morning (about a 1.5km trek) and then follow a couple of trails to a good look-out point and to a river we could swim in. We also decided that the next night we would book one of the 'hides' (small huts just off the trails, you can sleep in overnight) so that we could be right in the jungle!

The next morning we set off early to the canopy walkway. The walk was quite leisurely at times, and at other points we were clambering over huge tree roots up the side of the mountain. The trees were massive, with their roots protruding all over the place. We were met by a huge crowd at the canopy walkway. There were a few large school groups doing adventure weekends. We put our names down on the list and were told we would have to wait at least 2 hours!! However, we were also advised that we could follow one of the trails, only about 1.5km up to a good look-out point. So we all decided that that was a better option than sitting and waiting. This 1.5km trail was actually basically strait uphill, at points there was a boardwalk, but because of the steady incline, we were essentially walking up a huge flight of stairs. When there was no boardwalk we were again climbing over the huge tree roots, which also made a natural staircase. The view was definitely worth it when we approached the top, we could see over the jungle, which continued until the horizon. We took a much needed break at the top, we were all basically drenched in sweat, at it was easily over 30 degrees C and humid.

We climbed back down and had to wait for at least an hour before it was our turn on the canopy walkway. The walkway was suspended 40 ft in the air and consisted of 10 suspended bridges and 9 platforms. We all made it across safely, although there were definitely points where we were questioning Malaysian safety standards and their knot-tying abilities.

The afternoon we spent trekking along the trails, amazed by the dense forest. We found the river eventually, which was a relief as the trails were sparsely signed. We trekked around 6 km in the morning and early afternoon, making it back to the floating restaurants around 3pm.

We all ate, showered and packed up for our night in the hide. By the time we were ready to go the sun was close to setting, so we decided to take a boat to the closest point to our hide and venture back on the 2 hour hike the next morning.

The hide was definitely a little more substantial than we were expecting, wooden bunks (no mattress), and a good balcony view point. When we arrived (Sarah and I, Kate and Richard) there was another girl (kiwi) staying there as well. We passed the time chatting, looking out for wild jungle creatures, listening to the jungle sounds and playing cards under the light of our headlamps. Sarah and I were quite inventive stringing up our mosquito nets and slept relatively well protected from the mosquitos.

We set off around 11am the next morning. Our first stop along the way was the Bat Caves, about 1.5 km from our hide. You could the smell the caves before you could even see the sign post pointing in their direction. Kate and I were overly ambitious and set off into the cave first. Sarah Hall and Richard, a little less keen, hung back contemplating what they were getting themselves into. We had been warned that the caves were literally covered with bat shit! Armed with our flashlights, we climbed over the slippery rocks, heading deeper into the darkness, not knowing what we were going to find. There was a rope that led the way through the cave and so we followed along hoping to reach the exit sooner rather than later. At one point, I was second in line, Kate had squeezed through a small crevice between two rocks, and Sarah and Richard were shortly behind. Being the only one with a descent flashlight, I attempted to assist both groups. However, just as I was about to stay back to give some more light to Sarah and Richard, Kate pipped up saying "Sarah I would really like you to come through now...." I followed her cautious request and squeezed through the rocks. She then said to me, Sarah there are literally bats everywhere! I laughed nervously and secretly wanted to shine the light on them, but was also worried about what I would find. Long story short, there was no exit! We had to climb back out the way we came, not before we scared all the bats and sent them flying around our heads. Upon climbing out, Richard proclaimed he would never go in a cave again!

We made our way about another 3.5 km back to the Park entrance. Sarah and I were able to wash up at the hostel we had stayed at the first night. Kate, Sarah and I all set off back to Jerantut on the 3pm local bus (RM7), where we got the night train to Kuala Lumpur.

Sarah and I originally had planned to stay with Sarah's friend Iris again for a few days, to organize our travel plans and Visa's for Thailand. However, a short 5 hour train ride could bring us back to Singapore. We opted to hop on the 2pm train on Monday afternoon to take us back to my Dad's place where we could have the best accommodation yet and at the best price: FREE!

We are now just about to leave for Phuket, Thailand. Flying in around 2pm this afternoon. We are then venturing off to Krabi and checking out the Southwest coast of Thailand.

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Photos

Sunset by the floating restaurants
Looking over on to the park