In the jungle without a beer

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Today we arrived in Kuala Tahan, the little jungle wvillage in the middle of the Taman Negara National Park. We had a beautiful 3 hour long-boat ride this morning up the Tembeling River after a hectic day of travel yesterday!
Yesterday we woke up early in the morning to pack our day packs (for the week) and to make our way to the Tanjong Pagar(sp?) railway station to catch the express train to Jerantut that I saw advertised on the net the night before, but when we got to the station, there appearted to be no train until 630pm that night, which would 1. mean that we would have to wait around Singapore for another day, 2. miss all the scenery as we would be travelling at night and 3. get into Jerantut at 230am!! Which didn't seem to be very convenient. So we decide to do it by bus instead! With a little help from some friendly locals we were put on the 170 bus over to Johor Bahru where we caught a coach from Jb to Temberloh (6hours) in what seemed to be the oldest, crumbiest bus at the station but the only one that went in that direction till tomorrow and then from Temberloh we caught another bus to Jerantut (1 hour). 7 hours of travel and making half way across the country only cost us $20 each!!! 😊
We checked into the "Durian Hotel" this afternoon, (after a great lunch at one of the floating cafes) for 2 nights. It's cute a cute little hotel, with little bungalows hidden in the forest. Our room has a squat toilet (a first for Paul.. haha!) and a little standing fan, very basic, but when can you expect for $12 per night? (for 2!?)
After hiding from the mid day heat in our room for a little while we decided to go and check out the "main attraction" for this little town, a 500m canopy boardwalk, way un the trees, but after a short and gruelling hike, we found that it was closed for the afternoon!!! 😞 We will try again tomorrow. And then, after talking about a cold beer all the way back from the boardwalk (it was very hot and sticky) we found that the ONLY place selling beers in this town, sold them at extortionist prices and we could bring ourselves to pay that much.. (it only really ended up being $7 for a can, but when everywhere else in Malaysia seems to sell them for about $2..?)
Anyway, here i am now on the other side of the river with a big bottle of cold water, trying to decide what to do with our next few days!

The past week has been great in Singapore with the fantastic hospitality of Aunty Doris and Uncle Peck Cheng.. Aunty June has been our tour guide after finishing work every day and on the week ends and knows all the best places for food! We've been across town for each specific dish and it's all beautiful!!! We've had Singapore Chilli crab, Char Kway Teow, Chai Teo Kway, Mee siam, Ich Kachang, Prawn Noodles and Durian (all of which i'm sure i've spelt wrong) and many other things that either i can't spell or can't remember the name of!! 😊 We've visited the Singapore Science Centre, Night Safari and Zoo, Clarke Quay, China Town, Little India and Arab Street, the Marina Barrage and many more places!!

Anyway, signing off in search of food now... 😊 xxx

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Comments

[Belinda M]

Eagerly following you two
The adventure begins! Tell Paul I just got back from a week of sun and great theater in Ashland. I raised a glass to him and Nanna at the Black Sheep and remembered our holiday there with them. Love you both!