Malaysia - Taman Negara

---

Hello all!

Thursday 12th August - Perhentians to Taman Negara continued.....
The journey to Taman Negara went quite quickly, mainly because I slept for most of it. The scenery gradually got more tropical and foresty as we got closer. It reminded me of somewhere, can't quite remember where though, might be Brazil. I was getting excited about getting there; it's another place in my 40 Places To See book. The forest got denser and the trees bigger the closer we got; there were short fat trunked trees that looked like palm trees. Maff saw a snake crossing the road. You could see a lot of evidence of tree logging, the lorries bringing the trunks out of the forest. We were dropped at our hostel in Kuala Tahan (the main Taman Negara town, it's so small though it'd be a village at home) which was really nice. The hostel actually smelled nice, not bad and not even normal; really nice! We had a chill out and then thought it best to go into town before it got dark so wandered down to the floating restaurants for some dinner. It was hard to get dinner though due to Ramadan; the restaurants were closing at 6-7.30pm so the Muslims employees could eat. There isn't much in the town, just the hotels and a touristy places and the floating restaurants so there wasn't much else to do. We waited for a bit and one opened so we went in there with a Kiwi guy who we'd met at the tourist place earlier and his Dutch friend. It took AGES!!! They were working on Kuala Tahan time. It must have taken 2 hours for us to get our food. It was nice when we got it though. And we could see the Taman Negara (means National Park) entrance over the river. And all the little boats going up and down the river ferrying people about. There was a nice vibe. After we had eaten we found our way back to the hostel, read a bit then had a good sleep. I was still not feeling good, not sure what was wrong with me. The sounds in the night were amazing, the loud constant sound of frogs and insects.

Friday 13th August - Taman Negara
I woke up with a migraine; wasn't impressed. I felt a bit better after taking some tablets and going back to sleep. We went for breakfast (which took ages) then crossed the river to the park entrance. As we were paying our park fees we bumped into Gemma and Dave and their friends Steve and Louise who were arranging a hike to a hide in the rainforest, where they'd stay the night and come back by boat the next day. I really wanted to go (although I was a bit nervous about it), Emma didn't and Maff wasn't fussed so it took me a while to decide but in the end I decided to go for it as I'll probably not come back again. After organising all that we walked through the forest to the canopy walkway; which is a walkway high up in the trees. It was really hot and sweaty, not too hard going though until the climb up to the canopy, that was hard HARD work! It was worth it though (not sure it was as good as the one I did in Australia), the canopy was nice, a good view, although it was hard to stay balanced. I think we were about 45 metres up; I think it's the highest/longest in the world or something. We got a good view of the trees, which are very big and green, best way to describe them although I don't think they're as wide as the Amazon trees. The walk back was nice, we hardly saw anyone just lots of butterflies, a big lizard and lots of insects and dragon flies and birds. There weren't many flowers. We made it back to the Mutiara Resort (the 'posh' resort in the park grounds) where we saw monkeys up in the trees. That was cool! Then it was back to the hostel to chill, we were hungry but had to wait until 3pm for the restaurants to open (it was a Friday so prayer day) then headed to the Mutiara Resort for dinner. We knew it'd be more expensive but really needed something good and Western as I still had a migraine. I had pizza which was so big I could save 2 pieces for the hike. I also found diet coke there which is an important tool in my fight against migraine!!!! As we were finishing it started absolutely tipping with rain and the Call to Prayer started (the Iman singing from the Mosque) which I really like listening to. The rain looked like it was going to get worse so we made a dash for it; the boat guy on the other side of the river saw us sheltering at the top of the steps down and came over to pick us up. We got across and into a restaurant without getting too soaked then had to sit there for about half an hour because we'd have gotten drenched if we'd moved. It was cool sat there watching; the rain was torrential; anyone caught in it was instantly soaked. The local lads (they were all so friendly) were swimming and doing handstands in the river; a lorry got stuck and they all had to help it get it, it was brilliant! The rain eventually eased off enough for us to get out of the restaurant so I headed to a shop to get supplies for the hike (we had to carry our own food and water, no guide to look after us!) which ended up being: the 2 slices of pizza, two bread rolls with sweetcorn cream cheese, some hula hoops, two packets of nuts, some dried pineapple, and my diet coke, and 4 litres of water) and then we had another rest. I badly needed to shift the migraine before the hike so tried to sleep again, nothing was working though.
I got at about 8pm to get packed and sorted for the hike and then at 9pm we went down to the river to go on a boat night safari we'd booked. It was just 3 of us in a river canoe, which was awesome. I found it a bit scary as they're very low and wobble a bit, again I was the only one to put a life jacket on, I'm suddenly so afraid of water! We headed off in the dark with our driver and guide using torches to spot animals. It started off promising when we saw a Kingfisher, the colours really stood out in the dark, and some small pretty birds and an owl (which I had thought was a lizard at first!). We didn't have much luck with the animals after that but it was still so cool; I'd expected there to be loads of boats on the river but we hardly saw anyone. Once we'd gone as far as we were going to go we turned round, turned the engine off and floated/rowed back. The river looked awesome with the reflection of the moon on it and the trees a spooky majestic with the light of the moon (and the orange glow of some light pollution, shame about that) behind them. We could see moths and so many fire flies and we could hear the sounds of the rainforest so loudly and clearly. I thought it was really amazing. We could also hear gunshots, meant to ask the guide what that was about but forgot. We think we saw a couple of Tapir's on the bank in the distance but they moved away before we could get close enough to see. When we were dropped back I finished getting ready then headed straight for bed; had a BIG day ahead of me! Maff had been speaking to the hotel guy that evening who told him something interesting. The Malay government are not too careful with the park and don't control the logging as they could; apparently logging makes them more money that tourism.

Saturday 14th August - Taman Negara
The day didn't start off well! I was supposed to be up at 7am ready to meet the others for breakfast before the hike at 8am. I woke up to Maff saying "What time were you supposed to meet them Rach?". I said "8 o'clock". It was 5 past 8. My phone time had reset when I put a Malaysian sim card in, so the alarm didn't go off at the right time. Apparently my face was a picture! Maff did me a huge favour and went to tell the others what had happened; luckily they were all a bit late. I was with them by 8.30 and they'd ordered me breakfast (Maff passed on the order) so all OK. The breakfast took ages though and whilst it was coming I went and got 4 litres of water and completely sorted my bag out. It was going to be a mission to carry it all. We were eventually ready to leave at 10.30 (the original plan was 9) so we headed across the river and started our walk, after visiting the park office to check on the suitability of the trail as it had rained a lot the night before. They said it was fine, but that the leeches would be big problem. It was 11km to Bun Bun Kumpong our home for the night, the furthest we'd be allowed to go without them insisting on us having a guide. I found the walk itself pretty straightforward, I was worried because of the heat and my asthma but it was pretty flat, my main problem is going up hill! The biggest problem initially were the leeches; they were everywhere and Louise had one latch onto here within 5 minutes. I think she had 4 or 5 withing about half an hour, then Steve started getting them (they got him bad) and then Dave (Gemma and I managed to get through the whole thing without getting one on us). Leeches are quite possibly the most unpleasant creature I have ever come across. They are smaller then I thought (until they've started sucking) and like little tiny worms. They move like demented slinkys desperately trying to get to you. They move quick as well; you couldn't stand still for long. They do this thing where they lift the top half of their body up and peer around like a periscope, looking for the blood I guess. You can really throw them off if you put two feet equal distance from them, they don't know which to go for. We found the mosquito spray worked quite well when getting them to release; except for when one regurgitated over Louise. It was disgusting so I'll move on from them now! Although the walk itself wasn't hard work, it was demanding because it was so slippy and there was a lot of climbing up and over things, and along river banks. We were so worried about twisting or spraining something as it was a long way to carry someone and/or go to get help. We saw a lot of termites and millipedes, but were concentrating too hard on the path to look for anything else. It was obvious elephants had been along the path, you could see their footprints and their 'mess' and flattened branches. The trees were bigger the further in you went, more like the Amazon, and there were lots of pretty coloured wild mushrooms. We rested every hour and a half or so, but mainly kept walking. We had a break for lunch (creamed sweetcorn rolls and hula hoops), once we found somewhere to stop that didn't look like a leech breeding ground, and met the people coming the other way from the hide who'd spent the night before there. They hadn't seen anything but had heard two animals fighting in the night. The lady had also cleaned the toilet for us which was nice of her! We started feeling it as the afternoon went on, just because we were tired. And the going was hard and the signs telling us how far it was to go were giving us false hope; we knew we'd walked further than the signs were telling us. It seemed to be taking so long, we were individually getting worried that we wouldn't make it before dark; which would have been bad as the signs telling you which way to go (they have markers on the odd tree) would have been hard to spot in the dark. The girls asked the boys outright what they thought; they told us they were not at all worried but once we'd made it they'd told us they had been worried. We were waiting to come across a river we had to cross, we knew we would be close then. I was so relieved when we saw that river, and the sign that said it was only 500metres to go! The river crossing was a bit of a challenge though......! The river was much higher than usual because of the rain, and when Steve did a test run it went up to his waist! I didn't have a spare pair of trousers and neither did Gemma so we actually had to go through in our knickers. I think Louise has pictures, hope they don't see the light of day! It wasn't too bad, the mud was quite refreshing; the water was quite fast though so we had to be sensible to keep our balance. We were proud of ourselves when we made it through!
We moved on quickly as we could hear some loud animal sounds coming from the direction of the path, therefore the hide. We thought it might be elephants! We arrived at the hide, which was basically a big wooden shed high up on stilts by a clearing in the forest. The noise we thought was an elephant turned out to be a Barking Deer, which we didn't see but the others who'd already arrived (two lovely English girls, who I had actually bumped into the day before whilst shopping for supplies) and a Polish couple. There were 12 wooden bunkbeds, all very basic but not too bad. There was a western toilet (without a seat, not that you'd want to sit on it) and a shower (which wasn't so great, and cold, good to make us feel a bit cleaner though). We got sorted quickly as it was getting dark, one of the English girls (Jo, the other was Jill) helped me put up my mosquito net. We ate our dinner on the floor, my pizza and diet coke went down great, then settled down to watch out of the hide. It was almost completely dark, so we occasionally used the torch to see if anything was there. I was starting to get a bit freaked out to be honest, as it was so dark and felt so isolated. I started having a panic attack, quietly by myself, then Jill and Gemma spotted something! It was a Tapir, using the salt lick in the clearing. It was awesome!!! They had also seen something cat like but it'd had moved off as soon as we turned on the torch (there are Panther's in the rainforest!). The Tapir stayed there for ages, there was another one about as well but it didn't like the torch. Tapir's are interesting animals, if you're not sure what one is Google a picture, they're pretty cool. Whilst we were watching the Tapir my 'panic attack' (I was basically just stressed!) got worse, it was just because I was worried that if I had trouble breathing I'd not be able to get help. I tried some Bach Rescue Remedy, it didn't work, so in the end I told Gemma about it and she was brilliant, she really looked after me, just by talking to me and switching one of the torches on and shining it into the hide so it didn't seem so dark. I calmed down but not enough so I took a Diazepam, which eventually made me feel pretty OK. As the night went on people gradually headed for bed, I made my way there at midnight leaving Dave on watch. Steve was on the bed next to me, snoring loudly! I couldn't sleep so I got up again and Louise prodded Steve until he stopped so I could go back to sleep. I slept quite way, just occasionally waking up to have a look outside. There wasn't anymore action, just the friendly Tapir and lots of Fireflies. We heard gunshots again though. And there were a few rat sightings, they didn't bother me though.

Sunday 15th August - Taman Negara to Cameron Highlands
Jill, Jo and I were up at 6 to get ready to walk 1 hour to the nearest village to get a boat back to Kuala Tahan; I had to be on a bus at 9am to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands with Maff and Em. We got ready, but it wasn't getting light. It was pitch black. We didn't want to walk in the dark so had to wait. I was a bit p*ssed off with the park people, Jill and Jo only decided to come back on the boat with me at the last minute, if they hadn't been there I'd have been doing it on my own. I think the park people could have warned me it would have been dark at the time I needed to leave which was 6.30am. At 10 to 7 it started getting light so we headed out, with Dave who so kindly had offered to come with us (Gemma and Dave really are my heroes) until it got light enough to see without a torch. The walk back wasn't too hard and we made good time, only 5 minutes late for the boat pick up at 7.30. I was so relieved to see that boat man! The boat ride back was really nice, seeing the forest in the early morning light. We 'shot the rapids' (their version of rafting) without having to pay for a special trip to do it and went past all the little villages. We made it back in 20 minutes, so by 8am I was back ready to get in the shower. I showered quickly, had a strop with something Maff said that made me cry (he was very nice to me after that, apologizing and carrying my bags and all) and I was ready at 9am for the minibus.

Taman Negara was so worth a visit and well worth a place in my 40 Places To See book. And I'm quite proud of myself for getting through my little adventure! I won't be doing it again anytime soon though.......!

Next up the Cameron Highlands, which I think is a little bit like Wales!!!

Lots of love

Xx

---