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Published: September 2nd 2013
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Friday 30th
We wake to an amazing birdsong and the sound of monkeys. We check ourselves out and no bites, so the bed bugs kept away. We have made a good choice of guest house.
We are staying in the village of Kuala Tahan across the river from the park. After breakfast we catch a river taxi across the river and start walking to the Canopy Walk. Within a few hundred metres our bodies are seriously leaking ! there's 90% humidity.
The whole area is dense forest and the walks are on boards.
On the way we see a small bird, and I mean small, and then a group of monkeys swing pass just above us.
We reach the canopy walk, the highest and longest in the world. There are five of them 40ft up in the tree tops. The walk is exhilarating although Christine's clinging to the sides as she doesn't like the swinging about.
It shuts today at 12 as it's Friday and all the Muslims go to prayers, except the boat taxi boys. Business is business!
We stop for a quick drip and a drink before walking on. On our way
round we pass a 10 metre line of army ants scuttling back and forth.
We don't see any animals and the park rangers say this will be unlikely as there are too many noisy tourists.
We make our way back to the taxi pontoon and on the other side of the river stop for a freshly squeezed orange juice for 20p whilst watching the river traffic.
Then it's back to our room where we hose each other down with a cold water spray (bliss).
At dinner we agree that we're unlikely to get eaten alive in the jungle but we will be bitten to death by the mozzies ! spray or no spray.
Later in the evening we learn what rain in the rain forest means. There's a tremendous down pour and our room with a tin roof sounds like it's under bombardment. Luckily it stops before we go to sleep.
Saturday 31st
At breakfast we have a choice, the restaurant where we can never get served or the one with terrible food. We choose the latter and are pleasantly surprised with our fruit pancakes.
Disguised as Bill Oddie and Kate Humble
we go on another trek. We chose a path with less tourists and are quickly rewarded when we spot a small black and white bird. There is birdsong and animal noises all in the near distance. Our hopes are high.
We branch off and sit quietly by the river waiting and scanning, waiting and scanning until---------- a boat with tourists roars passed and everything within half a mile clears off!
We move off as the day heats up and so do our mozzie bites. Scratching becomes a main occupation.
After a while we meet chap who warns us about leaches, but we have come prepared with our gaiters, if only we hadn't left them back in our bags!
Later after a mile or so we see a ground bird a large as a turkey. The path eventually crosses a swamp and fearing leaches we return to the river for a rest.
We decide to return for lunch and passing the park HQ we see a tree snake and a few birds.
It's hardly TV stuff !
At lunch Christine notices her socks are soaked in blood and on closer inspection finds 5 or
6 puncture wounds. She's been leached ! Some are bleeding profusely. I inspect my ankles and find 3 or 4 bleeds. After lunch we rush back to administer first aid and spend the rest of the afternoon kindle-ling and bleeding. Later on it rains heavily again and we think of the people out on treks------and smile.
Out for dinner on my own as Christine is the first to get tummy troubles.
Sunday 1st
Our last trek and we're not taking any chances today. Full body armour. Long trousers, long socks, boots and Gaiters ! Let the little suckers try and get us today.
We take the quiet path to the river and are immediately rewarded by seeing a group of wild boars, adult and little piglets.
All the time we're walking we hear in the distance sound of birds but not one in sight.
We carry on to the river and meet a group of birdies and dragon fly experts. They show us some great photos of dragon flies and also monkeys. These people are serious observers but really nerdy !
We sit for about an hour or so watching and hoping until
a boat load of locals are dropped off and start swimming. That's the end of our hopes for seeing anything and we come back for a juice.
Spend the afternoon lazing around and after dinner we pack ready to leave in the morning.
Taman Negra is a good place to experience what the real jungle is like however there are too many tourist on the trails and they frighten everything away.
Monday 2nd
We leave promptly in the coach and arrive at Jerantut for the connection to our train. The train will go through the jungle and take us to Koto Bharu on the top north east coast, close to Thailand. I had checked the trains 4 days ago and they said no need to book. I pop along to get our tickets. The 2 pm train is fully booked ! The next train is 3 am. decide to wait 24 hours for the next one.
Jerantut is centrally located, that is to say it's in the middle of no where. Even the guide books can't find anything to say about it. It even makes Slough look attractive. What are we going to find to
do for a day.
A taxi driver offers to drive us to the park. We think this will at least while a way a few hours whilst reading.
We get in, go about 400 yards and he stops. He shows us a children's play ground in the middle of a round about. That's the park. We can still see our hotel from it and could have walked in 3 mins ! We read for a while and go back to the hotel and shower before going out for dinner.
We are treating ourselves this evening. Pizza Hut ! No rice or noodles for once.
It's going to be a very long 24 hours !
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David Howell
non-member comment
more gastronomic delights.
As usual I am highly amused by your blog. I especially like the fact that you complain about there being too many tourists. Excuse me but aren't you helping to boost those numbers? This is really turning into quite a gastronomic delight for you; first Burger King and now Pizza Hut. At least the leeches get a good meal!