Blogs from Taman Negara National Park, Pahang, Malaysia, Asia - page 9

After leaving the Cameron Highlands we moved on to the Taman Negara national park, the jungle is amongst the oldest in the world. We stayed in a small village called Kuala Tahan where we could then trek into the jungle. The following morning we did a 2km walk to the canopy walkway which is made up of aluminium ladders and suspended by rope 40m above the jungle. The walkway is around 450m in length and is the longest of its kind in the world. The walkway gives good views of the surrounding area and of the tree habitat - unfortunately we did not see much but it was a great experience all the same. You know you're in the jungle when brushing your teeth makes you pour with sweat. It is so humid, in two days ... read more

We intended to send this blog from Myanmar. We had gotten up that morning, and even had a taxi lined up to go to the airport. Our flight was scheduled at 10:00 AM. We were sitting in our room watching the BBC, and saw that the situation in Myanmar was deteriorating by the day. 9 were dead, many Monks had been taken from the temples in the night and beaten and jailed, 6 PM curfews had been set, the government shut down the internet, and the 5 main temples in Yangon had been shut down. For those wanting a little background, the ruling junta in Myanmar raised fuel prices without notification in August. In a country as poor as Myanmar, this was met with anger. Last week the Monks in Myanmar were staging a peaceful protest ... read more

Another planned trip took us to Gua Telinga the Cave Exploration deep in the heart of the rainforest. The group and I were totally unprepared for what we were about to discover. The rain had made the area very slippery and dangerous so guide provided gloves (as if they were gonna help!), via ropes we desended into the dark depths of the caves through water we walked upto our a knees at points. Then the guide would stop and show us something, a cave centapeid, nasty looking thing about 5inches long and poisonous so I hear. Then spiders as big as your hand, not dangerous but they leap at incredable distances, in our case right over us scaring a couple of dutch girls half to death. Under tight crawl spaces and through more water we wade ... read more

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 ... read more

Couldn't resist a Young Knives title - the chance doesn't come up very often! We woke up early and got the coach with no problems. We arrived at the jetty site at 12:15pm, and waited for the boat's departure at 2pm. We had one hostel booked for the first night, and booked the second and third at a different place with the travel agent when we were waiting - regrets, we have a few! The second place was grim with the worst bathrooms I've ever seen, and out cold shower water ran out when I was rinsing shampoo out of my hair. This was after our caving expedition, so we definitly needed showers! I'm getting ahead of myself though... The boat journey was amazing. I'm not sure when I'll be on a computer with a usb ... read more