Rumble in the Jungle

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Hello again,

Firstly thanks to you for your comments, replies and news that you've been emailing me. I probably won't reply personally as I'd end up sitting in internet cafes all the time but they are appreciated so keep 'em coming.

Just checked on the footy, WCE lost to Hawthorn ??? Freo won a game ??? and Brisbane down to 11th place ??? Whats going on down there ? My tipping is shot to bits ( again, I might add )

Now then, back to business. On our first full day in the Cameron highlands we took a full days tour of the area. As this is a popular tourist area even for the Malay population there were a number of 'attractions' such as butterfly parks, strawberry farms, flower ( farms? ) but the two biggest things you MUST see are the tea plantations and the jungle. We visited the tea plantation during the morning and I have to say we both found it very interesting. We learnt a lot about the whole process of making tea and the labour, machines and economics of it all. I won't go through it all in this blog but if you want more information then I can hold a presentation on my return 😊 It was very picturesque looking at the steep mountainsides covered in tea trees and all the workers dotted around busy plucking - thats not a typo 😊 The day finished with a small hike to a natural spring waterfall where Nik and I spend 10 minutes jumping up and down like Irish dancers in the absolutley freezing waters. We enjoyed that day but we wanted to do some real jungle trekking so the next day at 7:30am ( yes we are meant to be on holiday ) we got up and joined 6 other people and our local guide to trek through the jungle. Now its not a nicely paved track with chairs every few feet, this is real jungle. So although some of the time we were clearly on a track that had been used before, there were times when the guide got his knife out and hacked away at the vegetation so we could get through. We walked, slid down slopes on our bums and at time climbed up slopes on our hands and knees. Its very dark and slippery in there due to the dense tree canopies and the area gets rain every day the moment so nothing ever dries out. We finished the day around 5:00pm having been completly soaked in a tropical downpour, covered in mud and were absolutly knackered. But without a doubt it has been the highlight of the trip so far for both of us and we were really pleased with ourselves for completing the journey. The guide said that on some treks he's had people give up by lunchtime and on others girls bursting into tears because they can't handle any more. As this was Niks last day with me, we decided to have a 'big' night at the local bar. But, not unexpectantly, we were so worn out that we only managed a few beers each and went to bed at 11:00pm. Up again this morning at 6:15am ( I say again - we are meant to be on holiday ) to catch our bus. Although Nik is going back to Singapore and I was going to Penang, I thought we would be getting the same bus to the bottom of the mountains before changing buses. I was wrong and so instead of 2.5 hours on the bus to say goodbyes we only had 10 minutes. So off Nik went 😞 and I am now in Penang. I have been in Penang before but only for 2 days. As my legs have started to seize up from the trek I think I will spend the week here. Another possible plus is that Penang is very popular with Australians and I reckon with a bit of effort I could find a bar showing the footy so maybe I'll hang around for next weekend and catch up on some games.

No pics at the moment because Nik has taken her camera back with her. But she will chose some suitable photos and email them to me. I will put them in the next blog. I will start using my own camera from now on incase your wondering why Nik would take the camera with her.

So thats it for now. Hope your all well and will blog again soon.

B&N

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Comments

[Tanya]

Penangians
Sounds like the trek was an amazing experience, good on ya's for completing it! Cant wait to see some pics of you two grubby:) x