Taman Negara National Park

---

I’m writing this in a little café in Jerentut in Central Malaysia, whilst waiting for a bus to take us to Kuantan on the east coast of the country.
We arrived in Jerentut after five hours on the Jungle Railway from KL. We travelled 2nd class - it was clean, comfortable and a/c. The train was very busy as it is now school holidays here. Jerentut is a quiet little village, though we discovered the main part of the town (much bigger) when we climbed up the hill behind us. We are actually in the old part - the newer part is higher and set amongst trees so hard to see from here. We spent the night in a small hotel, paying only $16 for the room. After wandering around the village we located a laundry and left a bag of washing there - weighed and paid for by the kilo. We decided to spend a couple of days here so booked bus tickets onwards (the train is fully booked) and arranged our trip into the jungles of the Taman Negara National Park. Had a lovely day wandering the markets - mainly fruit, vegetables and fish for sale. Later in the afternoon we climbed the hill behind our hotel to visit the Sultan’s holiday house - it was a hard hot walk in oppressive humidity, despite it being after 4pm. The building was unexciting - very ordinary and rundown as it was abandoned in the 1970’s and has now fallen into total disrepair. However we enjoyed the walk and a bonus was getting to see monkeys swinging in the trees above us.
We arrived back at the hotel just as a severe electrical storm broke and enjoyed a meal in one of the street cafes whilst watching the rain and lightning. It’s a very relaxed little place and most tourists spend hardly any time here - only a quick stopover enroute to the national park. They seemed surprised that we wanted too spend time there but then I guess we have plenty of that at the moment!
Next morning we were collected by taxi and driven for half an hour to the riverside where we boarded a canoe to go upriver to the national park. I think that the river trip was the best boat trip that we’ve ever done! I t was a lot of fun and took three hours in a long motorised wooden canoe. We went through some spectacular scenery . We were the only people on our canoe (others had many more passengers ) and our young driver - all of 16 years old I’m sure - took great delight in racing all the other canoes….
We spent two days in Kuala Tehan, a village on the riverbank in the park. When we arrived we had to climb a slippery riverbank and follow a dusty lane to reach our chalet. Our chalet was tiny, no fly screens, small fan, smelly Asian squat toilet, hard mattresses and a cold shower - but it did have a bunch of yellow plastic flowers attached to the wall! Actually we were very comfortable and as home is now where our bags are we have become very adept at making a room more homely in the first ten minutes of our arrival. We string up a clothes line, put up our towel hooks (best $2 ever spent at Solly’s), get out our coffee mugs and birko jug (thank you Mum for talking us into taking it), find a spot in the bathroom for our toilet bags, plumb up our small pillows (so pleased we took them as Asian pillows are high and hard) and finally make ourselves a coffee. Bliss!! Our life is very simple and I admit to missing our home comforts on occasion. We haven’t seen TV or read a newspaper for a month now but presume if anything happens that we need to know about somebody will inform us.
The national park was very similar to Eungella, though the climate was much more humid. Mosquitoes weren’t a problem thankfully as the Malaysian Government is currently spraying large areas of the country to try to eradicate malaria. We went on a five hour walk and climb which, in the intense humidity, was about as much as we could handle. The canopy walk over the tree tops was particularly enjoyable - it was a series of walkways made out of rope, cable and aluminium ladders tied together. At 500 meters long it’s supposed to the longest in the world. It swayed a fair bit in places which was a little scary though. We wouldn’t be surprised if we heard about it breaking at some stage as it appeared to be very flimsy and unstable. Also very high. But we did have fun on it ….
We climbed to the top of one of the big ridges overlooking the park - there was wonderful view - and we spread some of David’s ashes. He’s gradually finishing his world trip. As soon as we had spread them a white butterfly appeared - Asian people believe white butterflies are messengers from Heaven!
We enjoyed the two evenings we spent in the park. First night we ate in a café overlooking the river in the company of four young backpackers. We spent hours chatting with them. Most of the young people were blown away by what Jerry and I are doing (the fact that we have sold our house and car is what really gets them) and that we don’t have any forward plans besides the next couple of days. The next evening we ate at one of the floating restaurants on the river (there are half a dozen here) and spent that meal chatting to wealthy Dutch couple who invited us to stay in their 17th century house next to the river in Amsterdam. They said ‘if you need a break (implied ‘from the hard travel’)come and stay’. They were very nice people, genuine and I’m sure by the time we arrive in Amsterdam we may need a break in some more comfortable surroundings.
Next morning , after a cold shower (no fun as I’m NEVER in the mood for cold showers) we took the canoe back down the river to Jerentut. Today our driver kept running out of fuel. Still good fun and no one minded the regular breaks mid river. Since we’ve left Australia we’ve adapted quickly to the Asian way of life - very relaxed. The wearing of no seatbelts we found hard at the beginning after so many years of wearing them at home. They drive very fast here but I guess we’ll eventually get used to the no seatbelt driving. Anyway the canoe trip back was enjoyable and all the tickets for the price of $19 return. Certainly saving on meals as well - breakfast this morning was $7 total - scrambled eggs, toast and 3 coffees for Jerry and a toasted cheese sandwich, tea and a big fruit salad for me.
Anyway back in Jerentut now waiting to catch a bus for the 3 hour journey to Kuantan on the eastern coast of the country.

---

Photos

Blurry photo - it was taken on a wobbly walkway!
One of the walkways on the canopy walk over the trees in Taman Negara