Taman Negara National Park
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2004
1
5
70
Trip End
Nov 10, 2005
Taman Negara,
Malaysia
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Thankfully the longboat ride to the park (3hrs) soothed our hot and tired bodies. It was a fantastic and very memorable ride. The local village opposite the park wasn't the best and the food nearly beat the first cafe for title of worst asian cafe but the jungle/rainforest was worth it. The village was probably a lot more conservative muslim than anywhere else in Malaysia we have been in our short visit which was evident by the 5.30am prayer to Allah broadcast by loudspeaker across the village, and it wasn't the most pleasant of places but the hostel was decent and eventually we sussed out which of the floating restaurants had palatable food
Blowpipe hunting
!Did a seven hour trek through the jungle including the world's longest ( I think) canopy walkway. Kate was pretty freaked out for the first 100 meters or so! Also visited a local Indigenous tribe which was interesting. They taught us how to shoot blowpipe darts - their traditional hunting method. tried fishing - nothing, tried catching yabbies for bait - got one tiny one. Thankfully the food at the floating restaurant was half decent that night.
We start talk english short.
In case you think I have already got malaria and gone mad I will explain that last sentence! We started off trying to speak Malay as much as possible but quickly found that most people speak reasonable english here. However there is a distinct lack of words like 'the' 'in' 'at' etc so sentences go something like "you go hill see many animal". For better or worse this shortened use of english is rather catchy and we now find ourselves saying things like "I go shop buy drink".
Now in Cameron Highlands north of KL where we are setting out on more jungle walks followed by tea and scones at the tea plantations. Such a hard life.
