Jungle Fever
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
18
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Where I stayed
Taman Negara National Park,
Malaysia
Monday, November 24, 2008
So apparently I hadn`t escaped the jetlag after all and slept through my alarm. As she sleepily crawled back into bed, (and I was so grateful to her for waking me!) I got ready in record time and ran downstairs, to find that our lift had been waiting for us 5 minutes already. Oh well, another 10 minutes whilst we ate our breakfast wouldn`t make any difference! (At least the boys also going on the trip slept late as well, so it wasn`t just me!).
Running out of the hostel, waving bye to Hazdy (one of the most fantastic hostel owners I`ve ever met, with a very dry sense of humour that not everyone got!) we got ready to head off into the jungle. We were prepared for warm weather, so in our light clothing we got on the coldest bus in history. Apparently the air con had broken and was now permanently stuck on the coldest setting.
A few cold hours later, we left the bus and were knocked flat by the hot air outside. Dropped off at the office, we were given a lot of coupons. Slightly confused we headed to the restaurant to which we were pointed to and that carried a `lovely` odour of eau du toilet to cash in our first coupon for lunch and wait for our 2 and a half boat ride into the rainforest.
The boat ride itself was pretty uneventful.
Heading into the Jungle
Negotiating the floating dock, carrying our big bags on a moving narrow plank to get to it and getting used to the traditional wooden boats that sit very low in the water there wasn`t really much else to do but watch the jungle around us go by. And also become increasingly concerned as the engine would randomly cut out during the trip for increasing lengths of time and sound increasingly less likely to start again. At one point we did start to think we would be swimming for the rest of the way. Eventually we arrived, marvelling at the floating restaurants (which believe me, sound a lot more glamourous than the planks nailed to a few barrels bobbing along slightly at the edge of the river) three of our main group headed to the `village hostel` and the other three of us headed for the more upmarket hostel (well, we got a discount!). Boy, were we glad we were in the more expensive one, ours was located in the middle of a lovely 4* resort, although the hostel itself was a grotty metal building at the back of all the log cabins. At least our showers were OK (cold, but clean) the other resort turned out to be almost inhabitable, and Nick, one of the guys staying there got covered in more bed bug bites than I`ve ever seen in my life! In fact, it was so bad that one took one look at it and moved into ours!
Hostels sorted, and fed and watered in the floating restaurant (which we had to get a water taxi across to everytime we wanted to go there or anywhere else) we headed into the jungle for the first time for our night walk.
View from the rainforest over the river
Hiking along man-made walkways for most of the way we directed our torch beams into the surrounding foliage hunting for insects, snakes and other general creepy crawlies. In fact, we were concentrating so hard on finding the little specks that might have just moved that Alvin, one of our group fell over one of the steps and completely wiped himself out. It caused us to shout `step` from then on everytime we went past anything that could remotely cause a trip hazard, providing us with much entertainment for the rest of the journey and in fact, for the rest of our 2 weeks in Malaysia! (must be the jungle fever). Usually the call of step came after one of us had tripped over something. Anyway, uneven pathways causing a health and safety hazard aside, we saw a good few giant spiders, giant stick insects, giant ants, giant millipedes and even a giant gecko which was about 20 times the size of any other gecko I`ve seen. We also saw some normal sized deer, some glow in the dark mushrooms and a very rare, very poisonous centipede. Ooo and a scorpion (which was fairly big, but not big enough to be counted as giant.). You get the picture. It was a great night despite the rain and the steps.
The next day we headed up river for our day trek and to try out the canopy walkways. Expecting a glorified version of the rope bridges you used to get in playgrounds in the UK (before they were all taken down because of health and safety of course!), we were very impressed to find a long series of narrow, wobbly rope bridges that took us half an hour to navigate.
Canopy walkways
They were actually quite scary, and great fun, some of them seemed to tilt and wobble far too far to be truly safe as you walked high in the canopy. We were reassured that there have been no accidents so far, and that as long as we follow the safety advice and keep at least 5 -15m between each person, and don`t stop in the middle of the bridge to take photos, and hold on with both hands at all times, that we would be fine. Funny how safety talks make things seem less safe!The trek itself was great, but hard work. It wasn`t really hot, but the warm air and high humidity left us all dripping with sweat as we struggled along the steep uphill path. The hour or so climb was worth it however, when we got up to the viewpoints over the river and out across the jungle. Making our way back down, we went for lunch and were told to prepare to get wet in the afternoons activities. For some reason I interpreted this as prepare to get a little bit splashed during the afternoon`s activities rather than prepare to get completely soaked. This was clearly an error on my part.
So we headed back up the river, in a boat that sat even lower in the water. This time we had no canopy and the boat felt even less safe. We relaxed through the first set of rapids where we got a small splash and seemed to be still alive. So we were a bit shocked when further up we went up through the huge rapids, with our guide rocking the boat meaning that we got hit by walls of water and completely soaked to the skin. I can only describe `rapid shooting` as its called, as backwards white water rafting, getting more wet with less of the fun! I really wish I`d worn my swimsuit.
Making fire
Carrying wet clothes when you`re travelling is not fun. Anyway, upon arriving at our destination, our guide suggested that we could have a swim in the river before having a look round the village. Deciding that I couldn`t possibly be any wetter, we jumped in fully clothed, socks and all, to have a swim in the fast flowing river. It was an interesting feeling, I`ve never swam with trousers on before!
Dripping wet and slightly cold, we started to look round the Oran Asli village. I can`t say it was the best township tour I`ve ever done. It felt very uncomfortable as we were just left to walk round the village and poke our heads into peoples houses as the villages looked on at us with contempt. I kept reminding myself that the villagers had a choice to live here and would be paid for each visitor they received. The setting was beautiful, but the whole thing felt very contrived. We gathered round to have a go at making fire. A few of us managed to produce the smoke required. We also had a go at using the traditional blow pipe and aiming for a target. Wisely they didn`t give us the arrows that were tipped with poison as the aim of some was far off!
Apparently the poison they use is extracted from a plant. Occasionally traces of the poison left in the animal can then end up in the food, but they use another plant to treat this. Ideally, the hunters know exactly how many arrows (and therefore how much poison) they need to kill an animal, but not cause the poison to end up in the meat. Saying goodbye to the villages, we headed back down the river, (further soaking included) and back to our dorms to dry off, ready for leaving the jungle the next day.
