Welcome to the Jungle!
Trip Start
Feb 11, 2008
1
53
58
Trip End
Jun 30, 2008
Taman Negara,
Malaysia
Saturday, May 31, 2008
We grabbed a swift breakfast at another eatery in town before heading to the train sation where we were shown some photos on the counter taken by the owners of the cafe. Wierdly, the photos were of a copule of travellers we were chatting to on the bus from Melaka to Gemmas the day before, and the owners told us that they would like to take our photos too and place them on the counter for all to see! Hesitantly, we agreed and there you will find our photographs showing our cheesy and embarassed grins sellotaped to the glass panel in an eatery in Gemmas...enjoy!
The train arrived 2 1/2 hours late and the journey was rather dull, so I got my head down and slept while Jo gazed out of the window at the country side rolling past. The best scenery was supposed to be better further north where the "jungle train" snakes its way through the dense canopies and forested hillsides, however, the occasional town and miles and miles of palm plantations were a little monotomous.
Once we arrived in Jerantut we were approached by a tout asking us if we were going to the Taman Negara and had we somewhere to stay. Usually we'd be disinclined to talk to touts but this guy seemed okay, very friendly and was polite so we lingered and had a chat to him to see what he had to offer. As it turned out we were taken by minibus to a cheap (40 RM- "Hans Travel Hotel") hotel room which was newly built, had plasma tv, ensuite hot and cold shower and was one of the most comfortable places we'd stayed in for the whole trip. Bargain! We were even hosted by the chinese owner and recomended to eat in the chinese restaurant next door to the hotel.
The food was delicious, the beer was cold and although at first glance the lookedpacked we were approached by an English speaking woman who showed us to a table, gave us a menu each, took our order for drinks and food and promptly passed our order to one of the waiting girls, who we could now tell, were wearing green polo shirts and were the ones doing the serving and the taking of orders. Much to our embarresment, we found out that the kind lady who'd approached us and looked after us initially was actually a diner at the restaurant herself and not staff, but she'd talked to us as she spoke English and the waitresses didn't- what a great place!!
Kenny, the manager of the hotel, had arranged for us to be collected at 11am by minibus to be taken to Kuala Tembelling in time to catch the 2pm boats to Teman Negara. When the boats arrived we saw that they were long wooden canoes with an outboard motor attached and housed about 18 travellers and their luggage, after which there was only a handspan from the water to the top of the boats edge- not an assuring prospect as we'd be whizzing up the very fast flowing river to our destination with not very much room for error.
The journey by boat was stimulating at first, but after a while we relaxed, sat back and watched the jungle flow past us. We caught glimpses of kingfishers and bathing water buffalo as well as locals fishing in the river by balancing on the prows of canoes and throwing their nets into the water- most romatic. Three hours later we arrived at the village located on the south side of the river opposite the entrance to the national park proper. The village consists of backpacker accomodation, a school and homes for the locals. We trudged the kilometer up a hill carrying our packs and sweating our arses off towards our chosen billet for the next few days and on our arrival our host ushered us into the shade and gave us a delicious drink filled with ice which sorted out our dehydration issue straight away. The chalet we would be staying in was very reasonably priced at 50RM and included breakfast (about eight quid) so we were very happy despite the 1km hike back to the rivers edge.
We'd decided not to fork out 400RM for a three day trek in the jungle, which is what most backpackers do in the park, but we'd opt for jaunts led by guides to various location such as the ear caves, the Orang Asli village, a jungle safari etc. This left plenty of time for relaxing and exploring the park-you must pay 5PM for a pass to the park or face 3 years imprisonment if you fail to produce said document- money well spent i feel! The first trip we put our names to was to the ear cave (Gua Tellingi- so called because you go in one way and out of the other) so we piled into another smaller boat with two girls from Holland called Helga and Natasja and our guide, a young muslim girl sporting designer trainers, jeans and an England football shirt, and headed along the river and through the jungle to the cave entrance.
Now, bat poo is not the best smelling thing you can have smeared on your hands and clothing, but little did we know that when we set out that's what we'd be enjoying for the next hour and a half! The caves are really small and you have to clamber on your hands and knees through fissures, over rocks and under stalactites whilst avoiding the agitated bats flying around your head and the occasional poisonous snake lurking in the dark recesses of the caves- a torch and balls of steel are essential. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but it wasn't until we were half way through the cave system that the thought of rabies, Leptospirosis (veils disease) and other nasty diseases came into our heads!
The other trip to the village of the Orang Asli, known as the original Peoples of Malaysia who migrated through Indo China from North Africa hundreds of thousands of years before the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and present day Malays found their way into the Malaysian Peninsular, was interesting, although I had my doubts as to the authenticity of the tour as the Orang Asli are nomadic tribes peoples who make their living from the jungle through hunting and fishing and the village we found ourselves in was a shanty settlement made up of shelters put together with palm fronds and tarpaulins. However, our guide assured us that the Orang Asli could leave this area of their own choice and continue their nomadic existence in any part of the national park that they wished, but I wondered why they would want to do that when they have a lucrative income from the tourism trade. It's a dilemma, how much does tourism cost the Orang Asli in stripping their traditions from their lifestyle by outside influence, how much of the revenue generated by tourism go to the Orang Asli, do their children benefit from schooling and how much will that affect the future of the tribe. We asked ourselves these quesations and doubted our own intentions and we both felt very uncomfortable walking around the village with our guide as we received vacant stares from the Orang Asli who had seen rich (in their standards) foreigners gawping at them before.
It wasn't until we were shown a demonstraion of the skill required to make fire from the friction caused by rubbing two pieces of wood together that we felt the ice break. After we were shown the ease at which one of the Orang Asli men made the two pieces of wood ignite in a matter of 30 seconds, I asked if i might have a try. So with a wry grin and smiles thrown to the children who were giggling to themselves and laughing at me behind raised hands I had a go. Five minutes later and I managed to create an ember from my efforts which I gslowly placed in a ball of shavings and gently blew on to cause a flame, whilst not putting out the tiny spark with the torrent of sweat which was running like a river from my forehead to the tip of my nose. What an acievement! Even Ray Mears would be proud of the result! There I had it, a small flame created from tow sticks, a ball of shaving, seven blisters and 3 gallons of sweat. After this triumph, I stood aside and let Jo have a go. She also managed to create a small ember, but it didn't cost her quite so much effort or sweat though!
We were then shown how to use a blow gun and darts by our instructor who expertly wielded the 6 foot long blowpipe, measured the distance to the target (a stuffed bear tied to a pole) and swiflty executed the bear in one lungfull of breath, straight through the heart! Gulp, I thought as he grinned and handed the blowpipe to me, how am I going to beat that? So, with half of the village now watching our attempts having been encouraged by our tries at fire making, I took the pipe from him, gave a sickly grin to the smiling crowd, took aim, took a deep breath and blew hard with all my might. The dart flew through the air and landed in the right arm of the teddy bear. Yes!! I roared, thrilled to even have hit the bloody thing. I grinned at the crown and pulled a worlds strongest man pose with a resounding grrrr!! I took another go and now encouraged by the laughter of my audience I took aim and missed the bear entirely! Still, one more try. This time I managed to get the dart in the head of the bear, and I yelled with accomplishment and a loud grrrr!!! Next, it was Jo's turn. She bravely took centre stage and balanced the blow pipe, placed it to her lips, closed one eye and blew! The dart missed, but unpreturbed she took aim again and killed the teddy bear with two darts! Grrrrrrrr!!!
The following day we decided to take a stroll into the National Park itself, so armed with provisions, sunblock, insect spray our valuable permits and a hand drawn map we strolled along the well maintained paths towards the canopy walkway reputed to be the highest and longest in the country apart from the one we went on in Penang, which also claims to be the longest and highest in Malaysia! Having already bricked myself on the Penang canopy walkway, we decided to follow another track to the top of a hill and then around through the jungle back towards the starting point. We were happily wandering along admiring a long column of ants, various birds and civets when Jo cried out that she had a leech attached to her leg! Horrified, I tried to flick it off with my finger only to have it attach itself to my hand! We were both dancing around and screaming like girls, trying to see where the bloody thing had fallen amongst the debris of the jungle floor. I then took a look at my legs and there was another bloody leech drawing blood from my ankle. Hopping on one leg I managed to pry it off with a stick and stab it to death in a frenzy of bloodlust shouting "bastard, bastard". It turned out that Jo had five leeches on her feet, inside her shoe that had bitten her through her socks and I found another bugger on my other leg. We walked a hell of a lot faster after that despite the natural beauty of the jungle and the enchanting sound of a particular bird we could hear but we never saw. It's song was like that of a plumber tunelessly whistling through his teeth whilst changing a ball cock, and that was exactly what I expected to be around the corner where we could hear this birds song coming from. Bloody jungle- beautiful, yet terrifying!
