Bugs & Banjara Hills

Its been a few days since the last entry, its because we were in the middle of the rainforest here in Malaysia. Taman Negara, Malaysia's oldest national park, is listed as a must-see on the list of  things to do in Malaysia - amazing rainforest treks, aboriginal tribes, vistas, canopy walks, waterfalls, etc. Here's our story:

We left KL early morning on Wed. and took the bus to a town (Tembeling) which is about 3 hours downstream from the park entrance and supposedly the best way to enter the rainforest. The bus ride itself wasn't too bad at all and by the time we got to Tembling we were stoked to take this boat trip. The boat was actually a gondola with a motor and our luggage was strapped precariously on the front end of the boat with a tarp to cover. The river to Taman Negara was a scene from 'Apocalypse Now' - same muddy water with the crazy jungle on either sides of the river, monkeys and birds hanging off the trees, and water buffalos sunning themselves on the banks on the river. The occasional Malay would raft by us, literally in a Tom Sawyer-esque raft. Not a bad start, but not incredibly impressive either. Our canoe/gondola/boat was so low on the water you felt like you were sitting on the water and I and Imraan for some reason were the only people liberally applying sunscreen and bugs spray - everyone else, tank tops, flip flops, short shorts - I was ready with my hydrocortizone. Halfway through the trip, with the sun beating down on my side of the canoe  the  clouds roll in and  we get nailed with a heavy rainstorm.  Now  not only is it raining hard but the boat is cruising along the river with such speed that the rain actually feels like pellets hitting us in the face (back to my Apocalypse Now reference). Finally, we get to Persona Village, our lodging that was pre-arranged by the bus company - supposedly the best in the area. It seemed awfully nice when we got there but inside each cabin it was a pretty bare bones scene. Imraan thought I was crazy at my rate of reapplication of bugs spray, but I wasn't taking any chances... Everything seemed to be going smoothly, in fact we had made some friends - Bernadette and Luc from Paris. A 40-50 year couple, super friendly, and I finally got to work my French with them - for once Imraan was feeling a bit left out of the conversation! That night we went to bed early, Imraan planning to get up at 2:45 to watch the Premiership Liverpool vs. someone else...we sprayed the door with bugspray and stamped out any stray mosquitos in the room. Around 2:30 AM Imraan wakes me up to ask if I hear a rustling sound...and I tell him not to worry...I had left a plastic bag on the floor that was just probably moving around because of the fan blowing it. Convinced he gets up to go watch the game, flicks the light switch,  and I hear a low "OH SH--!@!" I look and it was insect infestation - swarms of bugs were moving the plastic bag NOT THE FAN. There  were bugs flying around the room, dead moths all over the ground - I was so stunned I couldnt even scream although I was very much screaming inside. Suprisingly, neither of us was bitten. I was sick, Imraan was staying calm as always, I think he realized if he flipped out then I would surely go into full hysteria. The stairs to our little cabin were covered in dead moths and bugs that were feeding off those dead bugs, DISGUSTING! We both ran to the main area to watch the game (I wouldn't be left in that room alone to be eaten alive) where I fell asleep in a chair exhausted and traumatized. 5AM I woke up after the game was over to find that my face had been bitten 6 times - I wanted to cry but I couldn't lose my cool with Imraan being so calm about the whole thing. I saw that there were some of those mosquito coils that you can burn to fumigate the area and I grabbed 4 of them. We went back to our room and I stood there while Imraan stamped on every single bug until the floor was covered with smashed bug guts. He even used newspaper to brush them into a pile on one side of the room. I placed the coils on all corners of the room and went back to sleep - I was too exhausted to protest.  We woke up two hours later - I was expecting to hear some screams in the morning  but I didn't. At breakfast everyone else had the same story which made me feel better - its not like we were the only freaks in the cabin. We left the cabins to go do some self guided hikes - Imraan is not much for any group activity so I agreed that it might be nice to do things at our own pace. Lets just say that everyone going to the park was dressed as if the park was Disneyland and not some crazy rainforest with leeches. IM and I had our pants tucked into our socks looking like the super cool dork team, everyone else had velcro sandals. IM and I had long sleeve t-shirts with gobs of block and spray, everyone else had tank tops. These people were making me nervous for them. Needless to say IM and I went on some serious hike that at first seemed OK and then every 10 mins we would check our shoes and socks to find leeches crawling up our laces. I now know what that expression really means because they are so tough to flick off your socks. Realizing that our trek was too ambitious given the leech situation we turned back and went on a 'milder hike' that included a canopy walkway - the coolest part of day. It was hot, humid, and sweaty, we were drenched. The worst part is that everytime we wanted to pass out with heat exhaustion some 60 year old german lady would pass us by making us feel even more disgusted with ourselves. I think the Germans climb mountains all the time for fun - remember Heidi? After all that treking I thought the vistas were just OK and all in all it reminded me of Abba's back yard in Banjara hills x 10 - hot, humid, bugs, and tears. but no servants to make you a nice cold lassi.

Thankfully, our last night there the coils really worked and we had no bug problem. We were outta there at 8 am and neither of us were turning back.