To the World's Oldest Rainforest

View from floating restaurant of the jetty to the park at Taman Negara
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So, when I was looking to get to Taman Negara, the jungle of peninsula Malaysia, I had read about being able to take the bus combined with a river trip. The first place I went to find transportation, only had a bus available. Then at the cheap backpacker's lodge, they offered transportation that included a minivan, train and river trip and was 5RM cheaper (approx $1.50!). I was very excited to find this trip and set off at 7:30am.

Well, the minivan turned up and already with four people inside. After somehow squeezing the luggage into the back seat with two of the passengers, I opted to take the end of the first row, the one where the door opens which means you have nothing to lean on. The minivan itself was nothing like the nice one we had the day before. I think this one could have given Nik's old Tercel a run for it's money. So off we go, laughing about the box of tissues hanging from the ceiling - was that a standard feature? Yes, I would like the power windows, power steering and that lovely tissue holder . . . !

Big tree on our hike in the park at Taman Negara
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The drive to our first stop was down on the other side of highlands on very winding roads, with me trying to make sure that I didn't fall onto the door, that I wasn't quite sure wouldn't fly open with me after it. After 2 hours, we made it to the train station at Gua Musang. Our train was to arrive at 10:33 and then after almost a three hour journey, we were to arrive in time to catch the last river boat by 2pm. Well, unfortunately, we were told that the train was going to be delayed until noon, which meant definitely missing the last river boat. We tried to see if the guy that drove us to the train station would take us to the jetty in Jerantut, but he wanted 240RM (approx $69) to drive us there. That was just outrageous, especially since our entire trip was going to cost 80RM (approx $23) each. I think Monique, one of the other traveler's and I would have paid something extra (and even tried to find a taxi with no luck) but all the other travelers were students and really couldn't afford to pay anything else. So, stuck at the train station, a train arrived at 12:30. Backpacks on and heading towards the train, thankfully someone stopped us (our driver now long gone) to inform us that it wasn't our train. Sitting back down again, our train finally arrived 20 minutes later. Trying to find car 2 where all our seats were, the one entrance was blocked by produce. So getting on at the other end, we were only to find that our seats were back at the first entrance. Fighting with other passengers trying to go the opposite way, we finally made it to our seats. The car was supposed to be air-con and was, but unfortunately, we were right by the door that everyone kept going in and out of the entire trip and not closing the door behind them. However, we were all thankful to be on our way.

Tissue holder in the minivan on the way to Gua Musang from Cameron Higlands
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Once at Jerantut, since we missed the last boat, we were picked up by a mini-van (much nice this time around!) and shuttled off about 10 minutes away where we had to fill out our entries to the national park - 1RM (approx $0.28) for the park fees and 5RM (approx $1.40) for the use of the camera. Apparently if you get caught without a pass it can be a fine of 10,000RM and/or three years in jail - yikes! Don't think I would that that chance. We then had to stay at this location for an hour and a half to wait for the bus that would finally take us to our final destination. We were now 10 hours into our travels and still had another hour and a half to two hours bus ride.

Making fire at the Orang Asli (original people) village at Taman Negara
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Finally, we arrived at 7:30 - 12 hours after starting. Sheesh, I guess I got an adventure after all, but not the one I had been hoping for. One of the girls that had been on the transit adventure with me was Melina, a German student who had been studying abroad in Indonesia and was taking a month to travel before doing an internship back in Indonesia. We had talked about doing a trek the next day and opted to do it together since we were both traveling alone. Given this, she decided to stay at the same hostel that I had pre-booked, the Temberling Riverview Hostel and Chalets. Finding this hostel was somewhat of a challenge, even with a map in hand. The town is not big, only a few streets by a few streets, but our hostel was a little off the beaten path. However, arriving at it, it seemed doubtful at first that they had any rooms, but I think they got the dates mixed up and did acknowledge my reservation as well as having dorm for Melina and three British students that were also traveling with us. The hostel was very cute, overlooking the river and my room was better than I had expected, despite the fact that my bathroom light wasn't working and they had to replace the door handle because the door got jammed after putting my bags inside and then going to register. Exhausted after a long day of travel, Melina, the British girls and I headed down to have dinner on one of the floating restaurants just below our hostel.

Melina on a canopy walkway, Taman Negara
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Up the next morning, Melina and I decided to brave it on our own with our trek. Crossing the river to the park, we ventured to our first stop, the canopy tour, which claims it is the longest one in the world (only to find out afterwards, that about 1/3 or it was closed for maintenance). We had been warned about the lines, as they only allow 4 people on a walkway at a time, but we were thankful after the hike to get there to be able to sit and try to not sweat so much. Yup, the humidity was back in full force. The canopy tour was fine, definitely not as sturdy as those we had experienced in Costa Rica, only a couple of planks as the walkway. However, it was a fun diversion and Melina had never been on one, so she was excited to try it out.

Orang Asli mother and children, Taman Negara
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Leaving the canopy tour we had a basic map of where to go. So we headed off and after a few miles, realized that we had gone in the wrong direction and instead of doing the original loop we intended to do, we had to backtrack. On the way back, Melina happened to mention the possibility of leeches. I assured her that they were probably only in the inner jungle. It was at that time that I decided to look at my ankle that had felt like a mosquito or something had bitten me. When I lifted up my pant leg, I saw blood and then a leech sucking away on my ankle. Needless to say, as some of you know, I am neither good at bugs or blood. Trying to get the leech off, it had firm intentions of not going anywhere. Finally, I was able to pry it off of me. Upon further inspection, I had been leeched upon twice on one leg and the once on the other. Ick! The one thing that amazed me is how long the bleeding kept going, all the way back to our hostel (an hour later) and even after showering!

Orang Asli hut, Taman Negara
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So, thankful to be back at the hostel and one big pile of sweat - did I mention it was humid? - I showered, put on fresh clothes for our next activity, rapid shooting. Of course, when I first read this, I was thinking it was shooting firearms, but thankfully no, it was a river trip (yeah, I was finally going to get on the river!). So, down at the jetty, our guide reminded us that we were going to get wet. Realizing that Melina and I weren't dressed appropriately, we changed into bathing suits under our clothes and took minimal things with us. Now, when the guide said we would get wet, that was an understatement.

Off in four long wooden motor boats, holding 5 or so people in each, we raced down the river, getting dangerously close to the other boats, just so that you could splash the other people. Along with that, the guides would rock the boat over the rapids so that you would get even more wet. Within 10 minutes, we were drenched from head to toe. Then if you weren't wet enough, the guides had fun pouring water on top of you from the bailing of the water from the boats!

After an hour or so of fun, we stopped at an "Orang Asli" (original people) village to see their way of life. There are two out of nine tribes in the Taman Negara area. After greeting the villagers in their tongue, one of our guides told us some about the Orang Asli and then we had a demonstration of fire making and using a blowpipe. The Orang Asli are the only people that are actually allowed to forage in the jungle as long as they do not sell what they find. They are also offered schooling, medical care and housing, but this is often not taken up on, especially the schooling for those tribes that are nomadic. After saying goodbye, once again in the Orang Asli tongue (which I thought was a nice thing to do, as opposed to the other groups visiting who just came and left), we ventured onto the river once more. Not really being that dry from the trip down, we were once again soaked to the bone. There was a stop for some swimming before heading back as the rains were about to come.

Back at the hostel and into dry clothes, the heavens opened and a downpour ensued. I thought this was the perfect time to get onto the internet before dinner. But apparently, the internet doesn't work when it rains??? I guess it was just that one, because after another dinner at a different floating restaurant, I found one that did work in the rain.

Well, another short destination stop. Finally I am going to make it to a beach, the Perhentian islands on the far north east corner of Malaysia. Assuming my accommodation are suitable (given the school holiday and upcoming public holiday on the 31st, finding lodging is still difficult) I plan on relaxing for the next 5 or so days. From what I understand, the internet might be hard to come by on the islands (or is very expensive if you do find it), so there might not be a posting for a few days. Am definitely looking forward to some beach time.

P.S. Issues with uploading all my pictures, please check back again for pictures of the Orang Asli.