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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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After a marathon day of van/bus we finally pulled into the town at Taman Negara National Park(called Kuala Tahan). The hotel/hostel we chose from the book was full, but we got taken to another place that we decided to stay at. It was a bit out of town, but they had a jeep and would drive us in/pick us up whenever we wanted. Can't beat that for service!!
So, the jungle. We weren't really sure what we were doing, and didn't have a lot of time, so we decided to use some organized treks to look around. Signed up for a canopy walk plus trek and rapids shooting for the next day. (Don't worry mom, we survived both!).
The next morning, got our free ride in, and off we went for our trek. First we crossed the river(the town is on one side, the park on the other), and started walking. There are a LOT of plants in the jungle!! And some very large trees. Our guide pointed out a few interesting ones (lots used for men's health!!--a common trend--there were a few of these in the Highlands that were pointed out to us too!). And we walked. To the canopy walk, which is a walk on suspension bridges WAY up in those large trees (remember mom, still alive!). That was neat. Man, we were high up. You had to keep at least 5m in between you and the nearest person, maximum 4 people on each bridge at a time(10 bridges). And maximum 4 people on each platform in between bridges. So sometimes you got to stop in the middle of the bridge to wait for people, and just think about how high up you were, and how you could look down at the tops of the trees you were just looking up at from the ground!! Exhilarating. So that took a while, then we started the trek in earnest. To the top, really nice view. Just a really great walk through the jungle. (fun to be able to type that!!) Heard a crazy bird call, and the guide got really excited. We searched, and finally spotted it, the Rhinoceros Hornbill (http://www.forestry .sarawak.gov.my/forweb /wildlife/center/semeng /hbill/rhorn.htm). 2 of them actually, WAY up in the trees. They're really big--they were flying around a bit, and calling to each other. Down to the bottom, and a walk along the flat back to the river. Sean and I learned something very important on that trek(all 4 hours of it!). We have been evolutionarily UNselected to be jungle trekkers. 'Cause when you jungle trek, it's hot, it's humid, and you sweat ridiculous amounts. Okay, everyone else sweat in moderation (some might even say the other girl with us glistened), Sean and I sweat buckets. Sean could wring his shirt out... before we got to the top. Our guide kept telling us, drink less water, sweat less--that's the secret! yah okay. After the trek, we dashed back to our hotel(in the jeep!) changed our clothes, ate quickly (salt wih a side of fries and a tuna salt sandwich), drank a bit of water(2 litres each) and raced back (in the jeep!) for our rapids shooting. Which didn't turn out to be as much of a thrill adventure as it sounds. We headed up the river in a boat (wooden), up the river, through all the 'rapids', then turned around and headed back down through the rapids. It was fun, and a bit exciting, not dangerous at all... Mostly it was a nice ride on the river. We stopped at a small tributary, swam in a swimming hole there for a bit, and rock-hopped up the creek a bit. Really green and peaceful. Right as we went to leave it started POURING rain. It was GREAT!! I mean, here we were, in the jungle, on a river, in our bathing suits, in the pouring rain. It was beautiful. Back to the hotel, where we had drank water, had supper, drank more water and went to bed.
Day 2 saw us going on a trek to a cave!! Walked in the jungle a bit--hardly any up/downhill, which helped the sweating thing a WHOLE lot. To the cave. Not a huge cave, but really neat. We squeezed in and looked around. There were so many bats hanging from the ceiling!! (which was pretty much eyelevel, or just above out heads.) They just hung there with their hears twitching all over the place, constantly in motion. Saw a couple really big frogs, but no snakes (which apparently have been seen). Can't say I was all that sad about not seeing a snake...even if they aren't poisonous... We worked our way slowly through the cave--bat guano is slippery!! haha. And out at the end was the smallest space I've ever fit through, I think. Lesson #2 from the jungle--I'm not meant to be a caver--long limbs just don't fold as compactly as shorter ones!! It was a lot of fun. We headed back into town absolutely filthy(bat crap), and ate lunch at one of the floating restaurants on the river before have a nice relaxing afternoon back at the hotel.
The insects were much less worse than I expected. I'm not sure I even got one mosquito bite. We had a couple friends in our bathroom, a spider(big guy), big cockroach, and mutant grasshopper-like thing(also big). Insects are big in the jungle!! Everytime I went in the bathroom, I did a careful inspection...haha. I took care of the grasshopper thing all by myself!!(with Sean supervising). Lifted the cover on the drain and washed him down. Not that I mind insects, usually... but there's a size factor. I like insects that I can kill(if need be) without hearing a crunch. If it's going to crunch, I just can't squish it. Sean can!!(I leave the room!) So, I washed the guy down the drain, so he can die a slow agonizing death by starvation(my reasoning doesn't make much sense, does it? Quick death would probably be a lot better for the insect!). After making themselves scarce for a day(did they witness the demise of the mutant?), the cockroach and spider(innocent bystander who just got caught in the water) followed the mutant down the next day(Sean). So they can party together down there...
The jungle was neat. It would have been neat to do a longer trek(see wild animals--4 guys we talked to today saw(okay, got chased by) wild elephants!), but I'm not sure I could have carried that much water on my back. Our 1.5 litre bottle count in our room was 11, for the 2 1/2 days we were there. And we each left 1 or 2 behind at a restaurant or two. We figured we drank over 20 litres of water between the 2 of us in those 2 1/2 days...
previous travel blog entry
The Oldies! says:
Enjoying your journals, Kyla, and the fact that you keep reassuring me that you and Sean are surviving your experiences! Can't imagine the heights you were at on the suspension bridge - think I could do that walk? Love Mom