Taman Negara Nat Park, Cameron Highlands, Penang etc

Taman Negara National Park - Wed 10 to Fri 12 Jan

and Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands - from Fri 12 Jan for few days - Left KL for a 3 day/2 night "package" at the NPark (north-east of KL) by coach which left conveniently just outside our Swiss Inn Hotel in Chinatown.  Arrived at the place to then catch a small boat and take the 3 hour journey up the river to the NP headquarters and our accommodation site.  The river trip was welcome in that we had a great breeze in our faces and hair so we were considerably cooler an dmore comfortable, especially when it started to rain and we needed to almost rug up a little!  Accomm at "Jurassic"/Teresek View "Motel" was okay, acceptable but not exciting, and the nearly one km trek in the stifling heat, fully laden on slippery mud tracks left us both a bit cranky and jaded (can't imagine that!!) - there were locals sitting around everywhere, smoking, drinking, playing cards, reading papers and sleeping, wouldn't take much imagination to set up a "porter" transfer from destination floating restaurant/tourist office to everyone's accomm.  But that's entrepreneurial thinking which doesn't seem to abound much here!  :-)

After dinner and settling in we did the two hour night jungle trek by torchlight to inspect an interesting variety of insects etc, the highlight being a deadly poisonous scorpion about 4-5" long, coaxed from its hole by our intrepid guide.  After a good sleep (thank God for air conditioning) we ventured off for a three hour jungle hike and canopy walk, more steep, slippery, muddy paths and flick the leeches off as you go, plus negotiate more asthma-inducing humidity.  When we got to the highest point we were shrouded in cloud so the view was stunning according to our imaginations.  We then trekked through the canopy on "interesting" rope ladder "pathways" which perhaps might struggle to pass Aust OH&S standards, but they all got us and our companions to an end destination safely.  After lunch and a breather we braved the river boats again to ride some rapids for an hour and then visited a local indigenous tribal community of about 20 people living ostensibly much as they always have.  But sadly the parallels with Australian aboriginal communities were all to obvious as they've become reliant on the tourist dollar and hence are losing much of their traditional ways.  They still fashion blowpipes and we all had a go, Jan hitting the bulls-eye without poison on the dart.

After a hearty brekkie on our floating pontoon restaurant we boarded the 9 o'clock boat back out the way we came in.  Misty rain all the way for that 2 hour trip, made shorter by the fast flowing current in the river helping our progress.  Minibus onto Cameron Highlands (current destination) where we were glad to settle into "Fathers Guesthouse" - a great homely atmosphere, well run establishment, with really helpful staff.  Our private bedroom with facilities RM60/night (A$22.80).  Because of the elevation here it is much cooler and today we've had a visit to the local BOH tea plantation, walk through the jungle, orchid and chrysethemum gardens (this area has just tipped Holland out of 1st place in global exports of cut flowers), and another indigenous village visit where the "chief" invited us to drink tea and eat tapioca in his house while the guide showed us/explained their artifacts and culture.  Great Indian tandoori chicken meal down the local street for RM7 each (A$2.60) - awesome!

We feel we're pacing our travels pretty well, claiming some space for down time, journal writing, learning all the intricacies of our new camera, reading and sleeping, and praise God we're still both keeping really well - apart from itchy leech bites! .... see Penang details as follows...

Comfy ride with VIP coach Cameron H'lands to Penang, 8am Monday - 2.30pm at the hotel.  Yesterday (Tues) travelled by local bus out to the north-west corner of the island and then spent three beautiful hours in the Tropical Spice Garden plus lunch.  Really well done, great signage, evocative aromas of cloves to remind us of mother's apple pies and a great spice history museum bringing back Grade 7 Social Studies in Queensland when we followed the spice trade shipping routes.

Great Chinese hawker food last night (w'll be back there tonight).  Today we went to Penang Hill by bus and cable car/train, then we walked for miles down the back of the hill to the Botanical Gardens which were lovely, including a stunning display of orchids in full bloom.  (Jan's mum would have loved them.)  We were a bit pooped after all that in the steamy humidity, so as we began the walk to chase our next bus back home it started raining and a local lady who'd been out walking herself kindly stopped and became our travelling angel for today, delivering us back to our hotel doorstep with grace and charm.  Also had lovely conversation with a young newly-engaged couple from Austria who gave us good tips on Thailand esp Bangkok.  Other travellers are a great source of useful information and we're glad we have some flexibility in our schedule to take advantage of this newly acquired knowledge.  Hope to report more from Thailand in the next chapter...  love to all our "readers"!!  M&J