Malaysia - Taman Negara

After spending time in the orderly streets of Singapore and my stomach recovered from Kuala Lumpur, we were excited to escape from the cities and venture up to the jungles of the Taman Negara. We traveled by bus to Jerantut a small little town with not much except a few shops, a post office, and the compulsory KFC, and then went by boat up the river into the jungle. We still had a while left before we had to fly out to Borneo and the plan was to spend a few days in the jungle and then head off to see a little more of peninsular Malaysia. But the jungle sucked us in and we both fell in love with the area and never wanted to leave. We ended up spending the rest of our trip in a little hostel on the river. The place didn't have hot water or a solid structure, but what it lacked in stability it made up for in character. The guy who owned the place was the most laid back guy I've ever met - not concerned about money or rules and was often found painting in his room late into the night.

The base for the jungle is a little town called Kuala Tahan that is set right on the river across from the national park. Along the water are a whole group of floating restaurants (they have to float because during the rainy season the water level goes up so high that they would be covered) where you can eat, book tours, find guides, and get water taxis across into the park.

The boat on the ride into Kuala Tahan

Water buffalo on the side of the river

On our first day after lunch we took a taxi into the park to check out the scene and get a feel for how we wanted to spend our trip. The guy driving us across offered to take us on a tour that afternoon and offered a price lower than all of the package companies. We decided to take the chance and see what he had to offer, and set off on an afternoon down the river. First we went to visit a local native tribe called the Organ Asli (literally 'original people'). These tribes are the descendants of the first people to settle peninsular Malaysia, and are the only people allowed to live within the park ground and use the trees and animals for their survival. They hunt using poisoned bow darts and live a nomadic life living in huts. When a member of the tribe dies they abandon their huts and move to a new settlement. On our visit they showed us how they traditional start fire and how to make and use blow darts.

Learning how to start a fire

They had a pet giant squirrel. This guy is the baby, and right after this picture our guide put him on my shoulders and he crawled across my back.

One of the huts they live in

I never hunt deer in Pennsylvania, but I thought I'd give the blow darts a try

And I almost caught a bear!

On the way back from the settlement we stopped a really cool rope swing and went for a swim in the river. Our guide was a young guy of about 20 and while we were there all of his friends came from the town to play on the swing. We ended up staying for a few hours, watching playing in the water and relaxing on the shore.

By hiring our own little guide we were able to do what we wanted and decided that this was probably the way to go for the rest of the trip. As it is the low tourist season we were able to get pretty good prices to do everything we wanted. That night we decided to go on a walking night safari, and we hired the guys father as our new guide. He went by 'Freeman' and was a smart old man with eyes full of the mischief of a small boy. As we walked through the jungle listening to the night sounds he pointed out different insects and plants teaching us so much along the way. He knew everything from what baby termites eat to what plants are currently being used for AIDS research. He had an amazing knowledge and appreciation of the jungle, and his excitement was infectious.

Because we really liked the night walk we decided to do an overnight in the jungle the following day. We walked 4 hours into the jungle to an open air pavilion that was an old fishing hut on the river. On our trek we saw lots of animals including a water monitor, a family of otters playing in the water, loads of monkeys, and a wild boar. We arrived in the evening and went for a good swim in the river and then went back up to set up camp. I have a deep love for hammocks, and in Cambodia on an impulse I decided to buy one. I thought it was going to be useless and a waste of space in my bag, but Freeman told me I could spend the night in the jungle in my hammock, which was probably the highlight of my trip. At night he cooked us chicken curry and rice and we sat talking and listening to the crazy sounds of the jungle. In the morning we could hear the gibbons call as we went for one last swim before packing up camp and heading down to meet the boat that would take us back to Kuala Tahan.

Loving my beautiful red hammock

The monkeys can be cheeky here too

Cool mushrooms on the trees

The insects were GIANT. This centipede was almost as big as my giant sized foot.

And GIANT trees...

The park also has a bat cave that you can climb through, but unfortunately just before we came a rock fell near the entrance and they were closed to the public. Freeman seemed to think this was silly and that we could still go in, so we decided to go and check it out. We climbed past the taped off entrance and shinning our lights ahead crawled into the tiny caves. The caves were COVERED in bat poop, which was probably worse than normal because no one had gone through them in a while. We crouched and crawled through the caves sliding through the poo and coming face to face with the blind pig nosed claw fingered beasts that called the place home.

Crawling over the taped off entrance to get into the caves

Bats EVERYWHERE

That's not dirt, it's bat poop. I hope I don't get Ebola.

There is also a long canopy walk way that connects through the tree tops where you can get a cool view from up above.

I don't like things that suck my blood, be it mosquitos, nurses, or leeches, and the jungles of Malaysia have really tested my nerve. Although I had been warned about the mosquitos I didn't have a big problem with them, but what really got me was the leeches. On our first walk through the jungle I saw what I thought was a cute little inch worm and stopped to pick up the leaf and check it out. Our guide quickly informed me that what I originally thought was cute was the little monster that wanted to eat me. They sit on the ground and leaves sticking out their heads like a submarine periscope looking around for fresh meat to feed on. When they find you they latch on and inch up until they find a spot they like, and sink their teeth in. We had been warned to wear long pants, but actaully found it was better to wear shorts because then you could feel them crawling up your legs. Most of the time I caught them, but ocassionally they had a meal before I ripped them off my body.