Sweating in the jungle, chilling on the beach
End of radio silence.... after a couple of weeks in fairly internet free zones i'm back in the big city..... First of all, let me say hello to our new readers from Germany, who (for the benefit of the ignorant brits - no thanks to me...) are tuning in to see the journey of my erstwhile (and long suffering) travelling companion Johannes. Have recieved several complaints (via johannes) that he isn't getting enough of a mention (well none in fact). Have decided to rectify this with, not only mention but a topless photo for all the ladies back at home to coo over (ahem...). Johannes and I (notice correct english grammer here, none of this 'me and johannes' stuff here - important now i'm practically a full time english teacher...) seperated in darwin and met up again in KL just prior to going to the highlands. OK, think we've got that all cleared up....So on with the story.... Got back into KL from highlands in the middle of a tropical monsoon. Thunder like bombs going off around us. Taxi drivers sensing their opportunity sprang from every doorway offering ride using their special 'monsoon' pricing structure, where the cost of a ride rises exponentially with the rate of cm/rain/sec. Laughing these off we waded back to our hostel, desperate not to break our backs slippering on the ice rink like tiles underfoot.From KL it should have been a straight bus ride to the jetty at Jerantut where the boat to the naman negara national park leaves from. Nothing in simple in this world however. Firstly we ended up at the wrong bus station. Then there were no tickets for the bus we wanted so were forced to use a variety of local buses to wind our way to jerantut. Yes yes, i hear all the hard core travellers saying, 'but local buses are so great, so much more character!'. Very true my friends, however when you are 6'2" spending 3 hours on a seat hard enough to cut diamonds with about enough leg room to squeeze your little tow between the seat and the one in front you may reconsider... Anyways, amerged at jerantut with 20 mins to get to jetty (20km away). Running up to a taxi driver frantic negotiations occured, so much so the poor man confused himself - TAXI DRIVER - boat quey? 30 ringgit. NIGEL [laughing derisively] - thats far too much, i'll give you 20TAXI DRIVER - okok, 18 ringgitNIGEL [confused] - eerrrrr okJOHANNES [enjoying mention] - wow, dig the haggling (paraphrased, lost in translation...)Leaping from the taxi, rushed to the boat office, packs back bouncing, flip flops flapping. Boats unsuprisingly were in no real hurry. A seamingly self styled sultan (all this alliteration really isn't intensional) sat behing the desk. Twiddling his ludicrously coiffered and dyed hair between fingers teaming with domed rings he signed our documents. This signiture cannot be compared to. An elaborate pattern of sweeps and tails, quite seriously taking over a minute from start to finish.ANYway, moving on... The boat ride into the taman negara is a 3 hour ride in long canoe (1.5 m wide 12m long ish) The taman negara is an ancient rain forest that has remained intact in its current state for the last 130 million years. Unsuprisingly it is considered one of malaysia's top attractions containing all kinds of wildlife including tigers, elephants etc.You would think by this time i couldn't go on about this one journey anymore, well sorry.... The boat ride was one of the most amazing experiences i've had. travelling up the river, each bank covered in towering forest, occationally broken my a native village or two, it feels like travelling back in time. In fact i was relating my feelings on the subject to Johannes on the boat, stating that "Travelling by open boat is so much better than by coach, you really feel part of the environment". Two seconds later the bow wave from a passing vessel sweeps over the right side of the canoe soaking me and my bag to the bone. Johannes took several minutes to recover from his laughing fit.About an hour into our journey, the nigel engine jinx raised its ugly head. Seeking to break one engine in every country i visit, it struck at the out board of the canoe. Miles from anywhere, the motor cut. We look round at the driver 'you can fix it right?' Driver replies 'anyone got a mobile?' Great... someone did, but no reception.... i was secretly pleased at the prospect of this adventure, stuck in the jungle, we'd have to make bivies of something - just like some 'boys own' adventure! How exciting! Unfortunely a boat coming back the other way saved us. We loaded our bags and selves onto the other craft and continued on our way. The unfortunate boat man was left to paddle back down stream with a plank...So at last i've actually reached somewhere. Our time in the rain forest was spent hiking, and hiking and sweating. On our first day we explored the canopy by way of .5 km suspended walkway, trying to avoid the 2cm long killer ants that infested the hand rails. Ants are a bit of a theme here, little ants, normal ants, massive killer ants, they are everywhere. To the ants, the forest is like some kind of huge metropolis. Using the tree roots that reach out across the forest floor they create highways and intersections. 8 lanes wide with traffic backed up for miles, the ants stream along these roots (or should i say routes) like cars in a city viewed from the top of a skyscraper.The forest also has a number of caves, filled with bats - but unfortunately no raiders of the lost ark style boulder traps (tried and failed to contain my disapointment). Expecting so be able to walk through said caves i strode in with bag camera etc etc. About 2 meters later had a nasty shock. Firstly, the undeniable stink of bat feces, secondly the several hundred pairs of eyes staring at me and thirdly the realisation that i would be forced to crawl through the cave, hands and knees in the feces, face in the furry faces - nice.Johannes had the crazy notion that several days hiking in the jungle would be nice, perhaps coupled with a night in a hide with no facilities etc etc.... Donning our packs and 6 litres of water each - this is sweaty work, we set off. The trek to the hide was 11 km through rough forest. Under trees, over trees, caught in barbed vines through rivers and side stepping leaches. Leaches are everywhere, the little blood suckers jump onto your feet and creep up your boots. Once they start to suck, there is no stopping the bleeding for hours as they fill the wound with anti-coagulant. The forest is so humid, the sweat streams from every pore. By the halfway point i was able to wring (i'm estimating now, lets be clear) half a mugful from my tea shirt... A wask in a dirty forest stream was like a huge bubble bath for luxury. Didn't see any animals in hide due to 8 other intrepid travellers who had the same idea as us and the combined noise..... After leaving the taman negara we journeyed up the east coast, visiting kuala terengganu and then onto the perhentian islands, which lie off of the north east corner of Malaysia.The islands are a marine reserve and a centre for diving. Between lying on the beach etc I did 3 dives around the island seeing such wonders as blue spotted rays, black tip sharks, giant moray eels, giant baracuddas and yes folks, one or two nemos....(read several million). Today we left the islands heading north and have just reached Kota Bahru.Thats all for now. Sorry for rushing the ending but was starting to bore even myself!!!
posted by justplainnigel @ 2:16 PM
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