A day in the jungle - and a flight booking

So, yesterday I finally left the loud, busy and stuffy city and headed northeast. To be precise, 235 km by minivan to the northeast to arrive at the edge of the Taman Negara National Park after 6 hours, changing once. Taman Negara is of course Malay and translated means national park. Creative naming for sure. It is one of the oldest deciduous rainforests in the world, estimated to be over 130 million years old, according to Wikipedia.

The arrival took place in the rain, how appropriate for the rainforest. However, geographically it also feels part of the eastern half of the Malay Peninsula, where the monsoon season occurs between mid-November and mid-January. That made us all the more lucky today: apart from a good 20-minute monsoon shower, we had sunshine with light clouds. We simply ignore the 30° C and 95% humidity. I spent the day with a group consisting of 2 English, 2 Swiss and 2 Austrians and we had various points on our daily plan:

1. Hike to Bukit Terisek

2. Canopy Walkway

3. Visit Orang Asli Tribe

4. Rapid shooting

The hike then quickly turned out to be a painful and endless climb up steps of all heights, which was anything but a walk given the above-mentioned meteorological conditions. Nevertheless, all the hard work was worth it and we were rewarded with a great view over the national park. We ignore the fact that we only made it to 334 m. From there the next step was to go to the Suspension Bridge Walkway, which was quickly closed due to safety issues. In any case, we were a little disappointed, but on the other hand, we don't know what it was good for in the end.

After a delicious lunch in one of the floating restaurants located on the banks of the Rio Tembeling, we set off to visit the Orang Asli, which literally means “original people”, i.e. indigenous people. Contrary to all expectations (“open-air museum”, “actors” and what I hadn’t read in blogs), it was very interesting. These nomadic tribes are protected by the Malaysian government and live their traditional life in primitive conditions, including in the national park. They are hunters and gatherers, earn some extra money through tourism, but have only had at least compulsory primary school education for around 6 years. Exciting – a completely different world!

The final rapid shooting was the highlight of the day. Our boat captain (who is also a member of the tribe) drove us against or directly into the current and happily submerged half of our boat. But given the temperatures, it was a very welcome cool down and the three of us in the boat had a lot of fun.

All in all, an action-packed and sweaty day, after which my eyes are almost closing as I write. Tomorrow we'll continue west by boat and bus to the Cameron Highlands, where hopefully the lush green tea plantations await me.

PS: Oh yes, there was something in the headline about a flight booking. Due to unstable weather on the west coast of Malaysia and southern Thailand, I spontaneously booked a flight to Bali. I will now spend Christmas in Bali and then move on to the small neighboring island of Gili Trawangan for New Year's Eve. ;-)