Taman Negara: June 10-13

Taman Negara is one of the oldest primary rainforests still in existence. 130 million years old. That's some old jungle.

June 10, out early, more roti canai, long walk to the bus. Nice AC bus up to Kuala Tembeling, then a 3 hour boat ride in a very narrow shallow wooden boat. Fun! Got to Nusa Camp, staying in a hostel room, six beds, only one me. Big group of Singaporean Malays staying in some of the other hostel rooms – there are cottages and chalets here as well. It’s pretty empty, really. Had dinner (the meals here were rather uninspiring). Then a night walk – if you ever see green reflections of your flashlight in the jungle at night, it’s a spider. Heh. Saw spiders, a snake (climbing a tree!), a scorpion, other bugs.

June 11, hike up Warisan hill – pretty steep climb, nice views at the top. All of my tour stuff is with Barry and Sharon, from Canada – they’re birders. So there’s constant “ooh, look” followed by an identification session from their books. They seem like nice people, though. Back for lunch, then the Canopy walk – Asri, our guide, takes us in the boat to the walk, which is the longest canopy walk in the world. Precariously swaying rope bridges 40 meters above the rainforest make for a good afternoon. Then a little rapids shooting, but there weren’t many of us in the boat so we didn’t get that wet.

June 12, a walk to Asli Waterfall. Swam at the waterfall – it was great. Then a trip to Gua Telinga, a cave. Tons of bats, a snake, and squeezing myself through very tight places (I’m glad I’ve lost a few pounds!). I got very dirty and sweaty, and I REALLY needed to do laundry.

June 13 was a day of travel. 2 hours downriver (by myself), then 3 hours on the bus, then a walk to Puduraya Bus Terminal, then finding the right place to buy a ticket, then waiting an hour, then a 2 hour bus to Malacca, then a 20 minute bus downtown.