Malaysia trip #2
This malaysia trip 2.0 is brought to you by 100plus, puffed bean snack and fruit flavoured mentos.
Like 'em real backpackers Colin and I took buses and the MRT to the border then proceded to cross the bridge between Singapore and Malaysia. That was the second time I have ever walked to another country on foot. (the other one was going from Canada to the states at the peace arch)
After taking a night train from JB and arriving at the small town of Jeruntut at 5am, we crashed on the couch of "hotel" sri emas where we took the bus later that day to the ferry terminal into Taman Negara. We where quite lucky that they just let us stay there in their airconded lounge on those big green fake leathered couches while others who arrived there in the same train had to pay for their reserved rooms.
Later that morning we arrived at the ferry terminal by the yellow, opaque river surrounded by lush vegitation. It almost remined me of the amazon. I half expected us to encounter aligators and snakes, which we didn't (although we did see water buffalos). The 'ferry' we took wasn't much of a ferry, rather, it was a little wooden canoe about two ppl wide with a motor attached to it. When everyone was on, the water was about 5 inches until it would spill over the edge. Being in such a small, remote, unindustrialized place I held my breath for the 3 hours of the trip praying the the poor little boat wouldn't fall apart. Other than that concern I enjoyed every last drop of the ride, passing by beautiful green forests as we floated on the yellow river under a crystal blue sky as I drifted in and out of sleep wedged between colin and the canoe in my neon orange life jacket. Due to the limitation in space to move at all and the cover over head the sun was concentrated on the right side of my face for all of the 3 hours so now my right side is darker than my left.
when we arrived at our destination, our jetty was on one side of the river alone with all the floating restaurants there. It was on the same side where the little village was. The village with bumpy dusty roads, bright coloured houses with peeling paint, running children, running chickens and running cats. After crossing the shakey little wooden plank that connected land with the little floating restaurant with our 40lb back packs we walked around the village for what seemed like an eternity under the poisonous sun until we finally found our own airconded chalet for only $40 ringets! I felt like I hit a jackpot. The weird thing was the some random person started taking pictures of us with their phone while we where paying.
After a breif breather and having lathered layers of sunblock and insect repellent spray we ventured into the wilderness. I like the mood how some places set, now ppl just tend to be more friendly under different settings. The rain forest was one of them. Whenever we passed people they would always greet us with a smile. :) I liked that beaucoup. I think Naman negara is the closest to real wilderness that I have ever been. Everything fascinated me, from the exotic plants with their alien leaves with funky colours, to the unfamiliar bird calls, the ants on steroids and the twisted, muscular trees. Unfortunately, after buckets of sweat when we finally got to the canopy walk, it was closed 20 min ago! It was no dissapointment for me I enjoy hiking anyways.
The highlight of that day arrived that night after my shower when we were getting ready for bed. Colin commented now there where a couple ant in the corner... and feeling invincible with my "OFF!" spray... I set out to terminate those little suckers. But before I knew it... hundres of ants started coming out of that corner of the wall... so I sprayed and sprayed as chunks of dead ant started falling off of the walls while others just stuck there... eventually... they all stopped moving leaving the entire 0.5m radius of the wall black from their dead bodies... I must have killed an entire colony... it was like a genocide... and I am a murderer. I was initially intending to only scare them away... since the bottle said that it was an insect repellent I thot it only served to "repel" them. Sigh... but the terror at the moment made me lose control. As some of you know I don't kill cuz of religious reseason... after that night I am sure that I will be reincarnated into an ant my next life.
The next day we pumped our muscles climbing up and down. We went to the canopy walk which is essentially and little suspension bridge 50 meters above the trees. We also ended up at this beautiful beach.
The floating restaurants I have to say was an experience. It was so cool feeling the river breeze as we ate to the sound of splashing waves, however it got quite tiring dedicating one hand to fanning away the flies as we ate with the other.
This visit to Taman Negara, the national rain forest park of malaysia really made me feel like I was on survivor. I really feel like an adult, going that far without my parents and finding our own way around. With the amount of bugs we saw everyday I definately got over a good part of my bug phobia.
Like 'em real backpackers Colin and I took buses and the MRT to the border then proceded to cross the bridge between Singapore and Malaysia. That was the second time I have ever walked to another country on foot. (the other one was going from Canada to the states at the peace arch)After taking a night train from JB and arriving at the small town of Jeruntut at 5am, we crashed on the couch of "hotel" sri emas where we took the bus later that day to the ferry terminal into Taman Negara. We where quite lucky that they just let us stay there in their airconded lounge on those big green fake leathered couches while others who arrived there in the same train had to pay for their reserved rooms.
Later that morning we arrived at the ferry terminal by the yellow, opaque river surrounded by lush vegitation. It almost remined me of the amazon. I half expected us to encounter aligators and snakes, which we didn't (although we did see water buffalos). The 'ferry' we took wasn't much of a ferry, rather, it was a little wooden canoe about two ppl wide with a motor attached to it. When everyone was on, the water was about 5 inches until it would spill over the edge. Being in such a small, remote, unindustrialized place I held my breath for the 3 hours of the trip praying the the poor little boat wouldn't fall apart. Other than that concern I enjoyed every last drop of the ride, passing by beautiful green forests as we floated on the yellow river under a crystal blue sky as I drifted in and out of sleep wedged between colin and the canoe in my neon orange life jacket. Due to the limitation in space to move at all and the cover over head the sun was concentrated on the right side of my face for all of the 3 hours so now my right side is darker than my left.
when we arrived at our destination, our jetty was on one side of the river alone with all the floating restaurants there. It was on the same side where the little village was. The village with bumpy dusty roads, bright coloured houses with peeling paint, running children, running chickens and running cats. After crossing the shakey little wooden plank that connected land with the little floating restaurant with our 40lb back packs we walked around the village for what seemed like an eternity under the poisonous sun until we finally found our own airconded chalet for only $40 ringets! I felt like I hit a jackpot. The weird thing was the some random person started taking pictures of us with their phone while we where paying.
After a breif breather and having lathered layers of sunblock and insect repellent spray we ventured into the wilderness. I like the mood how some places set, now ppl just tend to be more friendly under different settings. The rain forest was one of them. Whenever we passed people they would always greet us with a smile. :) I liked that beaucoup. I think Naman negara is the closest to real wilderness that I have ever been. Everything fascinated me, from the exotic plants with their alien leaves with funky colours, to the unfamiliar bird calls, the ants on steroids and the twisted, muscular trees. Unfortunately, after buckets of sweat when we finally got to the canopy walk, it was closed 20 min ago! It was no dissapointment for me I enjoy hiking anyways.The highlight of that day arrived that night after my shower when we were getting ready for bed. Colin commented now there where a couple ant in the corner... and feeling invincible with my "OFF!" spray... I set out to terminate those little suckers. But before I knew it... hundres of ants started coming out of that corner of the wall... so I sprayed and sprayed as chunks of dead ant started falling off of the walls while others just stuck there... eventually... they all stopped moving leaving the entire 0.5m radius of the wall black from their dead bodies... I must have killed an entire colony... it was like a genocide... and I am a murderer. I was initially intending to only scare them away... since the bottle said that it was an insect repellent I thot it only served to "repel" them. Sigh... but the terror at the moment made me lose control. As some of you know I don't kill cuz of religious reseason... after that night I am sure that I will be reincarnated into an ant my next life.
The next day we pumped our muscles climbing up and down. We went to the canopy walk which is essentially and little suspension bridge 50 meters above the trees. We also ended up at this beautiful beach.
The floating restaurants I have to say was an experience. It was so cool feeling the river breeze as we ate to the sound of splashing waves, however it got quite tiring dedicating one hand to fanning away the flies as we ate with the other.
This visit to Taman Negara, the national rain forest park of malaysia really made me feel like I was on survivor. I really feel like an adult, going that far without my parents and finding our own way around. With the amount of bugs we saw everyday I definately got over a good part of my bug phobia.
posted by fictitious at 2:12 AM
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