Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Taman Negara Rain Forrest, Malaysia

Anna's entry:
The jungle of Taman Negara is 130 million years old. We decided to include it on our itinerary for some variety. We have heard that the "jungle trekking" is somewhat hyped and exaggerated, so we kept our expectations of wild life encounter low - instead we wanted to enjoy a getaway up in the hills, and get some long needed fresh air... To get there, we took a so called "jungle train" from Kota Bharu to Jerantut for about 8 hours, and then a bus from Jerantut to the village of Taman Negara. We found a nice and cheap place to stay at - the owner, a very laid-back Malay guy with a life slogan "life is simple just enjoy it", was very easy going, and let us chose the room of our choice. We settled in a great room over-looking the jungle, one wall was made out of two large sliding doors, which converted into a huge window from the floor to the ceiling over-looking the trees. The room's walls were hand painted in various bright colors, so it felt very cheerful and yet peaceful. Through the large window we could watch the striking lightning show followed by a short rain downpour that seemed to have been a nature occurrence every night were were there. In the morning we would be waken-up by a Muslim singing from a mosque located near buy - it reminded us of the exotic location we were at.
Taman Negara rain forest located right across the river from the village. It took only a couple of minutes to cross the river, and we did a couple of days of light hiking. We decided to forgo an intense three day hike, and instead took our own pace. One on of these hikes we included a canopy walk - it is a hanging bridge made out of bamboo and rope about 30-50 meters up in the air. For some reason, I did not experience any fear walking on that hanging canopy, and sometimes even run back and forth for extra fun. I did see, however, a few tourists that were terrified, so I guess it depends on each person. The views were nice, and on one of the canopy walk paths we sat down right above the jungle trees tops, and had our picnic lunch that we brought with us - what can be a more exotic location for picnic, right? When we walked back after a day of hike, I noticed that one part of my pants behind the knee was wet. I didn't think much of it - we sweat all the time in this hot tropical temperatures. However, when we got back to our room and I took my pants off, I realized, that the blood was pouring behind my knee. There it was - one nasty black leech sucking my blood. Rob pulled that sucker out of my skin, but the tiny wound kept bleeding. It took several hours before it finally stopped. Later on I found out that many people get those leeches while hiking in Taman Negara. One guy told me he got about four of them on various parts of the body, but feet and knees seem to be the favorite parts for the leeches. Compared to the nasty things liking my company, Rob seemed to be enjoyed by more adorable creatures - butterflies. One one of our hikes through the forest several small butterflies kept landing on Rob's hands, nose, ears. Some would stay on him for a long time, and would not want to part. Though I must say, that at the end Rob also had a "pleasure" of being visited by a small leech. Luckily, we noticed pretty quickly that a sock developed a mysterious bleeding wound, so we put an end to that quickly.
After several days in Taman Negara, it was time for us to return back to Jerantut, and then back to Kota Bharu by a jungle train.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 3:36 AM