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Taman Negara - Bitten to Death.
OK so the photo's a little over-the-top - we were assured there were tigers in TN, but we didn't see any...(I haven't had a chance to upload any of my photos so it'll have to do!)
TN is Malaysia's national park, a huge 135 million year old jungle pretty much in the middle of Peninsular Malaysia - and pretty much in the middle of our journey from KL to the Perhentian Islands. Leaving Chris to head up to the Cameron Highlands, we bussed up to Jerantut. The journey was eventful as Caroline noticed a few mossie bites had come up - then more - then more - then tons on me - oh my god we thought, fleas?!?!?! They turned out to be bedbugs. And we later found out they had come from the sofas in our delightful KL hostel. Let me tell you - with over 100 each on our upper backs and arms, a) they're not pretty (most people gave us a VERY wide berth) and b) we were VERY glad we hadn't worn less clothing in KL. Eventually, with the bites still appearing, we got to Jerantut (the gateway town to TN) and boarded a longboat for the 3 hour trip up-river to the main town in TN. It was incredible - a wide brown river flanked by banks of varied and green foliage, a high canopy, water buffalo cooling off in the shallows, and amazing birds like the (very bright) Malaysian kingfisher perched on the banks. But after 3 hours you do slightly feel like you've seen everything, particularly when we found out the return bus to Jerantut was only an hour and a half! It didn't matter - the joy at being out of the cities was fab. We found a bungalow with our own bathroom and balcony looking through the trees down to the river (there are SOME advantages of trekking uphill with packs on to find accommodation!) and relaxed. That evening, we went on a night safari, where we saw silvercats, barn owls, snakes and spiders. I perched on the roof of the jeep at the invitation of the guide and thought how amazing it was to be driving around a jungle at night. The next day we did the Treetop Canopy - a 500m walkway climbing from about 10 to 40m, which was awesome with views for miles - and then a long, hot and sweaty trek to a hilltop viewpoint. I'm sure it was a great view but I was a bit busy wringing out my clothes to notice. I'll check my photos and get back to you. In the afternoon, we visited an Orang Asleh village - the local nomadic tribe. It felt a bit voyeuristic and uncomfortable to be peering into their homes and watching them go about their daily tasks, but our guide was encouraging and did point out that this was a village really created for tourists, and largely supported by the park. Even so, it felt better to stand back and observe rather than shove cameras into their life. We did take part in blowpipe firing - both of us missed the target. Then again, we don't have to hunt for monkeys so that's ok.
A quiet evening followed at one of the gorgeous floating restaurants, before another early morning start took us onwards and upwards...
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