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Ni Hao!!
I had read and heard many reviews of Tamen Negara, so I was excited to check it out for myself!!! It is a 150 million year old rainforest, and to get there toke a 4 hour bus journey and then a 3 hour slow boat!! When I arrived at the jetty and saw the cramped little wooden boat, I instantly thought "this is going to be the longest 3 hours of my life" but the journey was actually lovely - as it was through this beautiful river through the rainforest!!
It was a precarious ride, .. to say the least! Upon getting into the boat, water flooded from the side of the boat and onto my seat!! I thought - great... the boat's gonna sink in the middle of the river .. in the middle of nowhere!!! The boatsman was undeterred and thankfully the water stopped pouring onto my seat for the remainder of the journey! The next exciting moment happened when I felt something crawling on my leg... it was a huuuuge mother of a spider.. and when I tried to shake it off my leg - it bit me!!! So... I'm on a boat in the middle of nowhere... probably about to sink.. and I am convinced that I have been bitten by some deadly spider!!
I tried not to panic, and tried to forget about it - so I didn't actually even mention it to anyone else in the boat! 4 minutes later... the engine of the boat stops!!! Need I remind you that this is a 3 hour slow boat, in the middle of nowhere - in the rainforest!! I'm busy making plans about throwing my camera as far as I can so that it reaches land and doesn't get wet, luckily I forgot all about my spider bite!!! 15 minutes later, he manages to get the boat going again..thank the lord - as we really are far from EVERYWHERE. lol.
2 hours later, we arrive at Taman Negara jetty - a small ramshackle of a place.. with (hilariously) a man sat with a billboard reading "Sex instructor - first lesson free". I was too busy telling the one English speaker that I had been bitten by a spider - and should I / do I need to - see the clinic? - which is back on the slow boat! lol. He says "oooh.. should be fine.. I think". So I take this as reassurance and settle into my new accomodation!
In T.N I had booked to do several activities: the first: Night Safari!!! This was awesome.. we raced through the jungle in a Jeep with only a small torch for light!! The whole jungle looked awesome and I was wildly turning my head hoping to see tigers, elephants and rhinos! This jungle has all 3 - but its only through speaking to some others on the trip that I realised it was near impossible that we would see these notoriously shy animals whilst in the jeep! :( ... but we did see lots of other animals!!!
My proudest moment was when me and a german man spotted a Leopard cat. He was beautiful, and had all the markings of a leopard, but was the size of a domestic cat!!! I then got excited even more 10 minutes later when I saw another cat - but the guide just looked at me and said "that is just an ordinary cat". I was very disappointed. lol. We also saw a huge boa constrictor, several monkeys, lizards and a tapir.
Accomodation: My accomodation was "interesting". Not only did I share my ramshackle dorm with 8 people.. but also with a whole host of large insects, - like cockroaches the size of my middle finger.. and centipedes that were as long as my foot!! Needless to say, I woke up lots of times - to strange and bizare noises.. and had a very disjointed sleep! lol.
The next day we walked the longest tree canopy in the world. This was a great opportunity to see the jungle and all its inhabitants!! After that we went on a tour to see the Orang Asli tribe. I do feel very weird about entering tribes, as I don't think that tourists gawping at them can be nice for them to see... but it was included in my tour so I went.
The Orang Asli (meaning origional people) are the only people allowed to live in Taman Negara rainforest. They are a nomadic tribe (meaning they move alot). This, it was explained to us, is because when a member of the tribe dies - they believe the spirit is still around the tribe - therefore, they must respect the spirit and leave it alone. They also believe that humans can come back to live, therefore they dispose of their dead by hanging them on a plank high in the treetops... surrounded by jungle essentials - such as weaponry and clothing. ... should they ever need it again! :S
We were also told that the children move out of their family home aged 10 and get married aged 14. Men have to live for 1 month in the jungle before he can ask for a woman's hand in marriage, and he must learn lots of skills in order to be ready for a family. He must make his own home, and learn survival and hunting skills from his elders.
After this trip, we went on a River rapids cruise down the river. The aim of this activity was to get the tourists as wet as they possible could!.. We were fully clothed and drenched by the end of the activitiy! The leader then toke us to a place where we could swim and jump off a rope swing - i was shocking at this activity.. but I did manage to master the art of belly flopping! lol.
I had a great time in Taman Negara - travelling is always down to the people you meet.. and here is no exception! I chanced upon meeting 2 lovely people.. and we became a very unlikely threesome of friends! 1 was a 50 year old Hungarian car mechanic named Lazlo (who surprisingly had the most energy of us all and climbed up trees and swang from vines) - he reminded me very much of Mr Bean! bless him.. and the other was Pauline, a brit who teaches in Vietnam! On arrival, we all got so excited as we were staying at a 5 star resort .. but had only paid 2 pounds!! We excitedly walked past the rows of luxurious bungalows and walked to the end to the cheap and nasty (+ bug infested) dorms! lol... that bonded us for the rest of the trip!
That is all I had time for in Taman Negara, before I moved to the island of Pangkor for some more beach sitting time!! I felt that I hadn't had enough sunbathing yet! lol.
Love to everyone! xxx
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