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We travelled all day by dodgey mini bus and long tail boat to the National Park, leaving Kuala Lumpur at dawn. The boat trip of nearly 3 hours made us feel to be in the middle of dense jungle, but the illusion was somewhat spolit on our arrival, as 4 by 4 jeeps, and a gravel road had beaten us to the area by a number of years.
The big draw of this natural park is the canopy bridge. It is pictured in all the tourist posters, as it is apparently the longest walkway in the canopy of any rainforest in the world, over 500 metres long. The real draw of this place for us was the opportunity to see virgin rainforest, and maybe the possibility of some wildlife. In this respect we were not dissappointed. One evening a leopard cat put in an appearance, we saw numerous barn owls (they stand taller and thinner than in the UK), and after seeing 2 snakes pretending to be twigs, we became very careful about what we were grabbing for while out walking. Jim found the largest ant we've ever seen, and understandably gave it a poke with a stick. Moments later he was rushing down the path towards me. QUICK.....The monster was chasing him, having attacked and made short work of the stick.
We did of course venture up the canopy bridge. At over 45 metres above the forest floor, it certainly isn't for those with vertigo, and we tried not the dwell on the quality of the knots used for securing the structure - because it did give us a great vantage point over the forest.
We only had a short time in the park, partly due to the intense heat there, but it was still a relief to be in the countryside, after the bright lights and smog filled experience of Kuala Lumpur. - The Skytower was literally the high point of the visit, but generally we found it a dirty, hot city which was very difficult to walk around. as no thought has been given to pedestrians. Malaysia have a government plan to reach UN Developed Nation Status by 2020. But judging from their capital city, London has more chance of being ready for the Olympic Games than Malaysia has of reaching this target!
Don't get me wrong, though! Malaysia has been fascinating. It is the only Muslim country that we plan to visit this year. 52 percent of the population is Muslim, and that is the official religion of the country. Islamic pricipals to us were most overt in architecture. Even the Skytower has been built to reflect Muslim values, as have the famous so called 'twin towers'. We attached ourselves to a coach tour in order to visit the National Mosque in town, - much clothing was required to cover our indecent arms, legs, and in my case, my hair.
On the subject of our attire! It was humid and over 35 degrees. I dressed in a long sleeved shirt with a collar, conservatively buttoned, and a skirt just below the knees. I thought I was well covered, especially having seen some local girls in mini skirts and vests. However, I didn't reckon on running into a group of gentlemen from the Middle East. We thought maybe from Saudi Arabia. Was this their first day in town, we wondered, as they stopped to openly stare at me, with disbelief, rather than admiration. Could these possibly be the first western legs they'd ever seen? Thankfully, after also giving Jim a filthy look (for allowing me out?) they turned around to take photos of the fountain nearby. At the first opportunity I donned my cover-all trousers, keen to avoid an international incident. But in all fairness, the local man seemed far more liberal.
We have a few more days still in Malaysia. Next stop, the Prehentian Islands to the North East. We have another long journey to get there, this time by mini bus and then speed boat. We hope for a calm day.
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