Tamen Negara

May 7th, 2005.
So, Taman Negara (Malaysia's National Park and home to a 150 million year old rain forest) took its toll on the family. When we arrived all 5 of us were healthy, energetic and ready to take on the world, or at least the rain forest. Things were different when we left; Mom got a touch of asthma but was otherwise well, Jeremy had a cold, Allison had a cold, innumerable mosquito bites and one wasp sting, Dad had a cold and an eye infection, and I had fun. I think everybody else had fun too, so I feel as though I got ripped off.
Our time in the park was quick, but enjoyable. The trip began with a 3 hour bus trip from Kuala Lumpur followed by a trip up the river. To go up river, the family jumped in a wooden long boat and all the luggage went up front. The boat itself is very simple with about six rows that accommodate two people each. At the back the "captain" works the motor, steering the boat along the river and puling the prop up when the water gets too shallow. The river was extremely low because the rain forest hadn't seen rain in about 8 weeks. Our boat driver was impressive and obviously knew the river well. He would weave in and around rocks, sunken trees, and shallow areas. Only twice did we get high centred. On those occations everybody jumps out of the boat and pushes. It was quite fun and since we were being splashed anyway, getting wet wasn't a problem.

Once we arrived we were a little disappointed to see the village across the river complete with vehicles of all sorts. The romantic notion of being deep in the rain forest somehow isn't the same when a Proton (Malaysia's car brand) is parked across the river. Anyhow, the trees were great and there were monkeys out and about. That was great. So, we got our room keys, dropped off our stuff, and had some food.

Soon after dinner we met out guide, Hamzah. He's a nice guy and was excited to take us out on a jungle walk. By this time the sun was down, so it's a night jungle walk. He opted to take us on the quite path that few people go on. I was happy with this because there was a greater chance of seeing animals and lesser chance of seeing people. As it turns out both were pretty scarce. While we saw no other people we only saw a couple of mule deers, a procupine, and a few different insects. However, the sound of the jungle was a amazing and teeming with life. At one point we shut off the flashlights and were enveloped in a darkness that can't be described. I was within an arms length of Jeremy but suddenly I couldn't distinguish the difference between eyes opened and eyes clothed. At the same time, our ears were treated to a symphony of insects, leaves rustling, and far off animals. It was a spectacular feeling. When we emerged from the jungle we were treated to a blanket of stars that was absolutely breathtaking.

The next morning, we were up early, met Hamzah and headed out on a hike up the hill. The hike was only about a 5 KM loop but gained 340M of elevation and was in intense heat and humidity. This nearly killed half the family and I think was the source of the later malaise. The view from the top was not exactly spectacular but I enjoyed the walk. On the way down we went along the world's longest canopy walk. This is a series of walkways that are about 20M in the air. It's great to walk along the treetops and see the rainforest for above. Very cool.

We then returned for lunch, put Dad to bed, and the rest of us headed out to the swimming hole. This involved a 40 minute boat ride up the river. The boats were slightly smaller and this time the river was a gorgeous panorama of Amazonian proportions. The scenery was that of lush green jungle along a clear rocky river that would be twist and turn along the dense foliage. The smells in the air were very pure and the wind was just the right temperature. Once we arrived at our spot, we hopped out of the boat, walked a little ways and then jumped into the river. The swimming hole is a part of the river just after a cascade along a few rocks. The water was cool and refreshing. It also had a strange deep reddish tan colour. It was like swimming in tea. After the hot and humid hike, the dip in the river was perfect. The only drawback was that there were hundreds of bees/wasps waiting for us upon pulling ourselves out of the water. I would say that at least 50 were landing on my sandals. A quick dunk in the water cured that. A few different boats came up to the swimming hole and of the 15 people that were there only one person was stung. Of course, that happened to be Allison. Any form of biting or stinging insect managed to find her and leave a nice red welt along her skin. In another life she must have done something very bad to a lot of powerful insects.

After the river trip we returned back, had a bite to eat and made an early trip to bed. The next morning, we reversed our trip in. This time however, me decided to make it interesting. Along with the boat ride and the bus trip we threw in an eye infection for Dad, a trip to the doctor to get drops in KL, a taxi ride to the airport, a plane ride to Langkawi, and finally a taxi ride to our hotel. When we were given some fresh pineapple/something else juice upon check-in it was a welcome welcome to Langkawi.

More later.