After much debate, we bought ourselves a digital camera. The joy of modern technology means now we can force you to look at our vacation pictures while we are still on vacation.
On August 9, Singapore has their version of Independence Day, or National Day as they call it here. Sherrell and I used it as a chance to take a long weekend and drive deep into the middle of the Malaysian Peninsula. Our destination was to see the rain forest and do some hiking.
Taman Negara is the oldest rain forest in the world. This area is over 130 million years old which makes it older than both the Congo and the Amazon jungle. At least, that's what the place mat said in the plush restaurant at the park headquarters. We were really excited to finally get away from the city and explore some wilderness. It took us over 6 hours of driving down winding rural roads and trying to follow a typical Malay road map which was constantly missing vital details to get to Taman Negara. Then we took a 3 hour boat ride up the river to the edge of the nature reserve.
Along the way we saw some of the Malay version of water buffalo on the shores of the river:
When we arrived at the southern edge of the reserve, we saw how the locals had built floating restaurants and small Hostels just on the other side of the river to attract some of the tourist money away from the fancy resorts. Opting to go local we crossed the river via the "boat taxi" and found a nice Hostel run by a Malaysian family:
The view of the jungle from the other side of the river was great. We watched the locals drift-net fish and work the river for lazy tourists like us.
The first day we bought our map, park entry permit, reserved our Bunbun (Hide in the jungle) and of course the necessary camera license. We ate dinner at the Chalet/Hostel where they served Halal food, which is basically the Muslim version of Kosher food, but don't tell them that.
We took a quick 1.5 km hike to the "World's longest suspended walkway" only to find it closed on Fridays--Muslim holy day. So we trudged back in the 90% humidity and 85 degree heat to plan for the longer 3.5 km hike to our first camp site.
At night we watched the bats zip around after bug snacks. Some of the bats were cat-sized and flew over our heads chirping and diving. I tried to photograph them to prove how big they were, but they were too quick for me. You'll just have trust me.
Bright and early we slammed down breakfast, hopped the boat-taxi and started up the trail to our hide inside the jungle. Carrying our heavy backpacks in the tropics under the rain forest canopy where there is no breeze quickly turns from a hike into survival. The first 3.5 km to our reserved hide wasn't too bad, so we decided to drop some of our weight at the hide and hike another 6 km up to the "lodge" where we were told there was a waterfall. Not to waste anytime, we unloaded extra clothes, the mosquito net, bedding and some other non-essentials, including Sherrell's backpack into one of the 8 bunks in this seemingly deserted hide hidden in the trees:
Using our trusty Malay map of the nature reserve, we assumed "Lodge" marked near the spot by the falls meant they would at least be selling drinks, if not food and tourist trinkets. Especially since the map used the same symbols for all the lodges on the map, and the two that we had seen were air-conditioned yuppy palaces. Unfortunately after hiking 4 Km up a hill not on the map, through leeches, small creeks, and fallen trees we started to run out of water. I had been keeping track of our progress and we had been averaging about 1.4 to 1.6 km/hr. With only an estimated 2 km to go and 6 hours of light left, we decided it made sense to continue. (Especially with a Lodge at the end of the trail.) We arrived at the river after losing a lot of blood (leeches) and sweat to find about 70 people on the opposite bank fishing or lazing in the sun. So much for our reward of the silent waterfall. We crossed the stream and Sherrell crashed, while I continued the 1km hike to the lodge for some cold drinks and to have a look at the waterfall. The lodge to my amazement was a small empty shack. No water and a 6+ km hike back to the hide; it wasn't a highpoint for me. I decided to hike to the falls to see what was there.
After following a parade of 20 people who were ooohhing and ahhhing as they rounded the bend, I expected to see a giant waterfall. What was there left me confused. I suppose water does fall when it moves over the top of rocks, but it's rarely billed as a waterfall. Perhaps if you live in a area where the highest hill is about 1000 feet like in Singapore, you'd have different expectations. We were 10 Km from the main lodge, no water, no lodge, no waterfall only a long trail back. I didn't want to hike back to break the news to Sherrell.
I met her halfway down the trail as she toted the backpack up the hill. I could see the disappointment in her eyes we she saw I wasn't carrying anything from the "lodge". "Well, let's hitch a ride back with the river boat and have them drop us off near the hide. It will only be a 1km hike from there."
After talking to all the riverboat operators, they all assured me their boats were full. They were all impressed that we hiked there, and we could see them talking about us among their friends. But it was very confusing as they typically pack as many cash carrying people into a boat as possible and we were ready to pay. Several of them offered to comeback and pick us up, however we would have to pay full fare for the boat. We were convinced they just wanted the extra money from the stupid hikers that were now stuck. Reluctant to commit to hiring the drivers, we sat and watched them leave one by one with their 4 person load. For just the short stretch of the river we could see, it looked quite shallow and difficult to maneuver. We knew first hand that the river was about waist deep in some areas, but we wondered if we were getting the full story. As each boat left filled with 4 people we became convinced that the riverboat operators weren't just trying to get our money; they really could only carry 4 passengers.
We made a deal with one of the guides and asked him to bring back a couple of liters of water. As we watched the last few boats pull out and the tourists depart, some of the hidden animal life came out of the jungle. A "River Monitor Lizard" swam across the river to see what the humans had left behind. Another lizard to the south of us had the same idea and quickly disappeared into the trees. We watched the lizard creeping around on the rocks looking for goodies and occasionally eyeing the curious photographer, armed, but unfocused, nearby.
This lizard was about 5' long and was very hungry. It managed to find some a leftover chicken carcass, and taking the entire leg and hip joint in its mouth, it gulped down everything in one swallow as if he was completely hollow inside.
Monitor lizards appear to be territorial, and this one was going to guard its prime scavenging grounds. As I was sneaking in for a better photo, the lizard bolted into the trees. I shrugged to Sherrell, who had been warning me not to scare it off. A few minutes later the trees rustled and out shot a frightened monitor lizard quickly followed by the chicken eater. He chased it down the river bank at lightening speed.
With an impressive lunge they both continued into the river and up the other side of the river bank as if the river was a small puddle. A few seconds later the chicken eater swam back across to the exact same spot and began to hunt for more treats.
Playing in the river looked like a good idea to us. So we took advantage of the isolation, knowing the riverboat wouldn't be back for another hour. A quick plunge into the river was very refreshing to our overheated and dehydrated bodies. We splashed around and washed the salt off, completely free from the sounds and sights of civilization. I swam out to a log in the river which made a great diving board and crossed the river looking for the spurned lizard. He was long gone so I gave up and decided to try out one of the vines as a rope swing. It worked for Tarzan, but not for me. I don't think I could have been that much heavier….
Anyway, night was slowly approaching and we continued to wait by the water for our ride.
Our boatman came back with two jugs of water and we were ready for the ride back down the river about 5km to the trail back to the Hide. What we didn't know was exactly how difficult it was to navigate this shallow river.
I should explain what these riverboats look like. The boat is basically a long wooden canoe with a small outboard. They are a lot shorter than the boats typically used by the locals for working on the main part of the river, only about 15' long as opposed to some of the 50' boats. The driver steered the boat with the outboard as much as possible, while a second guy used a paddle in the front for more extreme maneuvers.
I think every outboard in Malaysia runs either at idle or full throttle. And this boat was no exception. We turned a quick 360 within the length of the boat and full speed ahead. The river was lined with trees and beaches--absolutely indescribable beauty. Exotic birds flew from the trees and chased along side of our speeding death defying machine. We darted through S-Turns between boulders, stumps and large trees. Somehow we missed hitting riverbanks and large rock washes, all while moving at about 10 knots. It was like a bobsled ride on the water for 40 minutes. These guys were swerving in and out of spots where I didn't think any water would exist.
Somehow we got to the top of our next trail in one piece. I thanked them for making the extra run and told them they had a great job. They laughed and offered to give us a ride tomorrow if we needed one. I suppose cash can make up for poor planning and perhaps they weren't confident we would be able to hike out, but I assured him we would be ok to continue from here.
We hiked back to the Hide and to our surprise there were 6 other people running around in this small room. For some reason we made the assumption we had the place to ourselves and we had previously stopped by and left some of our clothes to lighten our load. The main office didn't explain to us when he said the Hide was empty and he reserved it for us, that he would continue to book the other bunks. Well, we repacked our stuff and cleaned the mud off and met our new roommates: A couple from Victoria, Canada on a 7 month tour of Asia, a Dutch couple who smoked constantly right next to our bunk, and two Indian guys on a short holiday who were supposed to be staying somewhere else, but were unable to cross the river.
We all sat up that night looking out of the hide for animals, but nothing appeared. Not a big surprise as the Dutch couple were quite noisy and kept shining their flash light everywhere. The park ranger was nice enough to inform us that the animals rarely come into the clearings and we would be lucky to see anything.
But what we didn't see we heard. The birds and insects made so much noise it was deafening. To be in complete darkness and hear all these creatures made you think everything around you was alive. The sounds stayed with me for days after the trip and sometimes I woke up in the night thinking I could hear the roar of the rainforest animals.
The next morning we saw a few small deer wandering down to get some water. I kept waiting for the leopard to appear, but nothing dramatic happened. So in keeping with our death-march tradition we packed up and headed back down the 3.5km path to the main park lodge to get a room in a hostel and go on one last short hike.
I was really excited about going on the canopy walkway. Touted as the largest in the world, this suspended walkway ran from treetop to treetop on a wobbly and bobbing rope and cable path. I was worried it would be closed again, but we made the 1.5 km hike up the hill to find a short line and an open door.
As we waited in line, I talked with Sherrell about how difficult it has been to hike in this heat. Any exercise and you're covered with sweat. Sherrell commented how she had never sweated as much as she had in the past three days, and her fingers were wrinkly from the water to prove it. We also talked about how much we didn't enjoy the hike to the falls, fighting the leeches and heat, but swimming in the river free from tourists made it worth the effort. I told her she had it easy with only 2 leech attacks compared to my 11. At one point on the trail I stopped to show her how the leeches sensed me coming and would raise their entire body and crawl like inch-worms towards me. Within 60 seconds I had two leeches crawling up my boot. For some reason they weren't as interested in her. Of course I had to have photographic proof of their "bites" to show how much they liked me.
We both admired at how amazing these little slug creatures were. They have two chemicals they secrete, the first prevents pain and blood clotting and the second chemical they release when the are "full" actually clots the blood. However if you pull them off prematurely, which most people do, you continue to bleed for about an hour. We both pulled those nasty things off the minute we found them, and they have an impressive grip which makes the task particularly gory. Bleeding for an hour afterwards added to the effect.
Finally we got our chance to cross the canopy walkway and we snapped some photos and a short MPEG in between rounds of vertigo. The walkway was very high in the trees and some spans were over 50 meters long.
From the picture it looks like there is a nice flat board, but it's deceiving. We clambered along the rickety walkway as it twisted and bounced. All the while hoping their bridges were built better than their maps. It turned out to be an impressive maze of pathways and we ran into several people who were frightened to the point of creeping slowly down the path. Some points were almost 150' above the ground, which is quite high if you're standing on a rope.
That wrapped up our trip to Taman Negara, and that night we slept heavy and caught the 3 hour boat ride back to town the next morning.
Once we found our way out of Malaysia and back to the Singapore border, a nine hour trip due to our misguided map (after driving around in circles in Kuala Lumpur), we finally crossed the border causeway. This experience can only be described in vague terms of chaos. Everyone tried to pass each other, making their own lanes, pushing up against the barriers, etc. It was as if Malaysia was sinking and everyone had to evacuate. At one point an ambulance rushed by on the side of the road with it's lights blaring, followed closely behind by a stream of new cars trying to form yet another lane. People were pushing the lanes so tight that someone finally ran into us. It was only a matter of time, but no damage was done. Complete chaos.
For those of you interested in seeing this part of the world, we have plenty of room. Just buy yourself a ticket and get out here.
Best Wishes-lah,
Eric and Sherrell