Monday 27.12.2004
The journey from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Tembeling took approximately 3 hours but it was comfortable ride in a van with ample space for our luggage and our 5 persons. The driver was a friendly Chinese man with scraggly, long hair and a passion for smoking. (Smoking seems to be the past time of a lot of people inside Taman Negara). The highway snaking along green hill slopes was pretty much the view that we get until we get to Kuala Tembeling.
It's a small town with a lifeless jetty with hardly any life except for that of tourists waiting to board the boat into Taman Negara. There is a small canteen and some tourist guides/resort and camp promoters... Some guys were busy strumming their guitars while another group was deeply engrossed in a conversation in the canteen. Such laidback life....
We had to register our names as well as identity card numbers and obtain permits for cameras. RM5 for camera and RM 10 for fishing license. For a place so remote, I was quite surprised when we were registered and given a receipt printed from a computer.
Our boat ride was a journey in itself. We were seated two-by-two in a sampan-like boat. The ride was that of one to remember. The view from the boat was breath-taking, not to mention the waves that splash alongside the boat to remind us that we're so close to the water. The sights and sounds were so comforting that I keep finding myself drifting to sleep despite the cramp space on a small wooden structure in a large body of water in a rainforest.
Our boat
Riverbank
View from the side of the boat
We spotted kingfishers, monkeys,...though only a few. In fact, only 1 monkey was spotted in the whole ride. So few animals, funny isn't it?
We had to make a stop at Kuala Tahan to allow other (Mutiara, Ekovillage, etc) tourists to get off leaving only the 5 of us along with the boatman and navigator after that. Our Nusa Camp was further ahead, about 15 minutes from Kuala Tahan.
The Nusa Camp was a small enclosure of various types of cabins with basic amenities. It was a stark contrast to the ultra-expensive Mutiara resort. Our chalet had all the neccesities like hot water, air-conditioner, electricity, and comfortable beds. Our shock soon turned to relief. As it turned out, our chalets were one of the nicer ones in the entire camp after having seen worse/smaller ones in the other parts of the camp.
We unpacked and later we had our dinner at the canteen. The food there was average and the TV there had Astro. I was surprised. ;) (in fact, i see Astro dishes everywhere in Kuala Tahan)
That night we went night-trekking with our guide from the camp, Abang A'ah (however you spell it). We saw some amazing insects. Stick insects, fireflies, leaf insects, land roaches, to name some. We also saw a scorpion that was shy and doesn't want to leave the safety of his lair.
A stick insect
Another stick insect
A camouflaging insect... er, I don't know the name?
A pretty spider
A big cricket
A scorpion refusing to leave the safety of his lair
Tuesday 28.12.2004
Ater a short boat ride to the cave jetty, we had to trek for under an hour towards Gua Telinga. After a few false turns, we managed to reach the cave entrance.
Entrance to the bat infested cave
The rocks of the cave were slippery and cold. After the initial cold feet feeling that I got, proceeding further in was not much of a problem. It was truly a memorable experience. It was dark and cold inside.There was a small brook flowing below the rocks.We were crawling at certain points, keeping hold of one another while flashing our torchlights to shine our way through. There were bats...lots of them. There were many hanging on the cave wall and ceiling, and during our trek inside, we woke a few bats. : ) When they got startled and started flying about we just kept our heads down and stopped whatever it is that we're doing until they fluttered away. We reached the end of the cave and after finding no way out, we retraced our steps back out. When we finally saw light and came back out, we were truly relieved. It was an exhilarating experience. The sweaty faces and damp shirts can be a testament to that. To crown our cave-trekking experience, we managed to go through it all without the help of a guide. It is a norm for tourists to get a guide to go the cave and we did it without. As we walked back to the jetty, we passed a couple with a guide. I laughed inside. :P
Later we had a boat ride to Lata Berkoh. The water was very clear along the way. We passed a fish sanctuary along the way. When we reached, the boatmen waited under the shades of the trees while we trekked up towards the cascading falls. Our spot was pretty reclusive. Later, we followed a group of tourists further up when we discovered a more popular spot teeming with tourists in swimwear in the water.
The crystal-clear water on the way to Lata Berkoh
Tourists at Lata Berkoh
During our boat ride back to Kuala Tembeling, we stopped for a while at the fish sanctuary to feed the fishes. There were many fishes and the pristine water allowed us a great view of the fishes.
Then it was back to Kuala Tahan where we had our lunch on one of the many river-boat restaurants. Every restaurant seem to serve the same type of dishes. With the usual tourist-marked-up prices, of course. Then we had to take a boat across the river to Mutiara Resort. In comparison with our Nusa Camp, Mutiara was Shangri-La. According to Abang Zam (our guide cum info centre), Mutiara was the first resort here. We had to go through Mutiara to get to the entrance of the Canopy Walk entrance. After a tiring trek through a trail, we reached the booth and stair leading to the canopy walk. We were let off along the canopy walk by rangers at intervals of 5metres from each other. After the first 2 station, there weren't any rangers left. The tourists were left to manage by themselves. We were cautioned not to make any noise, lest we chase away the animals... Ironically, I saw none. Not even a bird. The marvel of the tree-top structure amazed me. I wondered how they managed to construct the high platforms without destroying the vegetation below.
The canopy walk
One of the stair along the walk
Later that night we had our night safari. We all sat the back of a jeep as it meanders along lumberjack trails. We saw a few nocturnal creatures but just a few, and I am not surprised since the jeep was making so much noise. The jeep brought us all the way back to Nusa Camp without us having to rent a boat back. By now, there were already a few other groups of travellers making Nusa Camp their brief home. When we first arrived, we were the only one.
Our guide, the cheerful Abang Zam
Wednesday 29.12.2004
We were up at 6 and started trekking up Bukit Warisan. The way up was really steep. Since it was still dark, it was quite overwhelming, being surrounded so closely with all the vegetation and going up such a steep trail. We did get confused at certain points along the trail when there didn't seem to be any way to go. As luck would have it, we managed to reach the top after much huffing and puffing. At least for me :) Tiring, indeed. We were supposed to be able to view the magnificent sunrise/sunset from here. Unfortunately for us, the morning was cloudy and we didn't manage to catch the sunrise. We soaked in the cool morning breeze and fresh air, and after a few quick snapshots, we were on our way down.
We had rapid-shooting early in the morning. IT was WET! And COLD! I couldn't help shivering. It didn't help that my friends were splashing water all around. At one point, we had to stop because the boat's rotor blades got caught in a fishing net.
One of the rapids along the way
We went back to camp later and had a brief rest. It was drizzling pretty much from then on. We passed the time playing card games. I learned Gin Rummy. :P When the rain stopped, we decided to trek to Abai waterfall. Along the way, we got attacked by
pacat. Those leech-like bloodsucking worms. I don't know what you call it in English so I'll just leave it at that. We didn't have any salt,lighter, or other methods of removing them. We even tried spitting but to no avail. So, we hurried back. When we reached the camp canteen we discovered that all of us had
pacat on our legs, some part or another. Some of us had it pried off, and witnessing a quick-flowing small stream of blood.
Thursday 30.12.2004
Our boat ride home was a pretty much smooth sailing all the way except for the hiccup when 2 female tourists had to make a pit-stop to relieve themselves. We stopped at a sandy riverbank
and the said 2 went behind the bushes to do their business.
Green canopy
Upon reaching Kuala Tembeling, we sat in yet another van all the way to Hotel Istana, but this time with 2 female Japanese tourists at the back.
The trip was a very memorable one and what's more I had a great time there. Thank you guys ! ;) You know who you are!
