Into the Jungle
Having no alarm clock and being such a chronophobe, I woke up about every ½h, finally getting out of bed at a quarter to six—just before really drifting off to sleep. Why does daylight have such a soporific effect on me?
I breakfasted on an Imodium. I think I would have been alright if I had not seen the guys at the food court prepare the chicken and plotted the bacterial growth curves in my head. The irony was that I didn’t even have the chicken—I had the pork feet in vinegar (which were slow-cooked and therefore fine), washed down with a bottle of ‘Tiger’ beer. This caused me considerable embarrassment when I was joined at the table by a family of other diners.
It was alright, they were non-vegetarian Hindus. I’m just glad that I hadn’t ordered a beef burger.
Perhaps what did it was the tea. Hot tea is safe but if you just ask for ‘Chinese tea’ they bring it to you with ice cubes floating in it. I didn’t want to cause a fuss or look stupid, so I drank it. Then it could have been the buffet where dishes are incubated above a bacterial soup (a ‘bain Marie’) at just about body temperature. I saw that from close-up after I had eaten my lunch.
Whatever the cause; what can’t come out at one end will out the other. Much as I hated it, I was relieved when I threw up in the gutter before the bus left. I felt much better. My stomach was now empty, so there should be no further problems.
Just outside the city limits, we passed sheer limestones cliffs, similar to the ones which form the the Lakawi group, looking like land-locked islands. The frequent rains caused stalagtites to form on protected rock faces, fringing the sheer drop like ice pricks in a Scottish winter. I wonder what fossils lie hidden there and what spectacular caves remain yet to be explored.
The bus rolled slowly up shallow slopes winding around verdant forest, alternating with rubber- and oil-palm plantations. We stopped briefly in Jerantut for lunch before proceeding in another minibus to Kuala Tembeling Jetty, ready to board the riverbus to the national Park. Organised by NKS Travel, the journey unfolded smoothly, shaving a day off the travelling time with everything taken care of. During the lunchbreak, an efficient young woman arranged for the park permits, accommodation and activities. She even tried to sell me a trip to an elephant camp.
Unlike Sinha Raja in Sri Lanka and many other national parks, Taman Negara (Literally ‘National Park’, or rather ‘Park National’ since the word order in Bahasa is different) operates on democratic principles, catering to backpackers and flashpackers alike. The permit for a stay of up to 1 month costs, wait for it, 1 (one) Ringgit. And the camera permit is—gasp—5 RM. To be fair, Malaysia needs the revenue less than many developing countries.
A bed in a basic dorm was 10RM, curiously this had been reduced from 19 RM—perhaps I got the off-season special. Accommodation in the park and neighbouring Kuala Tahan ranges from this to 1000 RM-a-night air-conditioned chalets with satellite TV.
The park HQ were a 3h boat ride away from the jetty up the Tembeling river. Droning past the lush, green walls of the forest on either bank with our asses practically skimming the surface was a great experience—relaxing and invigorating all at the same time. Cruising up-river in a wooden boat took me back to Venezuela, but the landscape, with dramatic dipterocarps dominating the canopy, was very different.
As dusk broke, sitting in one of the floating restaurants at Kuala Tahan, I felt in the presence of something primordial. The sound of CNN Satellite TV mingled with those of the forest around us.
Tags: SE Asia, Tag Index
Denni