Junglemania

Well it took me 24 days before I broke down and cried for the first time and wished that I was at home, not sure jungle life is quite for me....

Mike and I took a shuttle bus from KL to Jerantut (6 hr ride) and then boarded a boat that resembled a canoe with a small engine in the back with 6 other backpackers to head up the river to the Rainforest/Jungle of Teman Negara. The scenery was beautiful and the 3 hr trip flew by as we watched the different flora and landscape. We didn't see any animals except a monitor lizard walking in the sand. Once we got to the villiage of Kuala Tahan, we found our bungalow, a cute little room with a bathroom attached (you don't know how quickly you appreciate a sink and toilet in your dwelling!).

The next day we were eager to go on our Canopy Walk - a 500m walk on boards attached by ropes to trees and steel frames (Mike assured me it was designed well) 50 m high. The view was breathtaking; it was really amazing to see the top of the rainforest. We were hoping to see some animals, but only saw 2 squirrels with really long furry tails that resembled monkeys.



Mike & I declined the tour guides to save some $$$ and take our own time. The National Park Headquarters suggested that we also go to a view point called Bukit Teresek and insinuated that it would be an extra hour walk. Feeling adventurous we continued our trek after the canopy walk (already a 2.5 hr hike). The trail got a little more grueling with steep inclines and a lot of tree roots to manuveur through.



We made it to the viewpoint and it was like looking out of a window into a wide open rolling jungle. Very beautiful! We continued on the trek and soon were on our way down. As it is rainy season in Malaysia, and we had some tremendous thunder showers in the afternoon the day before, the jungle floor was muddy in places and made the climb down a bit precarious. At one point the trail ended before us, with the only option being to jump down a 3.5 foot drop to pick up the trail again. Soon we were deep in the jungle with no sign of a trail and a stream right in the middle of our path. Realizing that this could not possibly be the way, we retreated. Let me paint the picture, we were sweaty, muddy, low on water, and feeling lost. We back tracked and then Mike went alone to search for the trail. All of a sudden he hollered for me to look at my pants because he had "3, no 4, no make it 5 leeches on him". I looked down and to my horror saw tiny "worms" wrigling on my shoes and then escaping into my socks. Now I don't know if any of you have seen "Stand By Me", but the leech scene in that movie freaked me out and I am dreadfully frightened of leaches. I freaked out! I screamed to Mike and started crying on the spot. Mike ran back to me and seeing the state I was in, rushed to remove the leeches from me (I have know idea how many were on me b/c he blocked my view). After I was deleeched, I couldn't even talk I was so shaken. Before Mike found the leeches, he had found the path, so we resumed the trek. Pretty soon we realized that the leeches were in the mud and continued to attack us. We lost the trail again (a tree had fallen down from the rain). While I waited for Mike to find our route, I looked down once again and saw a leech go through my pants! I cried again and when Mike found the path I was running for my life! Eventually we saw a sign that said the end was 2 km away, but it was still an tough journey to get back. When we got back to the HQ, I was never happier. We grabbed 2 huge bottles of water when I looked down at my pants and saw blood on my thighs. Mike and I went to the bathroom, pulled down our pants (scariest moment of my life), and found 3 bites on my leg. No leeches thank god, but the marks were there. Mike also had some bites around his feet. The trek ended up taking 5 hrs in total!

Take a look at our war wounds...


The next day, no more jungle treks for me; we went to an Native villiage of nomidic people. We saw how they lived, were hold of their history, how they support themselves and how they make fire and catch their prey with poison darts. We then got to make fire (Mike's favourite part) and had a try at blowing darts. Very cool day.





We left the park the next moring. If you are ever in Malaysia, I would totally recommend going, but do the jungle trek when the ground is dry!

The next 50 hours were comprised of boats, trains, buses and 10 hours of sleep to get us to Ko Tao (Ko as in "Toe", Tao as in "Cow"), Thailand. Along the way we met some great poeple; a fun young dutch couple, a lovely guy from Scotland (Raymond ... not Randel, Mike!) and an energetic English girl.

We are planning on starting our SCUBA course tomorrow and will be certified for open water dives of 18 m in 4 days. Definately in the mood for beach life for the next month. This is a picture of us as we finally got to our room today:

Check out where we've been for the last 2 weeks:


Miss you all and wish you the best.

Kendra & Mike