Taman Negara

26 May, 2008

This time round we hava decided to visit the oldest rainforest in the world that is in Taman Negara, Pahang here in Malaysia. There are various things to do, among others are camping, caving and canopy walking.

Perhilitan HQ
It takes us 4 hrs to reach Kuala Tahan from KL by car (it is much cheaper to do so comparing if your’re to take a boat from Kuala Tembeling which will cost you around RM70 per person). At Kuala Tahan we need to cross the Tembeling river with a river taxi for a fee of RM1. The HQ is situated in the vicinity of a 5 star resort called Mutiara Resort. There we have to pay for the entry permit, camera permit, camping permit for a nominal fee.

Boat Ride to Kuala Trenggan

It is quite expensive to charter a long boat that can cater for six person inclusive the driver for RM180 for a return trip to Kuala Trenggan which is one hour away. But as we are not going to trek all the way (about 4 hrs) so we opt for the boat. The journey is fun, I get to see a monkey dangling down a tree and orang asli village along the way. We did go through some rapid and it is interesting to see the boat man navigate through the rapid and they simply remind me of mini bus driver in the 80’s. However, it is great that we reach Kuala Trenggan safe and sound albeit a little bit wet.

Kuala Trenggan

Not much to see here accept for a few unkept and abandon chalet, It’s a pity as the surrounding area is quite serene and I am sure the Mat Salleh backpacker would love this place.

The Trek

So the nearest place to visit is Bumbun Kumbang 2km away. The trek is quite easy and really wet. Mind you there are a lot of leeches waiting to feast on our blood and we need to be constantly on the lookout for them. Era is really fond of those `pacat’ as she would jump around histerically if one of them gets to bite her. After an hour or so we reach Bumbun Kumbang.

Bumbun Kumbang

What exactly is Bumbun Kumbang? It’s a watch tower, some thing like a KL tower but at a smaller scale. It is for people observe animal in the night feeding or licking salt is more like it provided by the government. In Kelantan, they call such a place as `Lepan Jenut’ which means an open field where they feed wild animals. Era was born in a place where they feed wild animals and she didn’t even know it (laugh). I manage to know this from one of the park ranger. No wild animals sighting today but you can see Era having a ball having her salt (isotonic drink).

Camping

I can’t believe it, after trekking for two and a half hours, Era and Ija are exhausted (me too?). Usually their stamina can last longer then me but not today. So, we decided to camp for the night beside a small river. Nice view and have access to the river. After putting up our camp, we have a dip in the river. The water is cool and clean and there’s a lot of fish swimming around. So it’s going to be us only in the dense jungle, this is what As called as `seram’ or scary activity. The menu for the night is cooked rice, fried egg (few eggs found smashed, so I have a backpack strewn with egg yolk) and canned sardines. We started a campfire and sleep early. Next morning, after breakfast and packing, my backpack decided to desert me by falling into the river. Now not only it is strewn with egg yolk but full of river water too!(sigh).

Lubok Simpon

We just need to trek a little bit further from the resort to a small riverbank called Lubok Simpon. The water is awfully murky that reminds you of the mamak’s extra thick teh tarik. I don’t have a heart to take a dip here. After getting some advise from the park ranger, we have decided not to camp here for tonight. There is a good chance that we will bump into some wild hogs as the area are full of the hogs digging marks. So we don’t want to take the risk and trek back to the resort camping site.

Yellow House

We have decided against camping in the resort vicinity, as it is too crowded. It is our lucky day, during our search for a camping site; we met Abang Halim a chalet operator who is also an ardent sportsman of which long distance bicycle riding is his forte. He gave us a decent room for RM80 per night and lots of bananas. The place remain true to its name is all yellow. It have 3 rooms only of which one of it being converted to a hostel. Lady luck must be smiling at us again as its rains heavily that night. I can’t imagine the pain of pitching tents in the middle of the rain and sleeps inside it that night. As we are in a lowland, the temperature is quite hot and you’ll end up having a sauna inside the tent during the downpour whereas if we were camping in the jungle the situation would be different as much of the rain water will not be able to reach us as the thick jungle canopy will act as an giant umbrella and I can say it is so much cooler down there. By the visitors book records, I can say all of the tenant are Mat Salleh from the European countries, I guess we were the only malai chai and malai moi who are staying there. Ija and Era get to use Halim’s kitchen to cook our favorite dishes that is the Gulai Tempoyak Ikan Patin (a sour durian dishes plus a type of local cat fish). Oh man, this is the high for this trip.

Canopy Walk

The next day, taking advice from Halim, were headed to the Canopy Walk entrance early in the morning. He has given the right advice, as there is a busload of school kid arrives earlier then us. Fortunately, the park ranger has given us the go ahead to start first as there are only three of us. The walk is said to be the longest in the world about 400 meters in length and up to 25 meters in height. I felt really uncomfortable (other words for scared like hell) going up the stairs, especially when there is a mad Mat Salleh trampling in front of me. Ija loves to tease me for this. Anyway, the scene is great; it’s like your being a monkey on top of a tree looking down the puny human. Maybe. I would do this again if I get paid (grin). Remind you, do bring those colorful shorts to gain instant public attention (chuckle) and don’t bring a long the Mat Salleh if you can, trust me you will live longer.

Gua Telinga

Well we have to pay RM80 for the boat ride return trip to Gua Telinga. The jetty is about half an hour from the main resort and we need to do a short trekking pass an orang asli village. It is quite weird to see at this time of information boom, there are still people living in a hut. I’m not talking about people deep in the jungle, but people who have easy access to town. Anyway, this Batik tribe `rules’ around here. `Jangan ambil gambar’ (take no photo) is the first word that I can understand uttered by one of them. Obviously, we need to pay in order to take photo in their vicinity. I guess that is the way they earned some extra income. We reach the entrance of Gua Telinga (which literally means Ear Cave) after a short walk. True to its name the cave is narrow, winded and smelly too. This is the home for bats, lots of them and mind you the smell of their dropping is worst then durian (laugh). If you are a plus size person, do stay away cause you might not be able to squeeze your way out and do bring along some soup to wash your hand afterwards.

Conclude
That’s about it, our three days and two nights at Taman Negara. The total cost is about RM250 per person. That is quite cheap when compared to the value of our adventure and the fun we had. Good place to camp, jungle trekking and lots of things to see.