-Human Observations Report…-

Warning!: Extremely long post.
(And very outdated as well…)

Its been a long time since I’ve surrounded myself with dense, tall trees. I love trees, seeing them, being among them is one of my sweetest joys in life. I’ve always wanted to visit Taman Negara, since its like “the desitnation” for nature lovers, but haven’t really had anyone who are interested enough. Then my parents used to be quite worried about me going on this type of outings.

And so, my collegues just happen to be quite an adventerous bunch and someone just suggested about going there earlier this year. Sun Sun was quite excited about it, but for some reason, I felt hesitant. Perhaps I’ve gotten comfortable with city life again, and perhaps even afraid of some slightly more challenging or risky activities. But I guess i’ll just wait and see how it goes.

Eventually, one of them just got around to finding a suitable travel packages for us, and then gathering a list of people who are interested. Thankfully, Sun eventually managed to persuade me to go, for it would be the most beautiful experience I’ve had in a long, long time. Counting down to our departure date, doubt evolved into excitement and before we knew it, we’re on our way!

Day 1

The journey back to the heart of nature…

Jia Shyan managed to gather 18 of us for this trip, 12 of us are colleagues. On Thursday 1st of May, Han and I left my house early in the morning towards the agency’s office at Radius Hotel, Changkat Bukit Bintang for our inclusive bus ride which departs at 8 am. 3.30 hours later, we arrived at Jerantut and stopped for lunch and continued our journey up north. From what I saw in the map, I thought Taman Negara was pretty far, but surprisingly it didn’t take too long, and the driver was driving at a safe speed.

We stopped midway at Jerantut for lunch and by 2.30 pm, we reached our destination. We actually spent about the last 2 hours of our journey cutting accross oil palm plantations and I was unpleasantly surprised that we weren’t greeted by wild jungles instead.

Upon arrival, we had to hike uphill a little, and walk quite a distance to our accomodation. I thought we will be staying in a chalet, we’re not really sure. We stood at a junction waiting for our “leader”, Jia Shyan to tell us where to go, when we spotted a place that looks like a nursery, but which says “Tahan guest house”. Needless to say, we were quite intrigued by the look of this place, and even more surprised when our leader came and say, yeah, this is where we’re gonna stay. Hmm…ok. Oh, and no aircond (I’m ok with that) and no water heater… O.o… Oh, and we also have to take off our shoes upon entering the building – how traditional. As I enter our respective rooms, I also realise that there were no power points either. But despite the lack of ammenities that us city dwellers are so used to, I find this place somewhat pleasant, and very clean and cozy, apart from the mysteriously childlike paintings on every corner and every door. The place was run by a malay man appearing to be around the age of 40, who seems to have his whole family living there, in a typical kampung house, somehow attached to the 2 storey guest house building at the counter. It feels like every thing that was there has a personal touch to it, and the very basic needs of guests were well thought out. Like having a bucket for washing, a small face mirror, sufficient toilet rolls, a tiny wash basin, and despite the size of the room, a table and 2 chairs, and a nice little balcony for each room on the upper floor, which is good for hanging clothes dry. I also eventuallly found out that there is a couple of power points at the common areas, should the need to use electrical items arise. And they politely requested guests to be thrifty when using water, for the water came from the river nearby, and the water treatment were done by the villagers themselves. And it all adds up to the cozy feeling of it.

Soon we finished unpacking and were changed into our trekking clothes, ready for our first quest, our first step into the jungles of Taman Negara and a little adventure into the Telinga (Ear) Cave. But then we first have to walk the distance from our guest house to the jetty at the river nearby, which is the Tembeling River, down a steep slope and along the banks full of large, slippery pebbles – which is the most gruelling thing we had to endure for the next 3 days. To be honest, I did not expect too much out of this trip for Taman Negara is such a popular destination and knowing my fellow Malaysians, I’d expect it to be over commercialised. We even half expected to see McDonalds and Starbucks while trekking. Fortunately though, that wasn’t the case. While on the side of the river where we stay is a small town, with resident villagers and low key tourist accomodations, the other side of the river is left in its natural wilderness, with the exception of the Information Centre and Mutiara Resort, the most luxurious accomodation I see around this area – damn rich people, can’t they leave the forests alone?

Lining this side of the river are a couple of floating restaurants, run by various touring agencies and perhaps some private locals, which also serve as jettys, as I was about to find out, that for every activity we’re about to do for the next 2 days will start with that little shallow-boat ride across this river to one of the jetties on the other side, which is the starting point of a certain trail, depending on where you want to go. There were 2 guides leading us in all our activities, one of them who seem pretty experienced and knowledgeable about our rainforests.

The walk to the cave took us about an hour, but it was nothing compared to what is to come. But I , for one thing, seem to feel tireless when trekking in jungles. The beauty of nature seems to give me strength. I may sweat, I may pant, but I could go on, a whole lot more. My lungs feel pumped up with a rich supply of pure, clean air which I feel so deprived of and my muscles start to awaken. Its saddening that people seem to fail to appreciate things like this these days. Walking the trails, I was pleasantly surprised to say the least, that this was by far, the best forest I’ve trekked. The trees were really tall, and old trees with huge trunks are safe in their havens here. I smile as I look at those large trunks and ponder about their age, how long they have been here watching time pass, and the occasional lilttle creatures fumbling about at its feet, and I wish it a long, healthy life. They’re all happy and thriving. Even the greens are greener here, unlike those half dead ones in the city.

Along the sloping paths were natural steps, lined with roots and carved by footsteps of past trekkers. It starts to feel more like Lord of The Rings elvish territories, where tree branches from both sides form arches, welcoming me, and its roots leading me up. Surprisingly there weren’t many insects, like mosquitos, and no leeches were spotted. From what I later read, the lack of insects can perhaps be attributed to the presence of bats in this area.

Soon, we were at the entrance of the cave and we had to put down our back packs outside with one of our guides, because the cave is very narrow – which is the reason why it is named Ear Cave. Then we lined up to get into the cave following behind our guide and were instructed to follow the footsteps of the person in front, for the rocks are wet and slippery, often with gaps in between, some which were quite deep. Missing a step, one could imagine, can easily result in a fractured limb or two, perhaps even open skulls. There are ropes along the path for us to hold on to, and is our only lifeline, in case of anything. At some point, my torch light fell off my grip while I was standing among tall rocks with deep gaps. Luckily it landed on a flat surface where I stood, missing the steeps by mere centimetres, or it would have been gone out of reach.

It didn’t take long before we started spotting bats. Our noise and flashlights seem to have awakened them and some were flitting about while the rest just hung onto the walls and ceilings, trying not to be too bothered by us. We’re not so sure if the wet stuff dripping down on us are really cave water or bat droppings. We just try not to think about it and I’ve already put my hood on. The stench grows a little stronger as we moved along, spotting more bats too. The path wasn’t very long, but quite challenging as there were places where we had to swiftly quickstep up some slippery rocks, slide down some, crawling through narrow holes on all fours and doing thespiderman pose thingy. Deep inside the cave was a large toad, sitting on a piece of rock near a small stream, standing at about 15 cm tall. I’d assume the hole behind him had been his dwelling for a long time. Maybe hes trapped here and didn’t managed to find a way to get out. Must be lonely, that poor old toad, perhaps even waiting for a princess to kiss him and turn him back to that handsome prince.

At the other end of the cave is a small hole about 3 to 4 metres high up. Kinda tricky. And the guide told us that there was a blind man who came and did it all. Impressive, considering the terrain inside the cave. This was my first time exploring a cave, not counting Batu Caves and I find it pretty interesting. Some of us agreed that it was way too short, while half soaking in wet cave dirt and bat poo. And so we hiked back to where we came from, and crossing the river, it hit me that we had to brave the long walk, the pebbles and that steep slope to get back to the comfort of our rooms, before washing up, and preparing for our dinner followed by the night trekking. And this is what we’re gonna do for the rest of our stay, for every meal and every activity we’re gonna have. And to make things worse, among all the floating restaurants there, ours had to be one of the farthest away. Wicked.

The dinner was simple. White rice and a some a vege, a meat, a fish, and some fruits, but were cooked deliciously enough, and so are the rest of the meal we would be having here. Then we went across for some video at the information centre, which showcased many fascinating treasures of the Taman Negara, its exotic flora and fauna, though many which we weren’t able to see, since animals are often frightened away by the presence of large groups of people, and spotting animals are also dependant onyour luck. And since it already started to drizzle, our chance to spot anything good is naturally reduced a great deal.

For the night trekking, we were taken along a path, lined with some kind of planks, which were not wood, feels like plastic, and seem shaky, flimsy and noisy, it makes me wonder why they’re there. For the first part, there wasn’t much to see other than spiders and their webs. There was one web which was particularly enticing. At a first glance, it looks like a plastic sheet wrapping around the tree, and it shined with rainbow colours when light was reflected on it. There was also an ant trail. Not your usual ant, but gigantic, inch-long ants. Ahh… I like – but not if it bites. Then we reached the observatory, which overlooked a salt lick, where animals often come for their mineral supplies. We spotted a couple of deers but thats about it.

The better part came when the guide said he would take us to see some glow-in-the-dark mushrooms. I’ve always wanted to see them, ever since I was told about it by my guide when I went to Ulu Yam when I was in form 3. Back then, we managed to spot a number of glow-in-the-dark fungus and it was no less enticing. There were a couple of them growing within a few metre area. Kinda small, about 3 cm tall – one of the mysterious wonders of nature. The guide mentioned that there is this place, somewhere uphill where there are usually alot of them. But this is all we get tonight, and I can still go home happy.

On our way back, it started raining heavily. We put on our rain coats and soon enough, I smell the stink of my own body. I bought those for 3.50 and they’re so unbreatheable. Pei Sun’s one seem much better and cost her only 3.00. But since we’re not gonna use it all the time, guess I’ll just have to bear with it for now. At the end of the trail, around the information center, one of us spotted 2 wildboar piglets hiding under one of the stilt houses nearby. Then they ran out in the rain, towards another house, finding their way back to the forest I presume. They looked lost, poor little piggies. Many of us squeled – they were so cute!