Day 2
We work up early to get ready for ouritenary today, the Canopy Walk as our guide said that there should be alot of people today, so its better to get in line early, especailly since its a public holiday and theres only a limited amount of people allowed on the hanging bridges at one time. We reached there early and the walkway was not open yet. But theres already a huge crowd there. Also greeting us this morning are a couple of leeches - not too surprising since it rained yesterday.
The bridges were layed with a single row of foot wide wood planks along the way, its supports skillfully tied around trees without using a single nail as to not damage them, and the sides were lined with safety nets. Starting from a 3 storey tower on a hill, the bridges gets higher and higher, and the valley gets deeper, up to a point where we were more than 10 storeys high. I was slightly freightened by the height and the shakey bridge, but the astounding scenery, overlooking the salt lick and inner forests eventually uplifted me.
In the mysterious deep valleys, gorgeous gigantic palms which echoes its prehistoric heritage shelters the delicate forest floor. It makes me believe that the garden of eden is right here on earth…
Just as I was begining to feel comfortable up there, the bridged came to an end, too soon. There was another branch which should lead us further, but was unfortunately closed for repair works. So we hiked back to where we started and met our guide there, where we bumped into this cute lil blue and green thing. And someone else played with one of those gigantic ants.
Soon, we were on our journey up Bukit Teresek, a 7 km climb uphill, which really tested my dulled strength and stamina. Some parts were really steep, but fortunately the way was mostly of natural steps. There were more large, tall trees here on this trail, and occasionally some nice, twisted branches. Some even spotted a mouse deer. I saw a big iguana.
We reached the top, took at few pics at the edge of a cliff, and went down the way we came up. There will surely be sore legs and shoulders tommorow, but nothing beats the thought of the way back to our guest house – there has got to be a better way.
Come afternoon its time for some wet boat rides to one of the Orang Asli (aboriginese) village. Leaving the guesthouse to our usual place, we decided to be a little more inquisitive and find a better way down, which should also mean a better way up. Ahh…if only we had done this sooner.
On the long, narrow, shallow, topless boats, while everyone is having a splashing fun time, I continue to nourish my eyes with my remarkable surroundings.
As I realised, the further we move upstream, the more beautiful it is. The trees are older, taller and taller, thicker and thicker, … more and more haunting. Rare spots on the earth which are still so pristine, free from human activity. How I wish to thread its inner paths, just to be mesmerised by its spleandour, to consume, to take in the purity, and to let it consume me.
According to the guide, his father and the leader of this particular tribe were buddies. I thought it was nice. I like orang asli people. They still live the primitive life of hunting and gathering. I suppose they live a good life here for there should be an abundance of resources for them. Without a care for the outside world. The ones here are of the Batek tribe and are the only tribe who is allowed to stay in the National Park. Makes me wonder though. I thought all aboriginese belonged to our various rainforests for the past millenias and should be kept so. On the contrary, many were ousted from their lands for overbearing dams and luxurious developmental projects. I’d rather the government focus more on promoting ecotourism. Its certainly more beneficial for everyone than those lavish mega projects. Afterall, tourists love what our natural environment has to offer.
Anyway, the tribe leader and an assistant showed us their tools and tricks essential for their wild existence. Its obvious that everything they use are 100% bio degradable. They live sustainable lifestyles, sheltered under shacks covered with palm leaves, and they will move before they deplete a location of its resources. It is also said that they will move when a tribe member dies, and their body would be left on top of a tree – however according to the guide, those bodies were never found afterwards.
They showed us how to start a fire in 30 seconds – using wood from the meranti – and how to make their blowpipes. Everything they use are from natural resources. Some have such unique textures we never knew existed, like rubbery wood, spongy dried leaves and sand paper leaves. The guide explained to us how they fashion the blowpipe, straightening it from bamboo over a fire and dip their poison needles in the juice of roots from the ipoh tree – yeap, the tree which the town was named after. We were shown how they make the poison needles, from cutting, sharpening of the tip, to putting on the butt. The regular blowpipe is about 1.5 metres long and can be extended. One can shoot further pointing the pipe upwards. They are usually able to shoot up to 50 metres high – the tour guide showed us, pointing up to the tallest tree around. Then we get to try using the blowpipe for ourselves, shooting at a poor, cute lil penguin who looked like hes ready to celebrate Christmas but somehow got lost and is now stuck here, getting shot at by dozens of people everyday. I am ofcourse excited for some blow-piping action and perhaps with a lil experience in archery and some yoga-breath-control, I unfortunately managed to hit it on shoulder – first catch of the day! Poor poor penguin.
After our lil game, the guide announced that they’ve made mini blow pipes to sell to us. I can’t help but get one, just to show them some love, and of course as a momento for me self. Predictably, it barely works like the long one.
That night, we were gathered around the compounds of our guest house and shared some stories, mostly paranormal ones – just like how everyone does during childhood. It took a while for us to warm up, as it is the first time we sit and chat in a group like this with each other. Soon, tales starts pouring out from those who has enough to share. Some even started suggesting that there is something creepy about this place. My supernatural senses tells me that I need not be too concerned. And so, it went onfor about 2 hours or so until flying termites started to gather around a fluorescent light near us into a swarm, so huge I’ve never seen so many of them together before. When we moved further away from that light, they followed us to another light nearer to us. Supposedly, they were attracted to our warmth…
