I was promised monkeys!
*sniff*
Oh well, there was lots more to like. First, the cleaners’ carts at the resort in the Taman Negara National Park. (Itself something of a tautology, or whatever it’s called, given that ‘taman negara’ means national park in Malaysian.)
Apparently the monkeys like to come down and fling everything everywhere; the tiger keeps them at bay 😀.
Then into the park, and a wonderful, if gruelling, day. After a gentle stroll along some boardwalks (‘This is a doddle – not a patch on trail 10 up in the Highlands’) and a slightly scary ropewalk through the canopy, it proceeded to get more and more challenging, with roots and mud everywhere – and always with the simmering heat and the murderous humidity.
Then to the roots and mud were added brutal climbs and descents, then streams littered with loose rocks. And the pace was being set by four fit young fellers, two of them Dutch and ridiculously tall. All in all it was easily as tough as trail 10 – and it went on ALL DAY!
But it was well worth it. As well as the jungle itself, we were taken to a village where live 49 people from one of the two remaining tribes of ‘indians’ – the original inhabitants of these parts – who still actually live here, all the others having left for the cities. As our guide explained, these jungle tribes are a quite distinct ethnic group: nothing like regular Malaysians, they have a distinctly – and strangely – African appearance, with very dark skins and tight-curled hair. We got to have a go with blowpipes, which proved amazingly accurate, even in the hands of we first-timers.
We also got to shower in a waterfall – wonderfully refreshing – and were taken on a boat ride through what was described as the rapids, though in truth it was no such thing – just very fast-flowing water, with the helmsman taking great pleasure in rocking the boat so that everyone ended up thoroughly drenched.
All in all, it was a terrific day, if seriously exhausting. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Dinner back in town, then the prospect of a quiet day tomorrow. I think we’ve earned it.
PS Forgot to mention, when we were out yesterday the guide looked at his phone and chuckled, then showed us the pictures: it turned out the people on the two day trek – the one where you sleep overnight in a cave in the jungle – had had to have their plans rapidly rearranged when tiger tracks appeared on the path. As I said to Virle, how cool is it to be in a place where your holiday plans can be disrupted by the prospect of being eaten by a tiger.