After I decided to leave Tioman Island, I set my alarm clock to get up early, because the ferry was supposed to leave already at 7:00 am. So when I woke up it was still dark and I was able to get some more night shots of the Island. Tim also decided to leave, so we met at the pear to wait for the ferry…and wait…and wait…(while more people were coming)…and at maybe 8:15am a tiny little boat arrived, that was already packed with tons of people from the other beaches. So no free seat for me. Hurray! I already made my peace with standing for 2h while the boat would be hopping over the waves, but as it turned out 10 minutes later, this was only a shuttle-boat that brought us to the “big” ferry. Which was also already pretty full with people, but I managed to get a seat this time. To my surprise, they were showing a classic Van Damme movie in the TV. They turned the sound off and only showed malaysian subtitles, but understanding the dialog is not really important in a Van Damme movie, is it?

So the 2h went by pretty fast and there I was again in Mersing, where a guy from the bus company was holding up a sign with all the buses that would leave from there. There wasn’t a direct bus to my next destination: Taman Negara, a national park in the middle of Malaysia. I had to take a few different busses to get there, as it turned out. The first one brought me to Kuantan. Luckily it was leaving pretty soon so I didn’t have to wait very long in Mersing. The ride took roughly 2,5h and I was able to dose off most of the time. Tim also took this bus, but in Kuantan our ways split, as he wanted to go somewhere else. So I made my way to the ticket counter alone and asked for a bus ticket to Jerantut, the next destination on my way to Taman Negara. I was pretty lucky again, as the last bus for that day would leave in 15min. So after a quick toilet run I made it into the next bus and there I sat again, for about 3h. When I arrived in Jerantut, it was already pretty late and at this time there was no boat or bus, that could bring me to Taman Negara. So I checked into a cheap hostel, which turned out to be a pretty awful place, as the room stank (remembered me a lot of the story Russel Peters (comedian) tells from his trip to India) and the bathrooms were dirty. But it was cheap and only for one night. As the room, Jerantut itself turned out to be a real sh*thole too. It was one of those transit towns where you can’t do anything, except stocking up your cash (as there isn’t a ATM in Taman Negara) and get to bed early. The only interesting thing I could find, was the hundreds of birds that gathered at the main street the moment the sun went down. No idea why…

The next day I got up early and booked a trip to the national park. A mini-bus brought me and an elderly couple from France (Alan – mon amie) to the next small town along the river, leading to Taman Negara, where we boarded a long boat (rambo style ) that took us across the river for 3h. I really enjoyed the ride: seeing all this green nature flashing by, feeling the wind and water splatter in your face….great.

Arriving in Taman Negara, a really small “town” waited for me. I went straight of the boat and went to one of the hostels, that was recommended in the Lonely Planet (tour guide). It looked really nice, from the outside. Unfortunately the dorm was already full and a double room was too expensive for me. I went to the next hostel and checked in there. The room was pretty small and packed with beds and the bathroom wasn’t the nicest I’ve seen either. But I was too tired to look any further. There I had my first encounter with a squad toilet. It wasn’t as bad as I would have imagined, but I still prefer a western toilet…

In the dorm I met Sam and Charles who were just leaving for a jungle trek. They asked if I wanted to come along. I was pretty tired, but I didn’t want to waste another day and said: Ah, what the heck…I’ll come with you. We went to the floating mini market and bought some water for the way and then took a small boat over the river, to the entrance of the national park. We decided to do the canopy walk first. It’s supposed to be longest in the world… The trek started out pretty easy and at first I was a bit disappointed, because instead of a jungle trek we got a full build out trail with stairs and a walkway….booooring…but when we arrived at the canopy entrance, the disappointment was gone and we all got a grin on our faces.

The canopys where mounted from tree to tree and ended up at a height of ~45m above the ground. We had to keep a distance of 10m from each other to not put too much pressure on the canopy. It was great to see the jungle from this perspective! Nothing for guys who are afraid of heights, but for everyone else, this is great fun!

After we finished the canopy walk we went back to the base camp and decided that it was still early and that we should do another trek. We picked a trek to one of the caves. As soon as we entered into the jungle, we realized that this wasn’t one of the touristy ways with a walkway, but a real jungle trek. And how could it be different, of cause it was going uphill at first, and of cause I delivered a very poor performance with my bad fitness qualities. The trek wasn’t always marked very good, so a few times we had to try different ways until we found the right one. After 2,8km we ended up at a few rocks, with a small hole: the entrance to the cave. When we climbed in, neither of us thought it looked very appealing, as it was very dark, full of bats and had a height of only ~1,5m. So week took a few images (note to myself: bats don’t like it, when you flash them a lot with your camera’s flash) and then left again.

Later I read in the guide book, that the cave is like 80m long and you can cross it, if you want to. I still don’t! Anyway, we went back and I was done. I went through 4,5l of water that day and was exhausted to the bone. When they write in the Lonely Planet, that you should pack a lot of water, even for small treks: That isn’t exaggerated! Not at all!

The next day the two other guys (Sam and Charles) went on 2-day trek and asked me to come. But I didn’t like it that much in jungle, that I would have wanted to go on a 2-day trip, so I declined. I mean, walking in the jungle is nice and fun. But there are two big points that bother me: 1) it’s soooo hot and 2) there’s just no view! While you hike, all you see is jungle.  That’s it. And it doesn’t change that much if you’re on the first km or on the last km of the track. I’m used to tracking in the swiss mountains, where you’ve got a nice view while you hike and the view changes the further you get. In the jungle it just doesn’t and that bores me really fast…

So while the two guys left I decided to do another short trip on my own. I took a trail that goes up to the highest point nearby, which promised a nice view. As always, walking up was quiet exhausting. I think I never sweated that much in my life! The view wasn’t that bad, but not that great either. To be honest, I expected a little bit more…

For the way back I took another route. This route was really, really steep (unfortunately you can’t see it that good in the pictures). Going down was no problem, if you watched where you stepped and didn’t go too fast, but if I would have decided to go up there instead of the other way, I think I would have died (or given up).

On the way back I came by a nice little place where the river stood still and had an amazing color. Now those are the things I like to see while trekking, not just jungle all the time. But unfortunately such gems seem to be very rare here…

I also stumbled upon a nice little snake that chilled in the sun. I tried to get some nice close up shots, but it got scared and went of…

A little side note: This was the first real trip I did with my Vibrams and I have to say: They’re great. Ideal for such stuff. I had ‘em on in Singapore, but they’re not really made for walking on concrete. But walking on the loose jungle ground felt great: If you feel the muddy ground slipping through your toes or you feel all the little stones and roots and stuff… cool feeling and fun to walk in!

After the walk I decided that after only two days I already had enough of jungle trekking, so I started to look around, how to get to my next destination: The Cameron Highlands. But as it turned out, there wasn’t any public transportation going there (if I didn’t want to get back to Kuala Lumpur and then back to the Highlands). So I asked around a few tour agencies, but they all wanted 80-90RM for a mini-bus shuttle. I thought that was way too expensive (compared to public transportation prices) and looked around further for other options. I found out, that there was a night train going to Kuala Lumpur that day and from there I could take a bus. This way I wouldn’t have to sleep a night in KL and would arrive at the same time in the Highlands, as if I would take the minibus for 2-3x of the price. But the last bus to the train station would have left in 45min. I thought I could make that, so I sprinted back to the hostel and asked the owner if I could still check out. But he said no, I would have to pay for the night, as check out time was 11:00 am. I didn’t want to waste the night, so I stayed in the hostel and decided for the minibus the next day. I booked it at the cheapest agency I could find for 80RM and went to bed, as the bus would leave only. It’s expensive, but as the rest is just so cheap here, I think I can fit it into my budget… So, that’s it from the jungle; next stop: Cameron Highlands! Joakim on Tioman recommended me a good hostel there, so that’s probably the first place I’ll go to…

[View with PicLens]

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