29.05.07
Posted in
Malaysia, Travel
at
4:27 pm
by
Andy
By their very nature they are humid places but nothing prepared me for what the worlds oldest rain forest had to offer. We left the clean, cheap and well organised Sri Emas hotel in Jerantut and took a three hour boat trip up the Terrangan River into the national park. Having found another superb, cheap and well run guest house (Tehan Guest House - I’m impressed with this part of Malaysia) we were ready for 4 days of jungle exploration.
On day one we went for a simple 3.5km walk, yet the humidity was stifling and we found ourselves exhausted after only 3 hours. A positive experience none the less. The noise in the jungle is incredible. There is no silence, just hundreds of animals, insects and birds all doing their thing. On our way back to the hostel we walked passed an “Orang Asli” nomadic people’s village. The children ran away as we approached, but smiled and waved at us once we’d gone by. Shortly after Espe found one of their poison darts on the ground.
On the second day we headed off in the direction of the Canopy Walkway. This was something that I knew I wanted to visit from before we set off. In fact I posted about it back in November. Nearly 500 metres long this is one hell of a way to be in the canopy (come on Paul, we’re waiting). Scary stuff, well at least if you’re afraid of heights like I am. Walking on a swaying bouncing set of ropes suspended some 45 metres above the ground… nerve racking stuff, well it is if your afraid of heights like I am.
With the nerves calmed we set off up to a pair of viewpoints some 344 metres above sea level. This was the most strenuous trekking yet, sweating our way up the hill. Upon reaching the summit instead of being greeted by peaceful stunning panoramas, we were faced with a whole gaggle of college kids from Kuala Lumpur on a school trip. Although initially annoying because of the racket, many of them were very friendly and outgoing and made a real effort to talk to us. We continued on our circular route back to base, once again exhausted, having completed a total of 5.5 km.
After two days’ “warming up” we were ready for the big one. We planned to spend the night in one of the hides thick in the jungle. This increased our chances of seeing wildlife and failing that promised to provided a real feel of the environment sleeping in the jungle. Now I’ve done a fair bit of trekking, but nothing this tough. The humidity was a killer. Add to that water logged paths, stream and river crossings, bogs, leeches, mosquitoes and fallen trees blocking the path (these had to be clambered over or walked around through the overgrowth). One particular tree had recently fallen so no alternative path had been created and all of the branches and leaves made it particularly difficult to pass.
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Our route out to the hide was a tad under 11km. The first 5.5km we managed in two hours. Thinking we’d be at the hide by 1pm we decided to hold back on making the sandwiches until we arrived. As the path deteriorated, so did our rate of progress. We eventually arrived at 4pm, some seven hours after setting off. Unfortunately in the process the high powered torch fell out from one of the bags so we were unable to look out for wildlife after dark. Apparently the best opportunity to see larger mammals is around 8pm when they come for water / salt lick. Still it was not all a waste as just hearing the sounds was indescribable. At one point Espe and I got quite alarmed as we heard a growling noise. We heard this “tiger” several times with the noise coming from different sides of the hide. After closing and securing the door, I realised that it wasn’t a tiger at all, but just the roof grinding as we moved around the hide.
Falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle was incredible, but my rather uncomfortable sleep (think wooden bed and 5mm camp mat) was interrupted by a rather fierce thunderstorm that shook the whole hide. Very cool… I love thunderstorms. This one was very loud but it wasn’t able to eclipse The Thunderstorm when returning from Spic Gaff on Calle Caleruega.
The hide itself was very basic. With only wooden bunk beds and a toilet, we had to carry everything we needed. Camping mats, sleeping bags, gas stove (that turned out to be as good as useless), food and water. We set off with six litres (which weighs quite a lot, especially when you have to lug it 11km through the jungle) but this wasn’t enough and I had to purify a further three. The first time I’ve ever had to do it but that just added to the sense of adventure.
On the second day the return journey was a similar distance but the route followed one of the big rivers so the path was forever going up and down as all the tributaries flowed into the big river. This lead to lots of scrambling up and down and multiple stream crossings. Despite having less weight the second day was much tougher. It took us just under 8 hours to complete the 10.9km. Thankfully we were lucky with the rain. Every night we were in the park there was a heavy storm. Our last day the rain started earlier, but thankfully we’d made it back to the park resort an hour before it started.
Without a doubt this was the toughest trekking I have ever done. I couldn’t believe that a mere 22km spread over two days could be so difficult. The jungle really throws it all at you. Once again I have to mention the humidity. My t-shirt was 100% saturated with sweat. I have never sweated so much.
So what did we see. Not a great deal really. Most of the animals and birds were long gone before we got there but we did get a glimpse of snakes, lizards (including the large Monitors), water buffalo, wild boars, squirrels, pheasants and kingfishers. We also saw all sorts of of weird and wonderful insects including giant ants, butterflies, stick insects and something that I can only describe as a hammerhead worm.
Oh, and of course, we saw plenty of leeches. Urrrrghhhh…. Horrible revolting cretinous little beings. Every time I looked down at my shoes there was at least one leech creeping up towards my ankle. Every time I removed my shoes to check, there were leeches inside. Most could be flicked off before they started sucking, but several were able to delve in and some even finish sucking and dropped of before I had even noticed. Upon returning to Jerentut I counted from the marks how many had got me. One on my hand, one on my back, seven on my right foot and thirteen on my left foot. All that left some rather blood stained clothing…
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Utterly exhausted and looking forward to a shower and a good nights sleep we got into our minibus to come home, yet the excitement wasn’t over. About 10 minutes into our journey the driver exclaimed something in Malay, locked up the brakes and swerved to the right. At that moment I spotted a rather frightened cow in front of us getting larger and larger. As the driver swerved, the cow in its ultimate wisdom ran forwards to the other side of the road - the same place the minibus had swerved to. Some more steering applied saw the driver place us onto the grass verge. Unfortunately the cow thought he too would be safer there and ran onto the verge with us. Then came the collision. Silence and no sign of the cow. Several seconds later it stood up in the glare of the headlights, looked at us as if to say “what did you do that for”, and then limped off into the field. Ironically had the cow stayed still we would have missed it. Likewise had the driver not swerved we probably would have missed it. The damage to the minibus was mainly cosmetic, although we had to limp home (much like the cow) with only one headlight.
Edit - 05/06/07
Forgot to mention, while sitting down for dinner one night two familier faces presented themselves. Claire and Tom, last seen in Cambodia after we were on the Vietnam - Cambodia Mekong Delta tour together. I know this SE Asia loop is well trodden, but the chances of bumping into them at Taman Negara had to be pretty slim. tomanddotontour.blogspot.com.
26.05.07
Posted in
Malaysia, Motoring, Travel
at
5:22 am
by
Andy
No, nothing to do with atoms but the cars. Malaysian in case you didn’t know (although if you didn’t you probably didn’t care either). Having crossed the border many differences from Thailand and the previous countries we’ve been to were obvious. Apart from the afore mentioned increase in visible wealth the level of English here is much better (colonialism to blame again I fear) and I’ve spotted many Malaysians reading books (something not at all obvious in the countries further north).
Something that wasn’t immediately obvious though (probably as we were on a road less island), was the lack of motorbikes here. Such a refreshing change, as is the fact that people use the horn very rarely here. So pleasant. In place of the motorbikes, however, there are loads of pimped cars, and being Malaysia most of them are pimped Protons. Some are tastefully modified but as is often the case it’s the oldest bangers that are pimped the most / worst.
All of this reminded me of a Proton that Lotus worked there stuff on (did you know Proton own Lotus?) producing a decent hot hatch. A quick google search turned out that the model is the Satria GTI. Mental note to self, could be a nice choice for next car (along side my project Mini). Ah, just checked prices on Autotrader. Perhaps not. And before any of you abuse me for desiring a Proton, at least I don’t currently own one… (Yes Niki, I’m referring to you).
Next post will be interesting. Promise.
24.05.07
Posted in
Photo of the Month, Thailand, Travel
at
8:25 am
by
Andy
This is the first post in a new category that is destined to be irregular. Originally I had planned this to be “Photo of the Week” but that was seven weeks ago and I’ve not posted a single picture, so allow me to present the “Photo of the Month” category. I aim to show off my photos and make you jealous at the same time. Much like with my Inbox, I have a bit of a back log, April’s Photo of the Month is “Clouds over Koh Tao”.
We stayed in a resort quiet resort on the south of Koh Tao, Thailand. Our room / hut was the most south easterly on the island and we were afforded stunning views over the bay. Every night I captured some stunning pictures of sunsets, star lit skies and thunder storms however I chose this as it seems more original than the other postcard style sunset pics. Comments welcome.
23.05.07
Posted in
Diving, Malaysia, Travel
at
2:07 pm
by
Andy
Perhentian Islands, Malaysia; Tropical paradise or over priced tourist trap? The later was my first impression, yet that is not fair. Coming from Thailand we were not ready for the higher prices here (food, accommodation and internet) yet upon crossing the border Malaysia is evidently more affluent than their northern neighbours. The food is pricey but good (I soon found myself addicted to the Roti Canai - Indian style bread with curry sauce). The cheapest resort we could find was a steep walk away from the beach; mosquito infested with very basic huts and horrible shared bathrooms. Although there was electricity, to turn the dim lights off we had to remove the light bulbs. This, however, was more than made up for by the huge lizards than wandered passed our wooden hut on several occasion. The two islands are indeed beautiful with Long Beach being the best of the pick with soft white sand. By the time I reluctantly left my I was siding with the first answer, tropical paradise.
During our six days on the smaller of the two islands, we did six dives with Turtle Bay Divers. Despite how clear the water looked from the beach, we were unlucky. We encountered strong currents and bad visibility (down to two metres on one dive!) yet along with several regular dives we still managed a wreck dive and a night dive (I love night dives, my best dive in Spain was a night dive with Chris. The darkness adds an adventurous feel, you see more detail as you focus on a small area and you see things that don’t come out during the day) and learned a lot from the experiences. Espe is really getting a feel for it too.
I’m still amazed at the underwater life every time I go into the water. It is so far removed from the world above the water and there are so many weird and wonderful creatures, big and small. I started reading through some of the books they had at the dive center and was fascinated to learn more about what I’m actually seeing. I was very impressed with Turtle Bay Divers, they are very laid back without being slack or lazy and the staff really made me feel welcome. Paul and Amelie (our second Swedish DM on this trip) in particular.
The highlight of my stay on the Perhentians however was the snorkeling. Several of the beaches have good coral reefs within reach but the best experience was on the remote Turtle Beach (above), which at an hours walk from Long Beach was unsurprisingly deserted when we got there. Before we even entered the water Espe exclaimed, “Shark”, and there it was. A tiny shark swimming less than two metres away from us in the shallow water by the shore. It soon disappeared so we set of snorkeling in the deeper water.
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I was photographing some Clown fish in their anenomie when Espe pointed out a blue spotted stingray. I followed this for a while and was taking a photo of it (above) when suddenly I spotted something in the background heading vaguely in my direction. Closer inspection revealed a large black tip shark that swam past me at speed. At over 1.5 metres this was not as cute as the tiny one we saw from the beach. With my heart beating I tried in vain to follow the beast. They are so fast, sleek, purposefully and mean looking. So cool, and without a doubt my favorite animal on the planet.
We stayed out snorkeling and there turned out to be at least two large black tips with us. At one point they swam a large circle around us while searching for food. After an hour or so we headed back in to the beach, only to spot four or five more black tips in the shallows. These were the tiny ones we had seen from the beach, each one being about 50 cm long. Once out of the water we watched them swimming about. Real grin facto stuff. This photo, I achieved by dunking the camera into the water and snapping a single frame while standing on the sand. Impressive huh?
16.05.07
Posted in
Thailand, Travel
at
12:38 pm
by
Andy
Well the rainy season has arrived. At least where we are anyway. We’ve had rain now for the last 18 days and I have to admit it is quite welcome due to the cooler temperatures it brings with it. It isn’t raining all day every day, either short sharp impressive storms or persistent rain for several hours.
We’ve spent the last four (wet) days at Khao Sok National Park, arriving a day later and with a lighter wallet than anticipated after a frustrating visa run to Burma. Our Visa’s expired the day we left the meditation retreat, but we didn’t reach the border control at Ranong before it closed for the night (4.30 pm), hence the following day we had to pay a 500 baht fine each. The idea behind the visa run is you leave Thailand, cross a big river to Burma, get your passport stamped in and out of Burma then get a new 30 day visa for free on entry to Thailand. You have to pay $10 in Burma for the privilege and we’d saved a $20 note from Cambodia however they wouldn’t accept it as it had a slight ink stain on it. As a result we had to pay 1000 baht, which worked out considerably more than $20. (IF YOU’VE HAPPENED UPON THIS PAGE WHILE SEARCHING FOR “VISA RUN RANONG” ON THE WEB, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NEW CRISP DOLLAR BILLS). With the arguing of exchange rates we took longer than expected and as a direct result missed the last bus from Takua Pa to Khao Sok National Park. As I said, frustrating. Still, on a positive note, I can now say I’ve been to Burma (for 40 minutes) and the night market in Takua Pa that we inadvertently discovered was fantastic. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Thai food is great.
Khao Sok; National Park and tropical / semi rain forests is a beautiful place. Along with the dense green jungle, we were presented with huge limestone karsts towering hundreds of metres above the forest and lakes. On the first day we spent the afternoon trekking in the most dense jungle I’ve ever been in. So little light gets though, the ground is always wet (as it takes so long for the rain to filter through the canopy) and the humidity is stifling. Although we didn’t see much wildlife we certainly heard it. We did however have too closer contact with leeches. This was the first time I’d seen one of the cretinous little things, and they truly are repulsive beings. They are worm like and stand on either end searching for you before “walking” at you (like those crazy springs that you used to let “walk” down the stairs at home). The buggers will often make their way onto your shoes and up you legs before tucking into your blood (most often unnoticed) and they are difficult to pull off when they do. Once you’ve got them off, you bleed loads because they put something in your blood so that it doesn’t congeal. Like I said, horrible little things.
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For our second and third days in the park we went on an expensive tour, but after the experience I know it was worth it. We were taken up to the huge reservoir where our group of six we taken around in a long tail boat. Along with taking in the stunning scenery we went for a swim in the middle of the very warm reservoir. Later that day we trekked up to the Namtaloo caves, fording several rivers and streams in the process. Although having been in many limestone caves in SE Asia, I’d not been in anything like this. This was a river cave so we were always knee deep in gushing water, sometimes having to swim or scale waterfalls until we reached the furthest we could safely go given the level of water, some 300 metres in. The underground waterfalls and rock formations were incredible. A scary yet exhilarating experience, I was once again reminded of the power of nature and of our impermanence.
Overnight we stayed on bamboo rafts huts set in a stunning landscape, but I’ll let the picture below do the talking here. We were treated to the best tour food I’ve ever experienced. Instead of fried rice we were brought a buffet of curries, soups, fried chicken and pork along with fresh fried fish caught that day by our boatman. On both days we ate incredibly well. What was I saying about Thai food?
On the second day I woke up to the scene shown below (this is the view from my raft hut) before going kayaking looking for monkeys on the far shore. Everyone else saw some, we were not so lucky. Later on we trekked to another cave (the name escapes me) which were full of incredible stalactite / stalagmite formations.
Along with the breathtaking nature surrounding us we were joined by three Germans, Stefan, Julia and Pete, and an Englishman, Michael, on the trip. All very friendly, although I must confess I wasn’t as talkative as normal, possibly a throw back from the solitude and silence of the meditation retreat. Oh, and for those of you that were waiting for a report of said retreat, you’ll have to be more patient. I can’t even begin to do it justice while killing a few hours waiting for a train to Malaysia.
