Taman Negra National Park & Break

I am currently sitting at a comfortable kitchen table, drink my coffee out of actual porcelain cups and wait for the microwave to finish cooking some eggs. You might ask, how did you get there? Good question. Our last written retellings of our quest were talking about hungry Atms and unforeseen hardships, but some twists were still ahead of us.

Slightly dispirited we were ready to leave Kuala Lumpur on the morning of the 19th day of the second month this year. Our once chosen many wheeled vessel of transport having left the city hours beforehand, we arrived at the station shortly after noon, eager for the next adventure and a few quiet hours hearing tales about the queen of chess. After only four hours we reached the road port of Jerantut. An unspectacular place. Our statistical amount of misfortune used up we instantly found a bus that could take us to our final destination for the day. This one did not only transport us to the next city it was run by a tour group, where we could book a night walk for the same evening. Spirits steadily rising we drove for an hour though palm oil plantations to the small village of Kuala Tahan. The small guesthouse, that would be our home for the night, was full of colorful drawings and several ants. Already hungry from this day’s escapades we left the rainbow inn in search of sustenance. That evening we dined in one of the floating restaurants swaying in the not so gentle current of the Tembeling River. We had to cross this river later that day to access the Taman Negara national park, an ancient rainforest filled with all kinds of wild beasts. After nightfall we met our group and our guide for the evening, setting out together to find some bizarre insects in the darkness of the rainforest. Setting the tone of the quest the first creatures we saw, still on the doorstep on the forest, were a family of scorpions. A mother with her three children, all of them visible in UV light, due to their luminescence. They glowed in the dark. Really impressive. Otherwise, we saw Huntsman Spiders (they can change color, are poisonous, but will not kill you), hairy caterpillars (4 – 5 cm long), a huge, brown stick insect, a wolf spider (to quote our guide “won't put you into spiderman, will put you in a coma”), giant ants (the walkers are edible, the warriors not so much), Termites (blind) and a spider our guide did not know, but it looked very fancy. The flora was equally impressive, with a tree that is worth a million Euros, luminous fungi and a lot of lianas. We also visited an elephant tree, a meeting spot for elephants and saw a half dead white spider. What I found most impressive was the Orchestra of the Jungle, the ever-present sound of the crickets, frogs, birds and the constant hum of the grass hoppers. After an hour and a half strolling through the dense Jungle, we crossed the river once more and went to bed.

The following day we were eager to see the jungle awake. Rising only 2 h after the sun we left our lodging to trek through the greenery. The jungle Orchestra had switched to their daylight song, with the frogs asleep and more birds awake and the occasional cry of a monkey. We spend the morning following snaking paths through the Jungle making our way to the canopy walkway. A 500 m long trail over wooden planks 45 m above the ground. The view was truly breathtaking. But we were betrayed by our circulative system. With the relentless sun beating down on us and the high humidity we needed a break after only the small tour. We also followed the forest loop into a different direction of forest. But the heat defeated us, so we returned to Kuala Tahan. After lunch we departed from this beautiful but deadly spot to return for a night to Kuala Lumpur.

We spend the night in a small unspectacular hotel next to the bus station. To get there we only crossed through an empty car park, a semi closed shopping mall and climb over one fence (surprisingly not the maps.me route, just our very own shortcut).

On the morning of the 21th we left Kuala Lumpur to head to Johor Bahru. A city right at the boarder to Singapore. The place where we would rest for several days to recover from our last weeks of travel.

So, this is where I am right now. Having left the house only twice the past days, to go to the supermarket. Due to the lack of pots and pans we are cooking our meal with the help of the microwave and kettle. Sounds restrictive, but works just fine. I have eaten my microwave scrambled egg while writing this post, seasoned with soy sauce and pepper it tasted just fine.

Tomorrow, we head to Singapore, I am very excited.