Taman Negara Reflections

Taman Negara Rox!

It's been a few days since I came back from Taman Negara. the duration of my trip was from the 13th to the 17th of November. This is actually my 2nd time there but it was with a bigger group of people. The gang involved were my brothers Amir, Eng Kee, Stanley, Hasri, Irfan and my two lil ones Hazlan and Basirun. We started off with a 7hr train ride from Johore Bahru to Jerantut. It was really a boring ride as i seriously felt restless after 3 hours in it.

Waiting for the train @ Johore Bahru train station

Hasri, Stanley & myself posing in the train

Upon reaching Jerantut (that was about 0230hrs) , we got ourselves to repack our backpacks at the nearby NKS hotel. After repacking, we took a short nap and woke up at about 0730hrs to get ourselves ready for our adventure. All in all, we spent half an hour of van ride and 3 hours of boat ride to Kuala Tahan (Taman Negara's Visitor Arrival Centre). When we arrived there at 1230hrs we waited for our guide who later brought us to Gua Telinga (Ear Cave) for some cave exploration. I tell you.... there were lots of bats in there! Cool or what! We later went to visit one of the homes of the orang asli. I wonder if those houses can withstand harsh weather conditions.

My big brother & I on the boat ride

My lil brother and I outside Gua Telinga

Bats hanging over the ceiling of the cave

See how close I was to all those bats!

Outside one of the homes of the orang asli

After visiting the cave an the orang asli, we took a boat to Kuala Terrengan and that was where our 2km trek to Bumbung Kumbang began. Bumbung Kumbang is one of the few hides built in the middle of Taman Negara's jungle for trekkers to spend their nights in as pitching of tents are strongly discouraged. This is to prevent any wild animals' attacks. After 45mins of trekking, we finally reached the hide. We took the opportunity to remove all the leeches that were stuck to our bodies during the trek. We also went to a nearby stream to bathe as there was no water in the hide's toilet (Eng Kee and Basirun used up all the collected rain water!!!!). By then it was already about 1930hrs and all of us were very very hungry. So we took out our mess tins and our maggi instant noodles and began cooking. Some went to rest after eating while the rest of us tried to stay awake to observe any night creatures of the jungle. However, Amir, Basirun, Irfan and myself found a gecko in our hide. And guess what, Stanley actually freaked out when he saw that little dinosaur. We spent the rest of our active part of the night singing till we fell asleep (Hasri was actually covering his ears while sleeping... Haha!).

The models of Taman Negara!!!

Stanley and me cooking our instant noodles

We woke up very early on the morning of 15 November and got ourselves ready for the longest trek of our whole trip. If I calculated correctly, the distance whole trek back to Kuala Tahan (the visitor arrival centre) was about 12km. Well. I would say that the trek was physically demanding because of the undulating terrain of the route we took. However, I had my fair share of fun because we got to stop by Bukit Indah for a very majestic view of the dense vegetation (Errr, Eng Kee, Stanley, Irfan and Basirun did not follow us to the peak bacause they were actually very worn out.). We also stopped at the canopy walk but did not manage to enter the attraction because it was already closed for the day. So, we decided to take a short break there. That was actually our final rest point before we head back to Kuala Tahan. Upon reaching Kuala Tahan, I felt this sense of achievement in me and applauded everyone for a great job. My lil bro Hazlan was our best camper as he had been motivating and supporting our 'old man' Eng Kee throughout the trek! Syabas bro! When Amir had booked a chalet for all of us, we all checked in and took turns to use the toilets and got ourselves cleaned up. We later went for a well-deserved dinner at one of the nearby floating restaurants. However, when we got back to the chalet, my stomach began to growl again and so Amir, Basirun and myself decided to cook our left-over rations. Thank goodness I still have some rations left. Hehe.

At the peak of Bukit Indah

My lil bro Hazlan and myself drenched after bathing in the nearby river

A 'sense of completion' for all!!!

On the morning of 16 November at 0800hrs, I was awoken by Amir to get ready to leave Taman Negara. How I wish I could just continue sleeping and not wake up that early. However, we did not have a choice as our boat departs Kuala Tahan at 0900hrs. So, we headed for the jetty and boarded the boat and that marks the end of our Taman Negara adventure. However, our trip was not quite over because we actually manage to go to Kuala Lumpur for a little sight-seeing and 'express shopping' (When I say 'express' I really mean 'express'.). We went to KLCC for a few photo sessions and Petaling Street for some quick shopping. I did not expect ourselves to get into a '1+1' trip package... Hehe. After our little adventure around KL itself, we began to head home on the 2330hrs coach and arrived back in Singapore at 0430hrs.

On the boat back to Tembeling Jetty

KLCC Models? More like KLCC Apek & Mat Reps

To all my brothers who went for this trip, I hope that you had an unforgettable experience. What a memorable adventure guys!!!

Cheers,

Halim (Abg / Along)