27th January
I really Love this guesthouse - run by a really nice family. It's so chilled and they are so kind. I've been asking for hot water in the morning to make coffee and this morning he came out grinning - "I give you big mug" he said
The man on the right is the guesthouse owner
My room is the one on the far right of this picture
I just Love being here amongst nature - or close to it - and the little village of Kuala Tahan is so relaxed.
I went on a trip with Lara and Zeus into the forest - It is advertised as an 8 km trek to the Teras Waterfall, coming back by boat with a visit to the - what they call, 'aborigine village' - on the way back. We were given lunch (fried rice and egg with some biscuits and an Orange) & 2 litres of water.
I didn't realise there were Indigenous people living here in Malaysia but there are Orang Asli or 'people of Asli' who live in villages in the national park, with a very natural and nomadic way of life. There are some tribes - the Batek people - who barely have anything to do with modern Malaysia and live in a natural way such as using blow pipes to hunt animals for food and making fire with sticks etc.
The national park is 4343 square kms which is 7 times the size of Singapore. I can't help thinking - thank goodness for people like Theodore Hubback. Otherwise this area might all be filled up with palm oil plantations! I realise that he was Theodore Rathbone Hubback and his father was Lord Mayor of Liverpool in 1870 so he was lucky enough to be well educated and connected enough to make a difference but still......
At the beginning of our trek they laid it on thick about how difficult it was going to be and that we needed to be super fit in this humid weather etc. etc. He asked us to declare any medical conditions like high or low blood pressure and if we had an allergy to bee stings. There was a boat option after lunch, to take anybody feeling flaky, close to where you climb to the waterfall.
They checked our park permits too. I didn't realise I got it the wrong way round the other day. It is 5 myr for the camera permit and only 1 for the National Park. That has to be the cheapest National Park entrance fee ever!
They also told us about other treks you can do. One is 7 days trekking and sleeping in the forest, climbing up Mount Tahan and then over to somewhere near Sungai Relau. I would Love to do this but it was 3000 ringgit and they only really run it if enough people are interested. I would have done the 2 day one where you spend overnight in a cave but that wasn't running either. - Also, I suppose it sounds romantic trekking through the jungle but its probably not as much fun as it sounds - with the real possibility of being stung by insects, bitten by a snake, eaten by a Tiger or trampled by Elephants!
There is such a diversity of wildlife here in the park
To be honest though, our 'Jungle trekking' turned out to be more like a pleasant walk through the forest with a picnic by the river. Sure, there were some tricky bits and a fair bit of up and down but not the tough hike they were painting it out to be - I am pleased to say!
They did take us beyond the signs warning not to enter without a guide - at least
I think our guide fancied himself as a bit of an 'Indiana Jones' but he tried to make it interesting and enjoyable, which was great.
He said these were claw marks on the tree here:
And this is a Tualang tree:
This is the tree species that grows the highest in Malaysia. This is the only tree that honey bees use to build their nests. Not only is it very high, making it safer from predators, but it has an extremely smooth trunk, making it harder for bears and other animals to climb. It fascinates me how the bees have learnt this.
This tree is called the Ipoh tree - the town was named after it because the tree was abundant in that area - and its sap is highly poisonous. (Ipoh means poison in Malay)
There are cuts, like scratches, in this tree trunk made by the indigenous people, in order to harvest the sap for their blow pipe darts.
This tree with the wide triangular trunk - which I love - is called a Merbau tree and has been named Malaysia's national tree. It's wood is extremely dense
We made it to the river opening, for our lunch spot
then climbed to the waterfall where we got to have a welcome dip in the natural pool there. There were little fish in the lower pool that would nip a little at your toes if you stood still long enough.
After this we went on a boat through some fairly tame (much to my delight) 'rapids' to the Orang Asli village.
The guide told us that 70% of these people live without any modern intervention, but I think the people we met were the 30% who lived with some of the old ways, but had become slightly westernised and set up for tourists.
All the same, it was interesting to meet these people and see the demonstrations of their skills. They look very different to the Asian people of Malaysia, who I suppose are the settlers here - the Indigenous tribes being black with Afro hair. There are around 2000 of these people left, who only have the national park area to live in now.
The guide told us that when a person dies they believe that their spirit still inhabits the area, which forces the tribe to move on to another place. They wrap the body and make a platform high in a tree to place the body so the spirit can return to the heavens.
They are nomadic tribes. Sometimes they move for other reasons such as necessity if the village is trampled by elephants or resources are used up.
These young men from the tribe showed us how they made fire and used the blow pipe.
We had a boat ride back to the town and the end of a really good trip.
Later I met up with Lara & Zeus again to have dinner at one of the floating restaurants by the river.
There were a lot of people waiting over the other side for a boat ride back - they began calling out - I think the boat men were having a break.
Sunset back at my balcony:
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