Exploring An Ancient Rainforest In Malaysia. And Then A Whirlwind Singapore Tour!

After I sadly left the wonderful Perhentian Islands, I reassured myself that amazing experiences always lie ahead of me. And I was right.
I caught an early morning ferry back to the mainland and transferred to a minibus for a long drive halfway down the peninsula of Malaysia to Taman Negara - the oldest continuous tropical rainforest on earth!
Scientists have determined that the forest dates back around 135 million years and the Malaysian Government (despite a very questionable environmental protection record,) made it a National Park in the 30's to protect it and its inhabitants from logging.
I was travelling with Maartje, a Dutch friend I met on Perhentian Kecil, and just before dinner time we arrived at Kuala Tahan, the small town at the edge of the park. It is situated right on the river bank and in fact, many of the town's buildings are river boats that have to move up and down the bank as the water level changes! The river is the most major road in town and you get around on these skinny looooooong boats. I got pretty good at getting in and out without capsizing, but the boats are so easy to tip, it always felt like it was about to go over.
We got a really cheap dorm-room to stay in and luckily the place was deserted until the 2nd to last night, when two more Dutch girls moved in. It seemed that everyone we met in the park and in the local town was Dutch - it became a running joke that got weirder and weirder the more true it became!
Malaysia is a pretty seriously Muslim country, and there are no bars or alcohol in the restaurants. At dinner one night on a riverboat, the owner came over to us and said in a very "on the down-low" kind of voice, "Do you want a beer?" We jumped at the chance (withdrawal symptoms from Long Beach possibly?) but the catch was you had to keep the (expensive) can wrapped in a napkin all the time. It felt like college drinking all over again, hiding your drink when everyone with half a brain knows what it is, and I wondered when the RA was gonna bust in!
We went trekking, climbed a mountain, did a canopy tour, and shot the rapids (that's one American phrase that didn't translate well - "Bang bang at the river???") There was also a visit to an aboriginal village where we made blowgun darts for monkey hunting and I even got to do some target practice with one. A blowgun, that is, not a monkey... Along the treks, we saw some wild pigs, all kinds of lizards, milliions of cool bugs, and some massive ants - by far the biggest I've ever seen! On my last day, I had planned an afternoon solo trek to a bat cave, but the skies opened up and the rain kept me in.
Sadly, Maartje needed to head to Kuala Lumpur and back to Amsterdam to go back to work, and I needed to take the overnight train to Singapore where I'd booked a plane for Bali, so the jungle adventure had to end.

The 1:30AM night train turned into the 5:30AM morning train, so I didn't get much time in Singapore. I had an upper sleeping berth, and managed to scratch out a couple of hours before waking up for good to the sound of Muslim prayers at 7AM. I spent the next xeveral hours standing in the open doorway between the trains, watching Malaysia slide by - very cool and I doubt you would be allowed to spend a minute there in the US. We pulled into the city around noon and had to go through the usual immigration and customs, then get back on the train to go to the actual station. After getting cleared, I was snackless and ravenous but a family of Malay women in pretty headscarves noticed my longing glances at their breakfast and shared it with me - one of the warmest and nicest feelings I've had on this trip - or maybe I was faint with hunger and exhaustion. I tried all kinds of unidentifiable things they offered and since they knew about as much English as I knew Malaysian, we communicated by sign language, smiles and a couple of easy phrases - "Terima Kecih," means "Thank You" and the response is "Samo Samo." When I tried what looke like a round tortilla chip and discovered it was an anchovy chip, no language was necessary and they laughed at my expression.
When I got out of the train station, I had about 5 hours until I needed to head to the airport and I hopped into the first cab I saw and made him an offer. "What are you doing until 6:30? I've got $50 US for you if you'll drive me around all day and show me the city..." too bad he got off shift at 5PM, but he found a friend who was willing and we drove all over the city, stopping for me to run around and quickly see the sights. It seemed like a great city - modern and efficient with lots of shopping. I really like how clean and green it was, trees lined every street and there were large parks everywhere. Best of all was their answer to the Sydney Opera House - built on a grand scale of shimmering steel, the shell was covered in points to make it look like a durian fruit!
My cabbie got me to the airport with plenty time to spare and I jetted off to Bali!
Check my flickr page for all the pics as the computer I'm now working on seems to not like my portable hard-drive...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clementpics/sets/
Daag!
Clementje