6th May - Taman Negara

the extreme cold morning shower woke me up for the day's challenge. even the guys were surprised that i actually bathed.

it's a habit i cant change. i just have to bathe in the morning no matter what.

canopy walk. it's said to be the longest walk of its kind. built by the natives and the foreign engineers entirely by hand. it's a walk on wooden planks paved on ladders. fully netted. but you swing up and down up there. and they're somewhat slanted.





































i would say it's relatively safe up there. and the fact that you cant exactly see the height because of all the greens covering the earth really made this walk very friendly.

Trekking to Teresek hill was a horror. it's 334m in height. short huh, but not really. it's a more than 2km hike upwards. a test of preserverance. hallelujah to the four limbs again and the trees along the way. i would give it a difficulty level of 3, out of 5.

honestly at the first rest point (1.2km into the hike) i felt like giving up already. not because i'm weak. our bottle of water had only a quarter left and i felt really dehydrated. plus, there wasnt exactly anything in particular about the hill that's worthy for me to conquer (we didnt get to see much animals. not even monkeys along the way.)
and blisters were forming.

but still, we moved on.


taken at the peak. water left only a mouthful.



the trek down hill was challenging. a number of them slipped a couple of times. some had abrasions and cuts. one had an leech attack. it's a 60 degree hike up and down but i remember a particular point wheere it was almost a perpendicular (slightly more than 70) down hill which i "absailed" down.



conquering bukit terisek was another personal accomplishment. someday i will work on a mountain.


back at the floating restaurant, i gulped down 12 cups of chilled orange-tasting water. the rest had only 5-6. that was how dehydrated i was in comparison.

the worst was over. we conquered the bats cave, bukit terisek. and then we got to enjoy the boat ride against the 7 rapids.

we were soaked. not because the boat ride was ah so bumpy. the guide and the boys on board were extremely naughty. he used paddle to splash water at us. but it was heaven, if not for the fact that i'd to worry about soaking my camera as well.



at Aboriginee village settlement.



all of us were soaking wet. except for the guide.




































an Orang Asli demonstrating how they make fire.






































one of the girls, who's another laughing bug like me, with the kids. they're a shy bunch.


and us playing around with the orang asli's hunting weapons.



orang asli is the only group of people that the malaysian government gave permission to live and hunt (for a living) in the protected Taman Negara.
this group of people speak their own tongue, and they know a little bit of malay because of the visitors they interact with.
they believe in spirits. the interesting thing is that once someone in the family dies, they pack up and move to another spot in the forest to settle down. to them, the believe that death of a family member is an omen that this place's not for them.