Malaysia: Taman Negara

I am currently on this phase where Im really into seeing Malaysia - actually having an opinion about our tourist attractions for heaven's sake. Because Im really into travel, I participate in Kuala Lumpur forums where I provide input (where I can) for travelers coming to KL. What pains me is that some times I have absolutely no opinion on the sites they want to see, even as a Malaysian. For example, up until recently I had no opinion on the Kuala Selangor Fireflies, or Taman Negara, or Borneo or Perhentian Islands. How am I to advise when I had absolutely no opinion about these destinations?

So lately I have been exploring Malaysia a little bit, and I managed to get some of my girlfriends to visit Taman Negara, one of the oldest rainforests in the world. My opinion is that the one thing Malaysia has in abudance is rainforest, surely that must be its standout point? Look at the Malaysia Truly Asia ads, surely our value proposition is RAINFORESTS.

Picture from the bottom of the canopy walkway.

On October 30th, me and my homies took a long drive to Kuala Tembeling via Jerantut - it was about 3.5 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. Not a very scenic drive, but it got us to Taman Negara.

Pretty strange thing, once you get there (by car) , you actually reach a dead end. What you need to do is get out, and walk by foot until you see this sign below.

You know you have arrived when.....

From here, you should be able to get a small rowboat across the raging Kuala Tembeling river for about RM 1 each to the main HQ where you have to register yourself and branch off to the different trails. However, being so over enthusiastic, we booked a 2-3 hour rowboat tour with an operate before we crossed the river. Now, he charged us RM 140, which was fine and all, but it would have been nice to cross the river and register ourselves officially.

This was the uhh quaint little sampan our tour operater brought us on.

We waited cautiously for the sampan to arrive and hopped to our first destination, the Canopy Walkway. I was actually here for the Canopy Walkway - its certainly one of the highlights of Taman Negara. Unfortunately, due to the heavy downpour that morning, it was closed. We did manage to climb all the way to the starting point of the canopy walk though....it was so close yet so far. I made a solemn promise to myself to return and get the canopy walk thing over and done with one day.

We headed back to the sampan for some 'rapid shooting'. For those not in the know, rapid shooting is what they call maneouvring the rapids of Kuala Tembeling UPSTREAM. If you sit behind in the sampan going upstream, you will most definitely get wet. I was the unlucky person who sat at the back this time round.

We visited a Orang Asli settlement about 20 minutes upstream and had a good time learning about their home, and some details about their somewhat nomadic lives. (somewhat, cause I dont know whether it can be called nomadic, compared to the Penans, correct me if I'm wrong.)

Going downstream we traded seats again and this time I ended in the front. Not much water this time, but it was definitely a fun experience. Through it all I was happily thinking that I was incredibly lucky AND happy to be here riding the waves of Kuala Tembeling, rather than to be in KL at the mall for another weekend. (thats the default way of living in KL for most KL-ites).

We had a very average lunch at one of the floating restaurants and made our way home afterwards. All in all it was a fantastic 1 day trip and my girlfriends were the best travelling companions ever. I love being on my own and travelling independently but when I travel with people, its usually with the people I know are really great.