Prehentians and Taman Negara

A lot has happened since I last left you. First on my final night in the Cameron Highlands I got really sick off some bad Indian food and was running to the bathroom every hour or so. I felt really bad for the other people staying in the dorm with me but thank god that the bathrooms were separate from the room. I’ll spare you the gross details but I finally managed to puke/diarrhea everything out. I was to catch an 8 hour bus the next morning to the Prehentian Islands and I was worried I would not feel enough to make it, either that or I’d shit myself on the bus which may lead to a great story on embarrassment but not one I really care to happen.

I made it to the Prehentians without any incident sticking to bread and plain rice on the way. The Prehentians are truly amazing. You have to take a very bumpy half hour or so speedboat ride to the islands from the mainland but the bruises on my ass were well worth it. Everything you picture a tropical paradise island to be, the Prehentians was it. It looked like a postcard had jumped off the paper and come to life. There are no motorized vehicles of any sort on the island and power is run by generators and shuts off for a few hours each day. I spent five days on the island but could have spent many more. Time just goes away, I had no idea what day or time it was the whole time I was there. The only bad thing about the island is that food was really expensive and not very good (when I say expensive, I’m talking about like $4-5 for a meal instead of $2-3) because everything had to be brought from the mainland. The interior of the island is all jungle and on a sunny day you could have your path blocked by a monitor lizard. There were all kinds of lizards, geckos, and other reptile looking things whose names I do not know. I finally got my open water Scuba Diving certificate and SCUBA Diving was really cool. I saw 2 stingrays, some huge bumbhead parrotfish, angelfish, moray eels, and numerous other fish whose names once again I have no idea of. The highlight of the islands though was a snorkeling trip. There I saw five or six blacktip reef sharks, two huge turtles, and numerous other fish. It was really awesome. I also met some cool people staying in the same dorm as me, one of which was Israeli and he told everyone he was Greek because Israeli’s are not allowed in Malaysia (he also had a German passport). I’ll have more about him later. I could easily see how some people wind up on the island and never leave. So many people come to the Prehentians or islands in Thailand and just stay and become dive masters and live there for a few years. The Prehentians close down completely for about four months out of the year due to monsoons so 8 months on the island, 4 months off. Not a bad life. I don’t know if I could do it, I need more intellectual stimulation but it is a pretty stress free life that many would envy. There were many Western girls living on the island who had taken up local boyfriends, which was pretty funny. There’s not too much more to write about the Prehentians because not much happens there. It is just a relaxing beach getaway where time tends to melt into the sand. There is little nightlife to speak of just a few bars with overpriced alcohol and I got there towards the end of high season so it seemed to be much less busy than usual, although there were a lot of Chinese tourists staying at another part of the island. A little bit more about the islands, there is a small and big island. The big island is more touristy and full of resorts while the small island is where the backpacker ghetto or hangout area is called Long Beach which probably has the most beautiful beach of any place on either island. There a row of restaurants and chalets on long beach and that is pretty much it. I definitely recommend anyone going there if they have the chance.

It was hard to leave the Prehentians but I wanted to see a few more places before my flight on the 14th from Kuala Lampur to Borneo (part of Malaysia but different island). I ended up traveling with the Israeli guy I met, his name is Omri, to Taman Negara which is the oldest jungle in the world and a National Park in Malaysia. We took a minivan/bus to get there. So far the bus experiences in Malaysia have been pretty good, no crazy stories. On the ride to Taman Negara though I did fear for my life a few times. Our bus driver would speed up right to the edge of the car in front of him before he quickly slammed on the breaks he would continue to do this tailgating the car in front of him the whole time until there was an opportunity to pass. In Malaysia they have suicide lanes, that are used for passing in either direction but these lanes are on the Highways not just streets, so it can make for an exciting passenger experience.

We made it to Taman Negara in one piece and found a dorm for 10R a night. (About $3) There was a river that separated the National Park from the town. On one side of the river was the park with its own accommodation and restaurant that were much more expensive and on the other side of the river were all the cheap guesthouses and floating restaurants, literally on the river. The only catch was every time you crossed the river from one side to the other you had to pay 1R. This was about a 30 second boat ride and although 1R is nothing, it was still a bit ridiculous. The first night we just kind of walked around the town and relaxed so we could get up early and explore the park the next day.

We went to the park the next day and the first thing we wanted to do was the canopy walk which is a walk about 10 stories across a canopy walkway that lets you get a different and higher view of the jungle. It is supposedly the biggest canopy walk in the world. Anyways we got to the walkway at around 9:00AM and were greeted by a Malaysian film crew of like 20 people. They were shooting a film/video for one of Malaysian states/provinces to promote development in Malaysia. To do that they were showing some different tourist sites of that particular province of which Taman Negara happens to be a part of. They wanted to film us walking across the canopy so we happily obliged. They gave us water and refreshments and also paid our 5R entrance fee for the canopy walk. They also gave us props to hold, Omri had some binoculars and I got a video camera that didn’t work. They wanted to film us walking along the canopy pointing at things and using our props with big happy smiles on our face. We finished that and were about to go exploring more in the jungle but then they said they were going to an Orang Asli village (Orang Asli means local people, they are basically nomads who live in the jungle moving from place to place) and asked if we wanted to join. We had wanted to do this anyways and a tour would have been 40R so we happily went along. There they filmed us some more talking with the village chief and kids and there was a scene where they showed us how to make fire. It was kind of ridiculous just showing up and shoving a huge camera in these people’s faces. They were simple people who lived off the land and we were treating them like a circus act. But they didn’t seem to mind too much and the kids love it when you take pictures of them and then show them the picture so I did this a lot. We also learned how to shoot a blowgun, which they use to catch birds and other small animals. I hit the bullseye on my first shot, I’m a natural clearly I’m ready to live in the jungle. After the village the film crew asked us to go with them to some “big tree”. Omri and I realized then that they did not want just a few shots with us but that this was going to be a whole day affair and that we were the stars of this video. The irony in all this is hilarious. Omri and I were laughing about it all day. Omri is Israeli, he only got to Malaysia because he also has a German passport but he speaks no German and spent his whole life in Israel. Israeli’s are not allowed in Malaysia or any other Muslim country pretty much because they have no diplomatic relations with Israel. But yet here he was an Israeli, being used as a posterboy to promote tourism and development in Malaysia! The irony could not be greater. This video that we were making was going to be shown in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries to promote development and one of the leading roles is played by non other than an Israeli! That is just too funny. Anyways the day continued, we went to this big tree took a couple of shots than had free lunch which was awesome. The last scene I was not a part of because I did not look the part of businessman with my beard. Omri however, was perfect for it. They put Omri in a business suit and he was to shake hands with a Malaysian man to make it look like he had just bought the whole National Park. They had a makeup ladyboy for him and everything. Finally they got the last shot and our day was done. We had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see that day in the park and didn’t have to pay for any of it. I forgot to mention after the “big tree” we stopped in these caves which was really cool. You had to crawl through these narrow crevices in pitch black and there were bats everywhere. With bats, you have bat shit of course and it got all over us. We made it out alive though and without any snake sightings, thank god. So the end of the day came and our work was done. Omri and I were to be stars in Malaysia. The best part was, the director came over and gave us 150R each (about $45) for our days work. I had to sign for it and everything, it was official. That is the best part about traveling. Things like this just tend to happen sometimes, especially in Asia. Omri and I had some dinner and laughed about our hilarious day. I gave the director my email address so hopefully he emails me when the movie is finished.

Omri left the next morning and I was on my own again. I decided to stay in a hide in my last in Taman Negara. Hides are these wooden huts out in the middle of the jungle when you can go and stay a night or two. They are meant for seeing wildlife at night, as this is when everything comes out. The hide overlooks an area of the jungle and you are supposed to just go and sit there trying to see wildlife. Well I got all of my supplies; I rented a very thin mattress pad from the guesthouse and bought food and water and made my trek to the hide. It had rained the night before so the jungle was a bit muddy and with mud and water come leeches. I had to stop every 20 minutes or so to pull off numerous leeches from my feet. It was pretty disgusting. I was wearing my Keen’s which is like a sandle-shoe with a hard sole but open areas on the top which are probably the worst thing to wear when leeches are present. The leeches were able to slide in the open areas but then I couldn’t see them because they were on my toes covered by the front of the shoe-sandle. Leeches are not dangerous but they do draw a lot of blood and both my feet were pretty much covered with blood by the time I finally made it to the hide an hour and a half or so after my trek started. I made it to the hide at 3:30pm and had hours to kill before sunset. I hiked around for a little longer but the leeches were really starting to piss me off so I went back to the hide and just tried to kill time. There were twelve rock hard wooden bunk beds at the hide but apparently I was the only one staying there on this night. Time moves so slowly when you are bored and by yourself. I would pace around and think then look at my watch thinking half an hour had gone by but it was only two minutes. The next few hours took an eternity to go by. I would plan for each half hour or so to do something. I could eat my dinner at 6:00, eat a cookie at 6:30, go to the bathroom at 7:00, etc… Finally the sun went down and it was just the jungle and I. The jungle really does turn into a different thing at night. The birds and insects of the jungle serenaded me and the fireflies gave me a spectacular light show. I shined my flashlight throughout the trees and grass but could not really see anything. I sat on the bench for two hours listening and watching the jungle trying to make out the shape of animals. I saw nothing but fireflys, bats, and geckos though and they were all in my hide. I thought too myself that this would be pretty incredible on psychedelic drugs, then I would be sure to see some tigers and elephants heck I’d bet I’d even see some lions and crocodiles too but alas I could not trick my brain to believing that I was and I saw nothing. After a few hours of watching pitch darkness I finally could not take it anymore and attempted to sleep. My thin mattress pad did not do much to make the rock hard bed more comfortable and I spent the next few hours rocking and rolling trying to fall asleep. I finally did manage a few hours of shuteye and fell asleep to the sounds of the jungle. I woke up at around 6:00 and had to wait an hour or so before sunrise at which point I packed up my stuff and made the hike back to the guesthouse. I got there at around 8:30, was able to take a shower and clean all the blood the leeches had left and said my goodbyes to Taman Negara.

I boarded a bus to Jerantut at 10:00, then took another bus to Temerloh at 12:00, arrived there at 1:15 and had to wait until 5:00 to catch the next bus to Melaka where I arrived at around 10:00pm. All in all it was a twelve hour trip and I had wasted a whole day traveling but it happens and I’ll try to plan better next time. I arrived in Melaka and saw what I can only describe as pimped out trishaws. A trishaw is a bicycle with three wheels and a seat in the back that fits about two. It is a form of taxi. These trishaws had glittering lights all over them, music blaring and were just really a crazy site. It was Saturday night so that means there was a huge nightmarket in Chinatown so I walked up and down the main street sampling some nonya (fusion of Chinese and Malay) cuisine. From what I’ve seen so far Melaka looks like a pretty cool place. Tomorrow I will go to Kulua Lampur for a few days. I’ll let you know all about it. Until then take care and word to your mother.