For the most part, I dislike treks. I don't think I'm lazy, though I cannot really be sure. I just don't like pushing myself up a hill, or feeling undercurrents of sympathy when some people don't walk/climb as fast as others. Sure, everyone is nice. People help other people out. It's just that my body is not convinced that it is worth it.Walking, on the other hand, is a whole different thing. A walk in the jungle is incomparable. Sometimes, at rough patches that require a little climbing, I am a bit of a scaredy-cat, but once I take a few steps, I love it.And that is why, on our first morning at Taman Negara, despite my determination to sleep in, I could not stay in bed. I lazed till about 7:30 and then, I had to get up. We made our way first to Lubuk Simpon, a place we'd visited the previous day. It's a sweet spot by the river where people apparently go for a swim. We … [Read more...]
Night Walk at Taman Negara
We read a lot about the night walk at Taman Negara before we left India. Most people said that it was a waste of time and money and that all you could see were spiders and insects.That did not deter either of us. Honestly, I did not expect to see an elephant in the jungle at night, and I cannot imagine why anyone would. Isn't a walk through the rainforest at night thrilling in itself?At every forest we've visited, we've tried to spend time with the guides listening to their stories. Often, guides tell different versions of the same tale, embellishing it and adding drama that I love. I'm never on the hunt for "facts" there; I'm just in search of a good story!Taman Negara was no different, but I couldn't help smiling at the anecdotes our guide chose to retell - for me, they highlighted how rare a 'sighting' is during the night walk."In 2010," he said, "we saw an elephant … [Read more...]
Canopy Walkway – Taman Negara
I'm always amused by how the concept of distance depends so much on where people live."The canopy walkway is very close, just about half an hour or maybe a little more." That's what we were told when we bought our 5 ringgit tickets to the canopy walkway. For most people I know, 1.8 km does not quite fit with the phrase 'very close'.We walked through the jungle, marvelling at the fact that we were there, feeling privileged to be in a place that is so old and so wild. As we walked, we promised ourselves that we would take our time, strolling and taking photographs afterwards - our priority was to get to the walkway before it closed. It was a Monday afternoon, so it was not even a day that was unusually crowded. Even so, there were still so many people there that we waited for over an hour. We put our names down in the list of people in queue, and then settled down under the … [Read more...]
Taman Negara – Part I
I don’t know how people decide what they want to visit in a new country. India, I would think, is particularly difficult, if only because it is so large. Does one do history-things, or nature-things, or things other people have talked about? Or does one simply go visit people one knows?In Malaysia, we had no idea where to go. It was not a country we’d always longed to visit; it was just accessible from Singapore. But where were we to go?Minimal research drew us to Taman Negara. We love forests, and Taman Negara is the world’s oldest rainforest, said to be over a hundred million years old.I just threw that number in there, so take a minute to process that.We’re in the year 2018. That’s a little over 2,000 years.Look back at history. How far can you go? Maybe back to the 16th century BCE? Okay, so add 1600 to the 2000 years of the Common Era.Be generous. Add 3,000 … [Read more...]