When we got to the train station, the last tickets to get to the rain forest was sold out! So, we had to decide to bus it, or not go. We decided to try busing it. It was funny when some of us admitted afterward that we weren't totally into going for this trip until we had finally booked our ticket to KL, Malaysia. Up until that point, there was always the option of going back to Singapore, since we were basically stuck there for a while.
This is a view of the city from the metro at 7am.
So, we end up taking the night bus departing 12AM from Jahru Bahru (JB), Malaysia to get to Kuala Lampur (KL), Malaysia. On this trip, the crew was: Akhil, Phil, Eugene, Gary, B. and me. Gary came a bit later, and we killed time by playing cards and chilling at McD's. We arrived in KL, at 6 30am.
The bus was really cold (due to the ridiculously high AC)! BUT I was prepared, after taking so many buses. It's funny, the bus we went on was called the "Super VIP bus". The normal buses are called "worker buses" and are basically school buses, or those trucks with people crowded. The "Super VIP Bus" are basically a little more comfortable than our Greyhound or coach buses.
In KL, we had some trouble initially finding a bus that left early for Taman Negara. After stumbling around the city for a bit, we end up with a travel agency Gary had originally booked with (but then canceled -- they didn't get the cancellation).
We are provided transportation to and from the jungle (from the travel agency package), accommodations for 2 nights and breakfast, and a bus back to JB for about 200RM.
The bus ride to Kuala Tembeling was very bumpy, and I get pretty bus sick and slept for most of it. We run into a couple more Canadians (you know they are most likely Canadian when you see the "Roots" backpack!) ... and a few Americans on exchange from Hong Kong also heading to Taman Negara!
We need to take a little boat, called a Jetty (shown below), for about 3.5 hours to reach the park, Kuala Tahan. The boat ride was really beautiful, and relaxing. Our boat was made of wood, and reminded me of the long tail boats we took in Thailand.
We take a guided night tour of the jungle, which was pretty much just walking in the jungles at night. We saw quite a lot of bugs, and a really big spider (it ate birds..). Not too many animals, we did see the eyes of some deers from far away. Since this park has a lot of tourists, the food was definitely not the highlight of this trip, compared to our last trip to Malaysia.
This is the view for about 3.5 hours on the jetty. The water is quite shallow I believe, probably not more than 1m deep.
Not that it wasn't scary, I was still scared, I just thought that I'd be more scared! Just imagine walking across something really high up, so high you can't tell how high up, because all you see are the tree tops beneath you, on a plank of wood about the width of a small ladder and just sways with every step you take... Yea, its pretty scary stuff!! Or maybe I'm just a big chicken...
That's B. on the canopy walk.
It was quite the work out for all of us, and we did get to some really nice view points. Lots of bugs though, I'm surprised they didn't turn out more the in the pictures because they would swarm us in the clear areas whenever we tried to take pictures. Such as this one. Isn't the view breath taking?
There was definitely lots of bat poo, and I got poo on my pants, shirt, cap, hands, arms, legs, socks and shoes. It was very cramped and rocky, so you had to keep grabbing onto rocks to support yourself and keep balance.
When you touch the rocks, they would be wet and felt "dirty". Only you know its not dirt, its poo -- bat poo. All in all, it was pretty good experience.
I remember one time, I was basically on my stomach trying to balance and slither forward because I didn't want to fall into the pool of water below. Yuck. Actually, it wasn't that bad because the people who went before me already go all the bat poo on their clothes. :)
After that trip, took another one of those "one-of-the-best-showers-I've-had-in-a-long-time" showers. LOL. Tried to tie up my boo covered clothes in the best way that I could without spreading the poo anywhere, or let the smell get to everything else in my backpack.
That night, we sign up for a night safari where we are taken into the jungles, in a 4x4, and a guide with a really strong strobe like flashlight points out animals, if he sees any. We saw some leopard cats, a silver cat, the eyes of a flying squirrel ( I couldn't pick out the rest), a kingfisher bird, a warthog, and some owls. Again, very touristy.
We leave 9am the next morning. The jetty takes us back Kuala Tembeling, and we take a bus back to KL. The bus ride was really shaky, and I end up falling asleep for most of it to prevent myself from getting sick. Our bus from KL to JB didnt leave until 12am, so we had some time to kill. We shop! :) I changed my remaining 50CND and we head over to a mall via the LRT (Light Rail Transit).
The shopping trip was a little disappointing, since most of the clothes wasn't what either B. or I had wanted. There were a lot of FOB clothes, and they weren't that cheap either! I end up getting a couple shirts, nothing extravagant.
We hop on the night bus, and arrive at JB a little earlier than expected. 3:45am, instead of 5 am. So we grab some breakfast at the McD's and play cards until the transit buses start running at 4 30 ish to take us back to Singapore.
We get back to the MRT station at 6 30ish after going through customs and walking through the Malaysia - Singapore border. I take a cab, and make it back on campus at 8 am. I shower and then go write my quiz at 9am.
It was quite the trip! I still haven't quite caught up on sleep yet!
I can't believe this term is almost over! It does seem to fly by on hindsight, but it was has been amazing. Despite this, I am so ready to go back to Canada. Walking through Pearson International will be an amazing experience on its own.
I've learned so much on this trip, and that will be another post. I've learned that even though I'm halfway around the world, my thoughts can still be with the people I care about.
Even though seeing so many places is amazing, it's not where you are that's the most important thing, to me, its the people share it with. These great memories wouldn't be half as great, if I didn't have people I care about to share them with :)
I've also been able to push myself in different ways, from living accommodations, to traveling, to school work, to trying different activities... and learned that I'm actually much more flexible and able to rough it out more than I had thought.
I thought that was really cool, since I still want to look decent in my pictures (yes, this is the vain Cat... LOL), and be able to live relatively cheaply, and travel with a bunch of guys (engineering guys, for that matter).
Anyway, I'll end off with one of favourite pics of myself and some of my favourite girls. Miss you! **hugs**
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