Day 68: Taman Negara & the leeches

Taman Negara National Park is the oldest rain forest in the world (130 million years) and has the longest canopy walkway. We checked into Durian Chalet at 25 ringgit a night. The wooden chalet, or “worker's hut” as we called it, was basic with cold water for shower. The mattress was on the thin side because we could feel the layout of the metal bars from the bed frame. On my bed, there was one bar sticking out a bit right at my lower back. It was not a particularly comfortable rest. But for 25 ringgit, we were still happy with it and stayed for three nights.

When reading other people's blogs about Taman Negara for tips, we always came across one topic – leeches. Sure enough we saw those little bloodsuckers in all our outings to the jungle. At Jerantut, when we inquired about leeches at the park, a local guy suggested using Baygon. We thought we misunderstood because Baygon was a very strong pesticide in Taiwan. When we picked up a bottle, it was exactly what we thought. There was a skeleton head symbol with warnings “avoid contact with skin”. So we opted for a less powerful solution, i.e. insect repellent.

On our first trekking to the canopy walkway (very interesting) and Teresek hill (very tiring – 800 meter straight up and full of leeches), we sprayed the repellent on our legs, socks and shoes. But it was a futile effort as the leeches kept on crawling up our shoes. At the end of the trek, I got two leech bites on my legs. That night Katy had nightmares about hundreds of leeches crawling up our feet and was yelling out loud while dreaming. The next day we signed up for a night jungle walk, so we asked the guide about leech repellent. “Baygon,” he said. “And must be the green bottle one.” he emphasized. So out went the health concerns - we were spraying the green bottle Baygon on our socks and shoes like there is no tomorrow. Leech bite was a more urgent matter. Guess what? It really worked. We did not have any more leech bite on our 2nd and 3rd day of trekking.

made it to Teresek hill

canopy walk

stick insect from the night jungle walk

On the last day, we decided to check out a bat cave (Gua Telinga). It was a 3-km hike (one way). The trail was in good condition (with leeches, of course). After 90 minutes, we were at the cave entrance. Oh my, you could smell the bat pooh before entering the cave. We braced ourselves and entered the cave. The stench was pungent. Bats were flying above our heads. There were hundreds of bats hanging on the wall. Things (bat pooh?) were dropping on my head and shirt. Some parts of the cave were so small, we were on all fours – front and back touching the walls. Truth be told, I was quite freaked out but did not show it inside the cave. At the end, we managed to follow the rope and exit the cave in one piece. We both smelled like bat pooh afterwards and were quite looking forward to the cold shower back at the worker's hut. BTW, Katy's nickname at Yahoo is BraveKaty and it fits her perfectly. She is a really brave girl.

Katy with a smile in the bat cave

me without a smile in the bat cave

full frontal

gap so small even Katy had problems getting through

The food at Taman Negara was something to be desired for. Not only was the selection limited, most of the restaurants were on the river (floating restaurants). The whole restaurant moved when there was a boat passing by. After every below-than-average meal, we needed about half an hour to recover from the motion sickness. After three days of starvation at the park, we decided to head to Penang – the island known for the great food.

floating restaurants

amazing tree branch

check out the size of this tree

an aboriginal village in the jungle

a random sign post ... how true