Monkeys in Malaysia
Trip dates: November 21, 2016 - November 23, 2016
The second half of our time in Malaysia was spent at Taman Negara. Interestingly, Taman Negara in Malay simply means “national park”. If we thought KL was hot and humid, boy were we not prepared for the rainforest!
We booked our transportation and lodging through Han Travel’s “Free and Easy” package, since we could add-on tours later if we needed and I had researched online that we could do a lot of the activities ourselves for cheaper.
We rode a shared minivan for 3.5 hours to Kuala Tembeling, where we then had lunch. Kuala Tembeling was tiny and there was only one restaurant open, I guess since it wasn’t peak season for going to the rainforest (we were in the wet season). After lunch, it was time to take our jetty to the rainforest! This sounds really pleasant, a nice boat ride along the river, but omg it was the most uncomfortable ride ever. The seats are not comfy, there’s no leg space (and I’m short!), and the ride is 3 hours! At least the boat was covered for some shade and there was a nice breeze. Our butts were so sore by the time we finally arrived! (The trip back to KL was all minivan, though I don’t know if it was better since our driver was driving like a crazy person and we’re just surprised no one got carsick).
Alright, enough complaining. How was the rainforest and what did we do?
Our first night in the rainforest, we decided to do a night hike and check out the Taban hide since it was fairly close. I still don’t really know what the hides are so don’t ask… I guess that’s where going with a tour might have been nice. To get to the park, we took a quick ferry ride across the river, studied the map, and then made our way through the (only) resort in the park to the hide. We had headlights as we made our way through the jungle on the boardwalk path but it was pretty much dark otherwise. Eric and I were pretty jumpy with all the creaks and cracks and other night jungle noises but we made it to the observation tower for the hide. We climbed up and peered out and saw… nothing. Eventually, as our eyes adjusted, we saw a tree in the middle of a clearing that looked like a bog due to all the mist. It was kind of eerie but in a calming way. After spending some time there to see if anyone would join us for a visit (no such luck), we made our way back out. We were pretty proud of ourselves for daring to go out in the night, even though we didn’t see anything. Also, just to be clear, going to the jungle at night really meant 7pm so not that late and scary :p
On the trek back to our rooms, we kept hearing these strange noises; they sounded like out of tune violas. We eventually discovered the source: bullfrogs! They liked to hide in drains, pots, and pipes so they were very loud and echo-y and you can hear them everywhere throughout the night.
The following day, we hiked out to the rainforest again on our own. We stopped by the hide so we could see in daylight what we were looking at the night before. Surprise, it was a tree in a clearing with no animals! We then continued on our way to the canopy walkway, which is the world’s longest canopy bridge! It was actually a series of them with little platforms in between, maybe 5-6? And included some stairs as well, which was fun. Now normally I love canopy bridges, especially to jump up and down on them, but this was not quite so much fun. These were really long and narrow and decently high up, but that wasn’t the problem. The issue was that the planks had holes in some areas, weren’t always nailed down, and often looked like they were rotting. Good times, huh? Eric, with his amazing balance, loved it! </sarcasm> It wasn’t exactly a great view but definitely an experience to be had.
After the canopy walkway, we had originally planned on going up to the Teresek hill to get a view of the rainforest. The stairs alone to get up to the canopy entrance was exhausting though, and we didn’t want to climb any further. We’ve been doing a fair amount of walking every day so far in our trip, but hiking in the rainforest, even walking on flat terrain, was exhausting! I don’t know if it’s because it’s so humid so the air just felt thicker and made it harder to breathe or what, but it was not easy hiking what should have been an easy 2km.
Abandoning the climb, we decided to check out the Lubok Simpon, which was like a natural swimming hole of sorts, or so I read. As we were making our way towards the lubok, we passed under a big tree when a bunch of stuff started falling on our heads. Things kept falling that we were convinced it wasn’t just a passing breeze or bird. Looking up, sure enough, we saw a monkey sitting on a branch chewing on a nut or something and dropping his shells on us. We made eye contact and I’m convinced that he and his friends were throwing crap at us on purpose. We spent a good amount of time checking out the monkeys before eventually heading back to the lodge for some shade and A/C. The lubok itself was pretty disappointing, super muddy waters with tons of bugs floating around, but I’m glad we checked it out because we wouldn’t have seen the monkeys otherwise!
We took a nap that afternoon and then joined the 4WD Safari night drive for our final night in the rainforest. The 4WD night safari was not really what we expected at all. For one, we didn’t drive into the rainforest but instead, took the main road to an abandoned quarry that we drove around for a bit before returning. Also, the vehicle was a truck. There were benches in the truck bed but we had a full group, so they asked for volunteers to ride on top. Of course, I immediately volunteered myself (and subsequently, Eric). We clambered our way up to the top and made ourselves cozy with another couple for the ride. The guide with the spotlight also joined us up top, making it a total of 5. The night safari was ok, we saw a civet and some owls, but not really much else. Supposedly we saw a leopard cat near the end, but it looked like a bunny to me. The ride on the top of the truck totally made it worth it for me though. Even though it started raining at the end, I loved every minute of the ride with the wind blowing in my face. It was so exhilarating!
So at the end of the day, would I recommend going to the rainforest? I don’t know. I’m glad we went for the experience, but I’m not sure that I would go back. I think when you hear “rainforest”, you think of this magical place that’s lush and green where you can traipse through and see monkeys and other cute animals. In reality though, it’s not a luxury experience as you might imagine and you might not even see any wildlife. (We got really lucky that we passed under the group of monkeys but the group we traveled with that went on the tour activities didn’t see any.)
For one thing, it is ridiculously hot and humid there. You might think, duh it’s a rainforest, but really, you have no clue the intensity of hot and humidity until you’re there. Also, you have to be covered pretty much head to toe when you’re walking around. Yes, you can put on insect repellent but your legs still need to be tightly covered up to prevent leeches from getting on you. We ended up wearing compression socks under long pants that we then tucked into hiking socks and that seemed to work out alright (although we didn’t walk through any truly muddy areas).
Also, the “resorts” being advertised are not really resorts. You’re not going to find luxury lodging there so just be satisfied if you get a room with semi-working, cold A/C. When in the rainforest, you’re going to be hot, dirty and stinky - that’s part of the experience!
In summary, I wouldn’t not recommend the rainforest. I would just caution that you temper your expectations and be aware of the reality of the experience when you make the decision to go. And hopefully, you get to see some cute monkeys when you go!
