Taman Negara

Fortunately Transport and accom was easy to find in Jerantut (even @ 2am) affording a couple of hrs rest before the 2hr long boat trip into Taman Negara - a virgin jungle (reputedly the oldest in the world) in the heart of the Malay peninsula. Cruising up the jungle lined river was possibly the highlight of my time in the region - particularly the following day when the boat powered up seemingly unnavigable rapids.

A quick afternoon canopy/lookout walk with Faye (an English girl I met on the boat) seemed to have gone awry when we stumbled across a nomadic tribe on the path we were ... umm .... sure ... was the way back, though giggling at our hopeless tourist requests for "village" and "river", some children nevertheless were cautiously keen to be photographed.

We continued on as the sky darkened, regretting that we didn't take nearly enough water, a torch or a map (or even note the name of the village at whgich we were staying) and had just turned back and to try another track when the sound of the long boat motors signalled that we were not so far from the river/village after all. I was tempted to excuse my poor bushmanship by claiming Dad was a computer geek that would not allow me outside our property fence ... however, this would not not account for breaking 6/9 of the recommendations on the large sign i noticed later at the start/end of the walk.