If you're young in KL....

24 July 2010
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL) amidst preparations for a multi-block outdoor fashion show, with one of the main stages outside our 3rd story hotel room (so much for getting some sleep before our 7am flight tomorrow morning). The city is alive with young people!! If you're young and living in KL you might be hanging out with your friends amongst the hundreds of motorbikes parked along the streets, your hair gelled into a faux-hawk and hoping for a cute girl to walk by who isn't wearing a head scarf and might actually talk to you. If you're a really cool dude, you might be break dancing or Tecktonik dancing it up on the sidewalk while hundreds of people watch in awe.

We've noticed today, more than any other day here in Malaysia, the extremes of this very diverse country. We started our day in a cool climate high in the hills and wound our way down a river valley to steamy KL. While the break dancers dance and the models walk the runway, women clad in full burka-style garments watch next to girls in short see-through skirts, and both wear dizzingly high platform shoes. The woman in this country love their shoes!

We depart early tomorrow morning to Sabah, Borneo to enjoy the flora and fauna of another extreme in this delightful country.

But for now, as Lady Gaga says,

Oh oh la la la
We love designer
I need, some new stilettos
Can't walk, down the street in those
You are, who you wear it's true
A girl's just as hot as the shoes she choose

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Taman Negara, Part 4

21 July 2010

Being stuck in Taman Negara is not a bad thing. We were supposed to move on to the Cameron Highlands today, but I came down with a bit of a stomach bug yesterday and we decided to put our travel plans on hold-just in case. It seems like rest, tlc from my dear Rachel, and a blast of Cipro has done the job and I up and at em' today.

This has enabled us to spend an extra day in Taman Negara-please hold the sympathy cards. Well, I will try to keep this short and sweet. Guess what? We went for another nice long (actually less steamy-it is a bit cooler here today) hike and absorbed more of the park's spectacular scenery. In brief, there were more plants, insects, mushrooms, flying squirrels and the like. The highlight of the day was a large spectacularly-ornamented caterpillar (nature, you amaze me).

Tonight we are off on a wildlife watching jeep safari through lands outside the park. We have a good chance of seeing leopard cats (look like leopards, but the size of house cats), snakes and possibly other animals. Wish us luck!

Tomorrow it is off to the Cameron Highlands for a taste of that natural air-conditioning that 5000 feet of elevation delivers. In parting, we really love Taman Negara and are somewhat sad to be leaving. Our first experience in intact Asian rainforest has whetted our appetites (pun intended).

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Taman Negara , Part 3

19 July 2010
Walking through the rain forest the last few days we have taken special notice of the way the forest sounds. Today we walked to a cave, Gua Telinga, and because we did not see another human for about two hours and our never-ending conversation does tend to lull while we are hiking up steep slopes in 90% humidity we both observed some new sounds and made attempts at relating them to things we have encountered throughout our lives.

As we walked today there was a tremendous number of termites, and by tremendous I mean termites marching ten rows deep for an unknown distance every couple of feet. You could usually hear them even when you couldn't see them - the sound resembled the perfect bowl of rice crispies - "snap, crackle, pop". Imagine a commercial for termite cereal! ha!

The insect sounds, cicadas and whatnot, are deafening. Half of the time it just sounds like a loud buzz, like a distant bee hive that follows you around. Or maybe like a five year old with a kazoo.

On top of the buzz there are the bird songs, most of which sound like the noises R2D2 and the guns of the troopers in the older Star Wars movies make. Others sound more like the noise that a large stone makes when it is tossed into a lake or river, splunk.

And of course, this noise never stops. And while we rambled along the tree root laden green lined path we only saw a few fleeting glimpses of birds and flying squirrels, all the while trying not to disturb the termites and the ants as large as my big toe as they went about their daily six-legged life.

The only monkeys we saw today were those using a power line to cross the river - ha! We did, however, see a dog and a cat on our walk today, both very near a settlement of the several hundred native peoples, the Orang Asli, who still inhabit these forests.

While plants are easier to see, there are so many of them that it is astounding to us. Most interesting are the many species of ginger, the rhododendrons, and the tree fruits that have fallen from the trees. They range in color, size, shape, and texture. They come in practically every color, be they as small as a tic tac or as large as a softball, round or oblong, smooth or spiny. All of these correlate to some tree, though we cannot identify which as the canopies are so high.

In short, we are infatuated with the forest of Taman Negara. We will enjoy just one more sweaty, happy day exploring the paths and hoping to see something new before heading on to the tea plantations of the Cameroon Highlands.

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Taman Negara, Part 2

18-July-10

Just back from a mediocre dinner on one of the floating restaurants of Kuala Tahan, we debated if in our travels if we have ever encountered a more unattractive town. After much discussion, Kuala Tahan, you are the winner so far. It would seem that you would have to try hard to create a greater mess. As a side note, our hostel "Yellow Guesthouse" is the nicest place we've stayed so far and we are really enjoying our bubble gum pink room.

Enough of that and onto our current object of affection, Taman Negara National Park, located a stone's throw across the river from the Kuala Tahan "river walk." Last night we participated in a guided night walk in the national park. Our tour at first reminded us why we generally hate group tours, but ended in brilliance. The tour started in a disorganized mass, as 50+ tourists from a myriad of countries were split into a number of groups and then led down the same path-moooo! The night walk improved as we gained space from the other groups and used flashlights to spotlight various insects including a number of walking-sticks. Shortly thereafter one of the flashlights spotted a python (about 3 feet in length) snaking its way through a nearby tree. The hike proceeded to an observation platform where we spotted 5 sambar deer grazing in the distance. Toward the end of the walk we hit the lottery with the spotting of a slow loris, making its way from tree to tree a short distance from the path. A slow loris is an extremely cute, rare, nocturnal primate only found in parts of Asia. It basically is a tailless monkey with raccoon eyes. For more info check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_loris.

Today we headed out for a long hike leading from the entrance to the park, which at times resembled aerobics inside a sauna (Rachel compares the experience to bikram yoga). The hike first lead us to the much-advertised tree canopy walkway, said to be the longest of its type in the world (don't we all just love superlatives). The canopy walkway consists of ropes, wires and planks strung from tree to tree for more than 1000 linear feet, at times 130 feet above the ground. The whole walkway sways as you walk (don't look down) and is both scenic and scary. As we exited the walkway we were greeted with the viewing of what we believe was a cream-colored giant squirrel (this was one big squirrel).

From there we climbed the nearby Teserek Hill, hemorrhaging sweat and soaking in a spectacular view of the park's interior. The trail down from the hill involved slipping, sliding, steps and ropes, and emerged adjacent to the Tahan River. After a long, leisurely stroll along the river gazing at a multitude of beautiful butterflies we made it back to Kuala Tahan. Thoroughly exhausted, we have been resting in the AC ever since.

Tomorrow we plan to head out on another long hike, which leads through the Telinga Cave. Bat shit and maggots here we come!

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