Taman Negara - Day 2
With aching body and feet, and very wet shoes, we walked to the floating restaurant for breakfast. A simple nasi lemak panas and very very sweet teh tarik.
Floating restaurants at Kuala Tahan.
After breakfast, our itinery began with a walk on the world's longest canopy walkway. 460 meters long and 40 meters above ground.
To get there, it's about 5 minutes ride on the long boat, upstream of Sg. Tembeling from Kuala Tahan. Then from there, it's about 10 minutes 'hiking' on man-made steel stair.
The canopy walkway opens at 9am to 2pm, depending on weather condition. It's actually made up of a few smaller walkways, the longest I think is about 40 - 50 meters. Each walkway is connected by a platform, which was actually built on trees. The platforms allow you to rest, and to enjoy the scenery.
The canopy walkway
Only 4 persons are allowed on each walkway and the platforms, and you have to be at least 5 meters away from each other while on the walkway. There are markers to let you know the distance between you and the person in front.
View from the platform of the canopy walkway.
The walkway is built with wooden planks, steel cables and ropes. These cables and ropes are tied around the trees, with no nails being driven into the trees.
It took us about 1 hour to complete the walkway, walking slowly, enjoying the scenary. Then it was time to climb Bukit Terisek. At 344 meters above sea level, it provides a view of Gunung Tahan at the top of the hill. The climb up is without any proper trails or tracks. It was really slippery at a certain slope and it's really tough if you are not fit enough. Luckily Mami opted not to climb.
When we got to the top, we were unlucky, because fog had covered Gunung Tahan. Oh, well, just for the experience.
Notice that the log has no rings to tell you the age of the tree. This is because Malaysia do not have 4 seasons. It's really difficult to see the rings with naked eyes. They normally have to put it under the microscope, according to our guide.
Coming down from Bukit Terisek, lots of people already started complaining about body ache and tired. A few even had cramps and one who sprained his knee real bad. We had a short rest at the resort, and then came out for our next itinery! A visit to an orang asli settlement, the Bateq.
A Bateq kid
They are normadic and is the only tribe allowed by the government to live and to use the resources of Taman Negara. But not for commercial use lar. They live in one place for a few months (or until something happened, like death in the family) and then they move on to another area.
The Bateq hut
While we were there, they demonstrated to us how to make fire the natural way, as well as their most popular weapon, the sumpit (blowpipe).
That's the chief and his son demonstrating how to start a fire.
He stepped on a piece of Cengal wood, with a hole in it where they put some bamboo or wood dust, and with a string made of nipah palm leave, he saw the wood. The heat from it made fire! Everyone 'wooo' and 'woahhh!" and clap clap clap. The chief kembang.
Next, he demonstrated how they use the blow pipe to hunt. Both the chief and the son demonstrated the correct way to use the blow pipe, and then they let us try.
I wanted to shoot the chicken that was running around, but the chief said that's their dinner. So I shot the piece of paper they put about 5 meters away as target. I missed.
Leaving the orang asli settlement, we got ready to get wet and go for the 7 rapid shooting and then went mandi sungai!.
This has to be the most fun part. There were 4-5 long boats, we were quite a big group. They raced and tried to out-run each other. And at the same time, splashed water to the other boats. Sometime the boat will purposely stop to allow the other group to come and splashed us, using the paddles, shoes, milo tin, mangkuk, anything we could find. Feel like a Thai Songkran (Water Festival) but with boats!
Upstream, we stopped and went mandi-sungai. It was teh fun!
At night, we had BBQ dinner and Thomas Cup. Then it was straight back to resort. Dead tired.
Floating restaurants at Kuala Tahan.
After breakfast, our itinery began with a walk on the world's longest canopy walkway. 460 meters long and 40 meters above ground.
To get there, it's about 5 minutes ride on the long boat, upstream of Sg. Tembeling from Kuala Tahan. Then from there, it's about 10 minutes 'hiking' on man-made steel stair.
The canopy walkway opens at 9am to 2pm, depending on weather condition. It's actually made up of a few smaller walkways, the longest I think is about 40 - 50 meters. Each walkway is connected by a platform, which was actually built on trees. The platforms allow you to rest, and to enjoy the scenery.
The canopy walkway
Only 4 persons are allowed on each walkway and the platforms, and you have to be at least 5 meters away from each other while on the walkway. There are markers to let you know the distance between you and the person in front.
View from the platform of the canopy walkway.
The walkway is built with wooden planks, steel cables and ropes. These cables and ropes are tied around the trees, with no nails being driven into the trees.
It took us about 1 hour to complete the walkway, walking slowly, enjoying the scenary. Then it was time to climb Bukit Terisek. At 344 meters above sea level, it provides a view of Gunung Tahan at the top of the hill. The climb up is without any proper trails or tracks. It was really slippery at a certain slope and it's really tough if you are not fit enough. Luckily Mami opted not to climb.
When we got to the top, we were unlucky, because fog had covered Gunung Tahan. Oh, well, just for the experience.
Notice that the log has no rings to tell you the age of the tree. This is because Malaysia do not have 4 seasons. It's really difficult to see the rings with naked eyes. They normally have to put it under the microscope, according to our guide.
Coming down from Bukit Terisek, lots of people already started complaining about body ache and tired. A few even had cramps and one who sprained his knee real bad. We had a short rest at the resort, and then came out for our next itinery! A visit to an orang asli settlement, the Bateq.
A Bateq kid
They are normadic and is the only tribe allowed by the government to live and to use the resources of Taman Negara. But not for commercial use lar. They live in one place for a few months (or until something happened, like death in the family) and then they move on to another area.
The Bateq hut
While we were there, they demonstrated to us how to make fire the natural way, as well as their most popular weapon, the sumpit (blowpipe).
That's the chief and his son demonstrating how to start a fire.
He stepped on a piece of Cengal wood, with a hole in it where they put some bamboo or wood dust, and with a string made of nipah palm leave, he saw the wood. The heat from it made fire! Everyone 'wooo' and 'woahhh!" and clap clap clap. The chief kembang.
Next, he demonstrated how they use the blow pipe to hunt. Both the chief and the son demonstrated the correct way to use the blow pipe, and then they let us try.
I wanted to shoot the chicken that was running around, but the chief said that's their dinner. So I shot the piece of paper they put about 5 meters away as target. I missed.
Leaving the orang asli settlement, we got ready to get wet and go for the 7 rapid shooting and then went mandi sungai!.
This has to be the most fun part. There were 4-5 long boats, we were quite a big group. They raced and tried to out-run each other. And at the same time, splashed water to the other boats. Sometime the boat will purposely stop to allow the other group to come and splashed us, using the paddles, shoes, milo tin, mangkuk, anything we could find. Feel like a Thai Songkran (Water Festival) but with boats!
Upstream, we stopped and went mandi-sungai. It was teh fun!
At night, we had BBQ dinner and Thomas Cup. Then it was straight back to resort. Dead tired.
posted by Papi @ 5/26/2006 11:58:00 AM
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