In the jungle...

We traveled for two and a half hours by bus and then changed for a three hours boat ride to get to the heart of Taman Negara, the rainforest in the middle of the Malaysian Peninsular. They didnt call it a rainforest for nothing, it rained so heavy and so loud in the evening that I thought that our rickety tin roof was going to cave in and the heavens would simply sweep us away.

Taman Negara is home to a small elephant and tiger population though we didnt actually see any because that would involve days-long trek into the jungle and our limited schedule simply didnt allow for it. We managed to see some lizards, birds, and lots of butterflies and mosquitoes. Oh , the pesky little biters! No amount of repellant could deter them from taking a nibble at my poor exposed flesh- yes, I know I should cover up so I wont get biten but I was in the rainforest, it was too bloody hot to cover up.

A flimsy rope bridge was built connecting a section of the jungle so that you could take a walk 25m above the forest floor at the canopy level. It was terrifying, especially because I havent been that good with heights since attempting to do a bungee jump at the age of 15. (I never did the bungee jump because I made the mistake of looking down and realising that there was a better way of getting back onto solid ground rather than hurdling myself out of crane box).

We went on some short treks; the combination of intense heat and humidity meant that I was sweating buckets, which is, of course, very sexy indeed. Thankfully, we found a little stream so we could have a swim to cool down. It was so beautiful, we had the rushing sound of water splashing against the rocks, the murmurs of the jungle, the songs of the birds, and lush green trees framing our view.

When night-time fell on us, everything became pitch black and scary. We stayed in a hut away from the river where all the 'restaurants' were. These were like raft houses on the waters which served a mixture of Malay, Chinese and Indian food. From our hut, we had to navigate a long, bumpy path that led to the river front with possibly the smallest torch in the world as our only light source. Every now and then, there would be some movements in the bushes and we would positively jump out of our skin in fright. The good thing is that the night-sky was lit up with stars that we would never have seen in the city, it was really peaceful and serene.