Friday, July 15, 2005
Taman Negara - Day #2
After sleeping in late, we packed our stuffs and moved to another place - an "A" hut. Thereafter, we started off for our trek - a loop trail which we estimated would take us til late evening!!!
First, to complete wat I couldn't do the day before - take a hike up to Terisek Hill. As you can see, it's no easy task, steep climb all the way!
"X" marks the spot?
Finally, made it to wat we thought was the top of the hill!!!
Excellent view, tho.
As we went on, the trail did not go downwards. It climbed a bit more. This was a pic of an interesting warped looking tree root.
Ah... finally, we reached the "real" top of the hill! Altho it's only 344 metres (measely compared to the nearly 4,000 metres of Mount Kinabalu which I did last year), it was a pretty tough hike!
The view from the top. One of the peaks is the Tahan Mount, the highest peak in Peninsular Malaysia.
Going down by the other side of the hill was tough. We were glad that we were going down and not coming up by that way cuz it was much steeper.
It was challenging and fun at the same time for me. I really enjoyed it. We were truly inside a very dense jungle – and it felt good! I always enjoy being in the jungle. Although there were a lot of small wasps like creatures which ensured that we did not always stop for long.
There was one point of time when the path forked. I made the call to take the right path. It proved correct cuz I could see fresh trail marks left by another trekker. But then it forked again. I always kept this simple rule – stick to right all the time so as not to get confused if the path leads to a dead end. After a while, the path almost disappeared and it did get a lil scary. But thank God it was the right way.
There was one point of time when the path forked. I made the call to take the right path. It proved correct cuz I could see fresh trail marks left by another trekker. But then it forked again. I always kept this simple rule – stick to right all the time so as not to get confused if the path leads to a dead end. After a while, the path almost disappeared and it did get a lil scary. But thank God it was the right way.
It led us to a signpost!
Altho being 2 km away from the main resort at Kuala Tahan and inside the dense jungle, we still had network service!!!! Cheers to Maxis (Celcom too! Digi? Dream on!!!!).
It led to a swimming area – where I did go in in me briefs!!!! But not for long as there were many boats passing that area!!! But the cold water was simply refreshing!
There were lots of lil fishes swimming in the cool clear water!
Redwood forest?
Look at the size of that tree root! Was half expecting to see some ewoks around...
Instead, we had "close encounters" with some wild boars, a snake, some monkeys and birds! The wild boar encounter was scary. As I was trekking along, I heard some movement in the brush nearby. I looked to me right and there they were, 2 big adult size boars, just a couple of metres away!!! The boar eye-balled me and and I quietly and meekly looked away and walked on!
After a few steps, we decided to try to take a pic. so we sneaked back as quietly as we could... until the boar snorted loudly and we both turned and ran for our dear lives!!!!
After a few steps, we decided to try to take a pic. so we sneaked back as quietly as we could... until the boar snorted loudly and we both turned and ran for our dear lives!!!!
When we got back to the resort, we checked out one of the hides overlooking a salt lake.
This is the view from the Tahan Hide. See the tiny lil salt lake in the small round flat patch in the middle?
Of course people only come here at nite to stake-out and wait for animals to come. Still, it ws nice to just sit there in the quiet and imagine the animals there drinking, quenching their thirst. The salt lake to them is prolly like 100 Plus to us!!!
After going back and having a good meal, we rested. Din do much that nite - it rained a little and we went to watch a short video presentation at the resort - good and informative! On the way way, we could hear the otters crying out by the river bank - and using me maglite, we could see them, first, their red coloured eyes, and then slowly, their shape!
Enough of excitement. We went to sleep - altho it took me a while to finally doze off.
After going back and having a good meal, we rested. Din do much that nite - it rained a little and we went to watch a short video presentation at the resort - good and informative! On the way way, we could hear the otters crying out by the river bank - and using me maglite, we could see them, first, their red coloured eyes, and then slowly, their shape!
Enough of excitement. We went to sleep - altho it took me a while to finally doze off.
# posted by imissw @ 1:57 pm 
