Back to Nature
What a better way to get back to nature than to hike for days into the rainforest and then to throw aside all human possessions and veils, like clothes and camping gear, (but not the camera! the camera is a part of me...) and run wild through the rain, through the leaves and the river until... Until a group of locals walks through that seemingly secluded spot we've chosen, sending us scrambling for our raincoats, pulling them over our naked wet bodies, huddling next to the fire and mumbling something in Russian in answer to: "So... Can we join you?"
Taman Negara - the very inventively named National Par, (Taman meaning "Park" and Negara meaning "National") was the first of our two stops in Malaysia. We really just dropped in for a few days because our Indonesian visa was expiring and we had leave and re-enter Indonesia to get another month long visa. Malaysia turned out to be a very developed and clean country where even truck drivers in remote places speak English, and hitchhiking in dirty trousers is simply embarrassing. Taman Negara didn't make my trousers any cleaner, especially after crawling on all four in a bat cave at the end of a four day hike.
This wasn't an easy hike. The path we took was along one of the two big river streams. Smaller brooks kept snaking through the path, looking to join the main flow, sending us rolling down and climbing up every few steps. I was pleasantly surprised of the perseverance of my travel mates. For this leg we've reunited with masha_kvashonka, and were also joined by her friend dreidrenator, and dreidrenator's boyfriend. Long legs or short, plenty of hiking experience or not - everybody kept up, never gave up, and never made themselves a burden to the others never mind the sweat, blood, or the bruises. In fact, the only ones who gave up were my fancy-shmancy Teva hiking sandals who ate some mud, got scared, and dropped their soles on the first day of the hike. I went on in my flip-flops and socks which was especially charming as I also managed to burn through the socks that evening while trying to dry them by the campfire. If this wasn't fun enough, hungry leaches bit into our legs and feet, spat out the 100% DEET we've been counting on for protection, and bit again leaving behind itchy wounds that wouldn't stop bleeding until the anticoagulant the buggers left behind wore off.
us in the rain and campfire smoke
Taman Negara NP Gallery
Taman Negara - the very inventively named National Par, (Taman meaning "Park" and Negara meaning "National") was the first of our two stops in Malaysia. We really just dropped in for a few days because our Indonesian visa was expiring and we had leave and re-enter Indonesia to get another month long visa. Malaysia turned out to be a very developed and clean country where even truck drivers in remote places speak English, and hitchhiking in dirty trousers is simply embarrassing. Taman Negara didn't make my trousers any cleaner, especially after crawling on all four in a bat cave at the end of a four day hike.
This wasn't an easy hike. The path we took was along one of the two big river streams. Smaller brooks kept snaking through the path, looking to join the main flow, sending us rolling down and climbing up every few steps. I was pleasantly surprised of the perseverance of my travel mates. For this leg we've reunited with masha_kvashonka, and were also joined by her friend dreidrenator, and dreidrenator's boyfriend. Long legs or short, plenty of hiking experience or not - everybody kept up, never gave up, and never made themselves a burden to the others never mind the sweat, blood, or the bruises. In fact, the only ones who gave up were my fancy-shmancy Teva hiking sandals who ate some mud, got scared, and dropped their soles on the first day of the hike. I went on in my flip-flops and socks which was especially charming as I also managed to burn through the socks that evening while trying to dry them by the campfire. If this wasn't fun enough, hungry leaches bit into our legs and feet, spat out the 100% DEET we've been counting on for protection, and bit again leaving behind itchy wounds that wouldn't stop bleeding until the anticoagulant the buggers left behind wore off.
us in the rain and campfire smoke
Taman Negara NP Gallery