Posted from Jerantut, Pahang, Malaysia.

13-05-2011
We are currently on a 5 hr train journey from Jurantut to Kotah Baru which is at the top of Malaysia. We just came from the Malaysian jungle- Taman Negara, which we really didn’t get enough time at . We spend a day and a half wondering through incredibly hot and humid jungle tracks.

We spend the first morning doing a 3.7 km walk through the jungle, to the biggest canopy walk in the world with leeches and mosquitos as our constant companions, but we had to deal with very little compared to the people that camped out for the night in the jungle. We didn’t feel that our kids were quite up for a night under the stars in the jungle, knowing what animals would be lurking in the dark, but I’m putting this one down as a place to return to in the future.
We had lunch in one of the floating restaurants and then hopped onto a boat to head up the river which had been rising for the last day, due to high rainfall. We visited the local Orang Ali people, aborigines that came from south Africa a long time ago to Malaysia, that now live along the river bank, pretty much doing as they please. They live in very simple huts made out of palm leaves and they mostly live of the jungle and as modern time has it, yes of course the shop down the river as well.
Our Guide mentioned that this tribe is not modern yet since they have still not found a religion. They only believe in the trees and the land around them. Hmmm !!
We all learned how to make fire as well as shoot poison darts, our kids were amazing at it especially Ayesha. Somehow I felt strange being in these peoples space, watching them like I would watch animals in a Zoo. After that we went down rapids in the long boat, yeah what fun that was for the kids. Note to self: when you get somewhere and your kids look at you funny like “what are we doing here Mum” break the ice by doing something that rocks their little world and then everything will seem ok.
We stayed in a very basic dorm room which only cost us 10 ringets per person. Lucky we bought our own mosquito nets, a must for the jungle, dwellings are not bug prove.
It’s amazing seeing all these simple villages in the jungle with very happy and relaxed people. Life seems simple but good. Tomorrow we are heading to the Perantian Islands for some beach and snorkel time.