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Back from Taman Negara
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Back in Singapore!! Ha!
On the whole, the trip was quite a learning experience for my kids. They had the chance to experience how different life can be in a different environment and how the basic living conditions that we have here in Singapore are far more than what we actually require to get by.
The journey to Taman Negara started way off track. We nearly gave up on the whole trip and head back to Singapore! Let me give a re-cap of the whole trip.
WARNING!! This is potentially a very long read!
01 June 2006 - Getting to Taman Negara
We arrived at the train station in Johor Bahru (JB) before 1956hrs (our scheduled train departure time). Upon reaching the station, we approached the ticket usher and asked if our train was on time. We were told that the train would be delayed by half an hour. So we waited. About 15 minutes later, I approached the usher again. This time, he told me that the train would arrive in approximately 10 minutes. And so we waited again.
About 15 minutes later, a train stopped by the station. I approached the usher and was told that that was not the train for us. I showed him my tickets again and he took a look before repeating that it was not the train. By now, it was almost 2100hrs. After the train left, we decided to approach an immigration officer for help. Guess what?!? He told us that our train was the one that left the station a while ago!! Aarrggghhh!
He directed us to the Station Master's office where we found out that the usher had screwed up our schedule because he 'thought' that ours was a different train. He 'saw' wrongly. What the fuck!!! There was nothing the Station Master could do but offer to give us free tickets to Gemas where we were supposed to find our way to Taman Negara ourselves, or to refund to us the full price of the tickets we'd bought. Since this was not originally planned, we decided to go for the refund. We got back the money for tickets for both directions since we were not sure whether we wanted to continue or to turn back to Singapore.
Angry and disappointed, we left the station and started discussing the possibilities we had. Finally, we decided to catch a coach from JB to Kuala Lumpur (KL) where we would take another transport to Jerantut. Bus schedule at Jerantut
This roundabout took us 5 hours just to get to KL (at RM180.00) and another 3 hours by taxi (at RM600.00!!!) to Jerantut town. Yes, the taxi driver agreed to take all 8 of us in his car. Nice chap but I still feel we kena 'chop' by him... RM600...walau! Fucking KTM usher screwed our budget! Anyway, we arrived at Jerantut earlier than expected and had some breakfast before taking a local cheap bus service to Taman Negara at RM6.00 (notice the decimal place? Ha!) each.
02 June 2006- Janet hurt her ankle
Ouch!
- Rapid shooting - (RM120-RM180)
We get into a boat, sitting in pairs, and go shooting the rapids! Rapid shooting is basically taking a boat ride against the currents and of course, the boatmen will always look for the wildest waves and swirls to hit so as to produce the most amount of splash on the passengers!
All of us got wet and as we found out, the ones sitting nearer the back of the boat get the most of the splashes.
- Night Safari in the Oil Palm Plantations (RM120-RM150)
We had luck enough to see quite a handful of animals. We saw a few domestic cats, 1 big toad, 1 barn owl, a few x Tailor birds, 1 x Magpie Robin, 1 x Kingfisher, 1 x Tree Frog, 2 x Leopard Cats, 1 x Paradise Tree Snake and 1 x Wild Boar. We had no chance to see any Civet cats though.
03 June 2006- Trek to Bukit Teresek
 Hot at the top!
Oh, the place was also full of honey bees and other flying insects. Keep your mouths closed! You don't want to get insects crawling in your mouths do you? Hee!
- Canopy Walkway
 Canopy Walkway
They kept getting close to our group, swinging and jumping on the walkway, and making it swing like mad!!!
Geez! I swear I could have killed them there and then if they made me lose my balance and drop my camera!!
- Gua Telinga (Ear Cave)
 Gua Telinga (Ear Cave)
Anna had to wait outside with Chu Tuang as the little boy was sleeping. Lucky for her!
Edit: Added new pictures to Flickr.com album.
 
Bats in the cave, Janet and Valerie making their way through the cave
It was difficult right from the start as this was not a cave where you can just 'walk' in to. You have to crawl you way in! The inner parts of the cave was also pretty small with jutting rocks here and there. Claustrophobic people please do not attempt!
There were lots of bats in the cave and YES!!! I have finally had a chance at my guano!!! Woohoo! Heeheehee! In the cave, I accidentally pressed on a snake and it quickly got itself away from me. Good for me! Ha!
04 June 2006- Trek to Lubok Simpon
 Valerie and Lucas having fun in
the river.
The river bed is generally full of pebbles here and you will get the occassional tour boat going past. Although the current here is a little bit on the strong side, it is still pretty safe for the kids. Just keep an eye out for them.
- Check out of resort and start back to Singapore
Bye bye, Taman Negara!
More pictures of this trip are available at my Flickr album.
fugs http://fugs.blogspot.com
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moe at 6/06/2006 02:34:00 PM
