Taman Negara

We took advantage of our 4 day Chinese New Year weekend and headed to Taman Negara with Chris and Cindy. The Malaysians claim that Taman Negara is the oldest rain forest in the world. At 130 million years old, it has not been effected by either Ice Ages or geological upheavals. It was established as a park in 1937 and is Malaysia's oldest and most prestigious national park. The name Taman Negara, in fact, translates as 'national park'. We spent two days in the park.
On the first day we traveled up river in a boat to some water falls. The jungle is absolutely amazing. It is so lush and green. We kept our eyes peeled for tigers and elephants but only saw monkeys and a variety of birds. We did see elephant tracks indicating where they bathe on the river. The boat had to stop a little ways from the falls or cascade. We worked up enough of a sweat to jump in the river. The water was cool enough to be invigorating and we actually spent quite a long time enjoying the swim.
Sunday was Maureen's birthday. We hiked to the beginning of the canopy walk. We were a little surprised to find out that we had about an hour wait to up to the canopy. It was a long weekend and as a result very busy. The wait though was definitely worth it. The canopy walkway is the longest in the world at over 600 meters. At its highest point you are 45 meters off the floor of the jungle. The view of the vegetation is incredible. It really demonstrates what a carbon sink the rain forests are.
After our canopy walk we decided (mainly my idea I think) to get away from the crowds and head off down a less traveled trail to a hilltop a few kilometers away. Walking in a tropical rain forest is quite a bit different from hiking Pulpit Rock back home. The roots of the giant trees, like the pelong, kedondong, and mersawa, are so close to the surface that avoiding tripping over them is a real challenge. Once we left the main trail the secondary trail was much more difficult to follow. Vegetation grows so fast, it is hard for the park staff to keep the trails maintained although with the markers on the tree and the fact we were following the river made this task not too difficult. The biggest problem were the leeches. We had read all about the jungle leeches in our Lonely Planet book and in other places but really had no idea what the reality of them was like. It had been raining for a few days after a dry spell and they were as active as they can be. Most are little tiny beasts about the diameter of a toothpick and 1 and 1/2 inches long. As soon as we stopped they attacked. They would head for your shoes in inchworm fashion at blinding speeds (well kind of fast). They would then crawl up the shoes and bury themselves in your socks. Maureen and I had our BC wool hiking socks and they were able to dig through these really fast. It took us a while to realize what was happening and by the time we did we were thoroughly leeched. I'm not sure if this was the kind of birthday adventure Maureen wanted or imagined. We hiked for a couple a kilometers before it started to rain (it rains a lot in a rain forest we found out). The leeches and the rain turned us back but not before we had some great views of the rain forest and had come upon an abandoned Orang Asli settlement. Next time we head into the jungle we'll be a little better prepared for the beggars with leech proof socks. These socks have a very dense weave they apparently can't get through.
The village that borders the park is situated on the river. You do have to catch a boat and cross the river to access the park. The village has many floating restaurants and that evening we found one. I'm always amazed the chefs/cooks here tend to prepare one plate at a time and so the dinners come out in stages. We used to think we had to wait for one another before we ate but we have given up on that and so meals are a rather staggered affair. The first person served will often finish their meal before the last person is served.
We retreated to our hotel (Rainforest Lodge) after dinner. A number of families, whose children attend our school, were there. Once they found out it was Maureen's birthday all the little primary children gathered round and sang her 'Happy Birthday'. I don't imagine that ever happened in high school. One of the moms had even brought some cake which she shared with us. This got me off the hook somewhat.


The roots actually served as steps on inclines. The trails were criss-crossed them.



The river boats did not draw a lot of water. It was amazing to see how much the river fluctuated from the rainy season, which is just waning, to now. The high water mark was clearly visible about 3 meters above the level it was this weekend. We could even notice a rise of about 1 foot during the rains that occurred while we were there.

We did spend a fair bit of time waiting out the rain. When it came down, it came down in torrents. So we took to playing cards and drinking bad coffee.

On the way home we stopped at a local market and ended up buying quite a few things. Daily necessities mainly, as they are much cheaper than in the city. We haven't gotten to buying meat in these markets yet. There are always so many fish which don't look too bad. The smell however can be a little overwhelming.

Laos

Laos was so different from Bali. It also is a beautiful country with lovely people. Visiting both countries in succession really does demonstrate how geography, location, natural resources, history, etc. affects the development and culture of a country. Both countries really are special in their own way.
We followed the main tourist route in Laos. We flew into the capital,Vientiane where we spent a couple of days, bussed to Vang Vieng for a few more and then finished off our visit at Luang Prabang. The highlight of it all, I suppose, was a two day trek we took out of Luang Prabang into the mountains where we visited some hill tribe villages.
Again there is so much to describe and share that I'll stick with one thing, the trek. We booked our trip through Fair Trek. If anyone plans to visit Laos I would suggest you book adventures either through them or Green Discovery, both are local Laos companies and a significant portion of fees supports the villages the companies lead clients through. Our trip started with a long tail boat ride up the Nam(River) Khan. We started off with a guide and the three of us but were joined along the way by 7 others, couples from New Zealand, Holland, and England as well a lawyer from Paris. And again Maureen and I increased the mean age considerably.
Once we crossed the river, we hiked through rice paddies and teak plantations to the first village about 45 minutes into our hike. We began our climb after this. Our trip began winding up through a steep little valley that eventually widened out into magnificant vistas.. The climb was not too difficult although the descent later on in the day posed some difficulty for Maureen's knee. The views were simply incredible.

Our hike took us past a couple of villages. Each time we would be greeted by lots of little children smiling and giving us the 'high five'. The women would be busy working either, cooking, weaving, processing rice, or dealing with the children. Men were rarely seen. Occasionally we would see one with a rifle or crossbow heading into the bush. We once asked why we didn't see or hear any birds or animals on our trip. I think hunting explains why. This is their dry season so the rice fields were empty and it is their 'holiday' period.
We arrived at the village where we were to stay the night, 6 hours into our hike. There are about 35 families in the village. The homes are made from woven reeds, thatch roofs, and bamboo poles. Old age does have its advantages as Maureen and I were hosted by the chief of the village. A few of the villagers have set up 'guest houses' for the trekkers that pass through, the chief had the nicest ones. The guest houses are as primitive as the villagers own homes but comfortable enough. The toilets are outside and are the squat type with a bucket of water and scoop flush. Bathing is a public event, communal, at the shared water fountain. The beds are raised off the floor and protected with mosquito netting. Maureen found ours quite hard although I didn't really notice. We had comforters for bedding, next time we will bring along sleeping bag liners.
The village seemed to have a high proportion of children. Our guide told us that it was not uncommon for a family to have up to 10 children. I imagine the mortality rate is quite high. Those under 5 wondered around freely, either naked or only covered by a t-shirt. The women were all busy weaving thatch together for roofs or processing the rice. The older women all seemed to be chewing a red concoction of tobacco, roots, and other herbs. I'm sure from the look in their eyes there must be some kind of opiate in it. Every once in a while they would spit a red projectile off without warning and in any direction. The men seemed to mainly sit around keeping the fires going. There had been a wedding the night before and many were recovering from consuming Lao whiskey(home brew rice whiskey) or continuing the party. We were invited to join in on some of the circles. The whiskey is either shared with one glass or sucked up through a communal straw from a jug.
It was amazing how independent the children were, quite a contrast to over supervised and pampered children of the west. I woke up early in the morning and saw one little duffer (about 4 or 5) gather firewood and take a lighted stick from a neighbor's fire, walk the 100 meters to his fire and light it. His family stumbled out of their hut a half hour later or so to join him. Again he was dressed only in a t-shirt. I was bundled up in two layers of jackets. The village was quite high in the mountains and it really was cold at night and in the morning. On the other hand all the kids seemed to have runny noses and whoopy coughs.
Cole seemed to be a hit with the kids young and older in the village. He was usually surrounded the little ones and he spent his time giving them helicopter rides or playing a bean game with the wee ones. He, and by extension we, got invited to join an older group of youths socializing together. It was nightfall by this time and the only light was by candle and/or starlight. They were gathered in one of the villager's houses around a candle and a jug of Lao-Lao. One of the boys was playing a traditional flute type instrument. In order to court one another a girl would sing to a boy she was interested in speaking to and he would respond in song. There was an elder there supervising the whole event. The music, the singing, the candlelight, and even a bit of Lao-lao made it a magical event.
Our guest house on the right.


The setting for the village was stunning.


Maureen watching the women at work. We watched a girl about 10 years old smash the rice inside the hollow log shown here. They smash it with a stick (log) about 4 ft long and 6 inches in diameter to remove the husk from the rice. It looked she had been at it all day. We both tried a shift, it was hard work. Here the older women are inspecting to see if the rice is ready to sift.



Cole playing a bean game with some of the village kids.

This is a typical scene. The women were working on weaving thatch for roofs while the children roamed about. This particular women was weaving until dark and was back at it when I pulled myself out of bed at 6:30 in the morning.

On the second day we separated from the others and headed off for more hiking in the mountains. The others were heading down to the river where they were going elephant riding. Maureen was much more interested in joining them than staying with us but we managed to keep her from jumping ship. This first village was Khmer. On our second day we traveled a bit higher in the mountains and stopped by a Hmoung village. There isn't much difference in looks or activity but they do each have a unique language. The Khmers have been in Laos since the 14th century while the Hmoung are more recent immigrants from China. They fled persecution in China about 150 years ago. During the Vietnam War the Hmoung were recruited by the US to wage guerilla warfare on the North Vietnamese who were using Laos as a supply line for their soldiers in southern Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh trail. During this time eastern Laos became the most heavily bombed place on the planet. For nine years there were $2 million worth of bombs dropped on Laos each day. There are still many UEO's in Laos. (Unexploded ordinances) It was no surprise that after the Vietnam war the Lao turned to China and North Vietnam for support and became a communist country. Because the Hmoung supported the US they have become outcasts.
This is the Hmoung village. The women are working on stitching for blankets or some other craft to be sold in the night market at Luang Prabang. One big difference we noticed here was the children were fully clothed.
After visiting this village we had a long descent back down to the river. Once there we had another boat ride to some waterfalls for a swim. Maureen even got an elephant ride at this point.

The trek included many special moments. For example we came upon this woman heading down the hill with a full basket of firewood. She claimed she was 95 years old, she certainly looked it. After her short break we saw her stand up with the full load and then balance on each foot as she took her flip-flops off the other one to cross the stream.

Following are miscellaneous photos and comments of various other points of our trip to Laos.


Luang Prabang has many monasteries. Every dawn the monks and novices follow a route through the village to collect offerings of food from the villagers. This will consist of their only meal for the day. Some of the monks are very young, as young as 8 years old. The rest of their day is spent in meditation, study of Buddhist law, and maintanence of monastery or temple.


Sitting and watching the sunset was a highlight each day. Whether is was on the Nam Song in Vang Vieng as in the top photo or at a cafe on the Mekong in Vientiane(below) it became a favourite way to wind down at the end of the day with a Beer Lao.




Vang Vieng is kind of a wild west show. It is a backpackers hang out. One of the main attractions for young backpackers is to tube down the river. There are a number of stops along the river where one can take a rope swing out like Cole is here. (We made the stop on our kayak trip.) There are 'big' water slides into the river too. This all happens with consumption of copious amounts of beer and Vang Vieng's own rendition of the 'happy' shake, usually a concoction of alcohol, opium, metaphetamines, and anything else the bartender wishes to throw in. The whole scene was all a bit too much for Maureen and me.