Last semester, I went with the NTU staff recreation club to Taman Negara National Park in Malaysia. The park contains a rainforest dating back over 130 million years. It is divided by rivers and contains tigers, elephants, many monkeys, and lots of monitor lizards.
The trip was as interesting as the destination. We boarded the train at the station in Tanjong Pagar. Though the station is in Singapore, the station itself is actually part of Malaysia. Ditto for the train tracks. In what other country does the railway belong to another country? Therefore you go through immigration at the station, and are in Malaysia as long as you are on the train, though you are travelling through Singapore! The train reaches the Singapore/Malaysia border at Woodlands. There, we got off the train and went through Singapore immigration (to leave the country) and once more on the Malaysian side (to enter Malaysia). Confusing? Yes!
The train is an older diesel locomotive, with airplane type seats and a dining car, and grody toilets. The train stops at practically every small town along the tracks. We reached our final stop, Jerantut, at 1 am, after 8 hours of travel, and were taken to a hotel for the night. The next morning, we took a bus to the Park entrance.
We stayed at the Mutiara resort. It’s a luxurious (to me) resort located right at the edge of the park, actually just inside. Among the funny quirks are that you cannot buy alchohol outside the park, being part of the state of Pahang, which is “dry” Malaysia. But you can buy inside the park. I guess that’s because the park is national rather than state territory.
You might think that a tropical rainforest is hot, humid, and full of mosquitoes. Actually, it is not. It is cooler than in Singapore, being in the shade. It is humid for sure, but not oppresively so. The bugs were not a problem. I was not bitten once in the whole trip. I think that’s because the rivers flow fast through the park, and the birds and other critters keep the mozzie population down.
The best part of the trip was the boat ride up the Tahan river. The huge trees shade the river, and the water is cool and clear. The guides make sure you get wet by using their paddles to spray up water.
Long boat, of the type I went on in Taman Negara
I did have a minor medical emergency on the trip. I slipped and fell at the entrance to the Gua Telinga cave, and had to go the Klinik for stitches. Fortunately, Malaysian clinics are good and very cheap. I came home with 4 stitches on my leg as a kind of souvenier.
Taman Negara is “awesome” according to the Lonely Planet guide to SE Asia. I agree. Here are some pictures.
On the Tahan river
River bank near swimming hole, Tahan River
Rapids near swimming hole
