Koh Tao --> Kuala Lumpur --> Rainforest trekking

Hi there blog...

By now I’m sure you’ve read Simone’s blog about the diving adventures in Koh Tao. So I’ll start where she left off. After finishing our diving course, half an hour later we had to take a 6.5 hour overnight ferry back to the mainland (Suratthani). At first look you would have thought that the ferry was designed for dwarfs as the ceiling was only 4 feet tall and there was little space between each mattress. On the plus side you got a mattress and we slept really well as the we only had 3 hours sleep that afternoon and no sleep the night before. We had a pretty nice crossing and thought it was ok, whereas some people were like, ‘oh I’ve never seen anything like it before’ and ‘how disgusting’, flammin’ snobbery. When speaking to them about it after, I kept adding to our conversation I thought the boat was pretty nice to put them in there place, then kept laughing to myself afterwards, Lol!

We arrived in Suratthani early the next morning (530AM), from here we took a minibus to Hat Yai (on the Thai/Malay border), on the way I got chatted up by a ladyboy when we stopped to get some snacks. I ended up buying around 20 bananas with some proper confusion over the price. I was so used to people in Thailand trying to rip me off, that I bought too many bananas (although I nearly paid for 80 with very little cost!!).

We arrived in Hat Yai just before lunch and got to take a luxurious sleep coach to KL (Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia). It was the best bus/coach I have ever taken, for sure! Free bottle of water, flavoured bread rolls, sweets, tissues, loads of leg space and funny/cheesy Thai martial art films.

After a pretty long journey we arrived in KL at just after midnight. We found the hostel I stayed in 4 years ago, still good as ever. There were no rooms available so we were told that we could wait till the morning and sleep on the sofa’s. So we thought yeah defo's free night accommodation. We woke feeling pretty tired but good as we had saved some money. That morning/ early evening we spent some time in the markets of KL mainly in Chinatown. There were loads of nice smells and some minging items being cooked, like these dry flat slabs of meat BBQ’ed, didn’t fancy them. So we got a beef ‘Kebabish’ they called it, not sure what the ‘ish’ meant but tasted nice (although did give a bit of dodgy tummy afterwards, not too worry about though)! In the late evening we visited the KL tower, we were told the best time was in the evening so you could see all the lights in KL, we got there early so we spent some time watching the monkeys jumping around the trees at the base of the tower. As around the bottom of the tower is the only rainforest left within a city around the world. The views from the top of the tower were breath taking.

The next day we woke up early to go to the twin towers (tallest twin towers in the world), get there early and the tickets to view the sky bridge (level 41/88) are free. After viewing some more awesome views of KL through the day this time, we walked back to near the hostel to catch a bus to just outside KL to see the Batu caves. Here we saw the tallest deity (Hindu figure) in Malaysia and there was a big hike up the 300 stairs to get to the caves themselves. After reaching the top there more funny monkeys playing around, chasing a dog and then being chased by the dog around one cave (hilarious). The other larger cave had a Hindu temple inside with detailed artwork. Was pretty cool, I must say. We took the bus back into town, had some lunch and walked back the KL tower where we had seen some other activities to do but were too late last time. This time around at the tower we went on a free 45min guided walk around the rainforest. Then both Simone and I went on the flying fox. This was only 3 quid each and was really cool. It was a serious of 4 aerial slides (zip line) starting at the base of the KL tower and going outward into the forest. Simone was a little scared at first but we both really enjoyed it! That evening we decided that we where going to go on a tour of the oldest rainforest in the world (Taman Negara-central Malaysia). We booked ourselves on to the tour for 50 quid each for 3 days 2 nights, which included everything!!

The next morning we woke up early and got a minibus (3hour journey) to Taman Negara national park. We arrived at 11am, had lunch and took a 2 hour ferry up river to get to the national park. The boat was really cool; it was fast, really low down to the water, not too uncomfortable and had amazing views of the rainforest as we flew up the river. When we got there we were briefed on the activities and made our way to the guesthouse where we were staying for the 2 nights. It was funny as they had all the sayings about life on boards everywhere, like ‘wanna be cool, drink H2O’ or ‘think outside the box’. Only problem, well not really a problem was the mosque right next door, which I knew would wake me up every morning. The place was really social, it had a great area for meeting, talking and playing games with new friends. The people we were with on the tour and others who came to do them own thing were really nice, friendly, quirky, a good laugh and some a little crazy. On the whole a really good time had by all. In the evening we went on a jungle walk looking for animals. We found a scorpion, massive spiders, loads of termites, some leeches, cool colouful birds, owls, deer, a slow lorris, huge stick insects and other massive insects; like crickets, sacara and grasshoppers, amongst other things. Possibly the best thing we saw was, we heard a grasshopper in the roof of a hut in the national park, so the guide and I investigated. We disturbed the insect it flew into us then into a light where an owl swooped down and gobbled it up. It then flew to a branch near by and sat there looking very smug after catching its late night snack. Brilliant!

The next day we woke up early (mosque preaching’s primarily), had brekkie and went up river into the national park. Here we went jungle trekking for the morning and walked over the largest canopy walkway in the world. The walkway consists of 10 walkways suspended between 20-50 metres high and 11 viewing platforms. You really get a feeling for the height of the rainforest and how each layer/level of the rainforest canopy is developed and interacts with the flora and fauna. Very cool, I must say. In the afternoon we went rapid shooting in a boat and visited a rainforest tribe. They taught us about the way of lie there along with how to make fire in under a minute with wood and kindling and how to make darts for the blow pipes they use to hunt tree animals. After we got a demonstration of how they hunt with the spear and blow darts. Also we all got a go with the blowpipe, twas awesome! After all this we went back to the hostel and learnt how to play American rummy (very good, better than the English version I have to admit) and had dinner. After dinner we went out on our own walk into the rainforest not the national park, but pretty jungley anyway with the crazy Dutch guy. Didn’t get to see the porcupines he had seen the night before, heard some growling noises in the bushes, no big animals but enjoyed it all the same. When we got back I realized that got bitten by a leech but didn’t feel it biting, just blood coming out of my foot and Stephan the crazy Dutch guy had one on his ribs, lol he didn’t care. We also caught a sacara, when you push their belly they make a funny noise, normally through the day they make a very loud siren noise, almost deafening. The next morning we had brekkie and left the national park (both sad to see leave). As we left, we got on so well with the tour guides that we got a present off them (really nice of them). We wished we had some more time to go deep into the jungle for some proper exploration of other animals that are there, we just didn’t see them this time. Another time, I’m sure, There are loads of animals to see here, including; tiger, black panther, elephants, leopards, wart hogs and loads more, but you have to go deep into the jungle where there are no noisy touristy tourists (the ones that get on coaches and don’t care about the animals, they just want to say they have been there). Oh well, next time hey...

Until the next blog, bloggers...
Take it easy and peace out
B-> xxx