Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

New Years Day was our big hiking day. This was the day I had lookef forward to more than anything. We met the guide, took a little boat taxi across the river (50 Malaysian ringit, ≈$0.14, ≈¥14 per person), and got some permits (≈10 Malaysian ringit, ≈$2.78, ≈¥278 for both of us). Our guide told us about the medicinal qualities of various trees, the habits of some of the animals, and various other interesting things about the jungle. We were walking a very well travelled trail. I think all tourists who come to Teman Negara walk this trail. He knew it well. At steeper inclines, they had build stairs. The jungle was very, very wild, but the trail was a clear indicator of the presence of lots of humans in the jungle.

Finally, we arrived at the park's main attraction, the canopy walkway. It is a big rope-and-cable walkway that takes you around the treetops for a special perspective on the jungle. I guess they call it a "canopy" walkway because the treetops make something of a roof for the jungle, so you might call the collective treetops a "canopy". The walkway was carefully managed. They spaced out the groups, so you wouldn't get crowds forming up there. One group of 2 or 3 could go every 5 minutes or so. And, they had strict rules. 5 or 10 meters (15 or 30 feet) between people on the bridge, so as not to put strain on the bridge. No bouncing, running, or jumping (pretty obvious). At the highest point, the walkway is about 350 meters (≈1138 feet) above the ground. Yikes. The fee was 5 Malaysian ringit (≈$1.39, ≈¥139) per person. The guide stayed behind and met us at the other end.

The walkway itself. It is very well made and well maintained. Despite the height and lack of rigid structure, we felt safe and reasonably comfortable up there. Surprisingly comfortable, given the scenario. There was netting around the sides and bottom, to catch you if you slip. The ropes were all attached to very sturdy metal cable that attached to the trees. And, the two sides were rigged seperately, so if one failed, you could hang on to the other. It was really well done. And, it was nicely engineered so it didn't sway much.

A short video taken from the walkway. Gives you an idea of the height and atmosphere when you are up on the walkway. (10.0 MB)

All over the area, we saw these giant ants. I think they were about 3/4 of an inch long. The guide says they can't hurt you, but they will draw blood if they bite you. (Doesn't drawing blood count as "hurting"?)

After the walkway, we did a little more trail walking. This was the very well travelled trail that every family of 12 walks when they come to Teman Negara. It was a fine trail and the jungle around it was as wild and unbridled as any jungle anywhere, but somehow it seemed a little too, I don't know, pre-packaged for my tastes. But, everything was awfully beatiful everywhere we went anywhere in Teman Negara.

One of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. I should say that this tree is actually quite a bit bigger than it looks in this picture. It has huge roots that stretch, above ground, several meeters beyond the trunk. There were many very impressive trees in the jungle. In the summer, a certain species of bees lives in this kind of tree.

After the standard trail walk, the guide seemed perfectly content to drop us off at the hotel so we could enjoy our piña coladas and he could go watch TV or whatever. But, the reason we hired a guide was to have a nice long hike. So, at our request, he took us on another trail. The second trail was much more wild and treacherous than the first. The trail was blocked in many cases. We had to scramble up and down steep inclines, climb over trees, crawl through brush, and get around big patches of mud. I liked this a lot better.

Throughout the day, there were lots and lots of leeches. They'd stand on end in the mud, on roots, or low plants, hoping to catch onto whatever moved past. Akemi and I sprayed ourselves liberally with bug spray to prevent malaria mosquitos (very, very rare in Teman Negara, according to several separate sources) and to prevent leeches. I sprayed tons of the stuff on my socks, pantlegs, and shoes. It worked. I got no leeches the whole day. Akemi got one, and it was pretty messy. After it let go, lots of blood poured into her shoes. Not as bad as a gunshot wound, but pretty bad. You see, leeches have a chemical in their mouths that inhibits blood clotting. So, it just keeps flowing after they let go. A week after the hike, it still itched. Leeches suck. Akemi had one. The guide was continually pulling leeches out of his shoes all day. He'd pull 2, 3, or 4 out at a time. I don't know why, but I never saw any blood. Maybe he had the special leech proof socks. More likely, I think he was just really good at catching them at the right time before they got started. I don't know. The guy refused to use any bug spray. I offered mine several times throughout the day, but he declined each time.

We did have to negotiate with the guide a bit around 2:00 PM. After finishing the second trail hike, he wanted to go home. It was raining a little. I got the feeling he is used to going out with older people or people with kids, who don't have the stamina for a whole day. It took a little convincing, but we did get to do one more trail. I was willing to pay more money if necessary, but he didn't accept. It would be truly dangerous to go into the jungle alone. The jungle has many wild animals (tigers, elephants, cobras, boa constrictors, monkeys, huge wild boar. to name a few). These things are fine in a zoo, but they can be deadly in person. The guide has experience with these things. We don't. We got back around 6:00 PM. We enjoyed a full 8 hours of hiking, which was what I had in mind from the start. It was good.

By the way, as far as animal sightings are concerned, we saw a big monkey and heard other monkeys. We were also very close to a very large wild boar with footsteps about the size of my (big) hands. He snorted and gave us a bit of a scare. But, we never saw him. I guess that's why the guide doesn't like long hikes. Long hikes mean greater exposure to risk. Later in the trip, in Melaka, we saw a cobra in the wild.

After a long shower to wash off the thick coating of caked on sweat and mud, we slept very soundly. It's notable that I had to throw away my pants from the day. They were too muddy to ever salvage.

Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

1/1/2005, Malaysia trip day 6: Teman Negara Jungle - hiking