Weekend Getaway to Taman Negara

We made it! Upon arrival we checked in to our hostel, Reggae Mansion, had some chinese food for lunch and then promptly took Kerri to a clinic. Kerri had a pretty nasty ear infection and respiratory infection. The one positive is that she was able to see a doctor almost immediately, have an examination and about 6 different types of medications for about $30USD. After a relaxing evening we had dinner at the hostel restaurant then enjoyed a drink on the roof of the hostel with great views of the iconic Patronas Towers.

Struggle Cityyy at the Petronas Towers

Petronas Towers from the Gardens

Awesome jumping photo of Kerri!

The next morning we trekked into the city using the train system, which with three different lines (including different machines/tokens) is pretty confusing - but was worth it to eat delicious dim sum. We did some shopping then went across town to the Patronas towers and then we rode to the top of the KL tower to see some awesome views of the city.  

While high in the sky we were able to view an awesome thunder storm roll into the city. See pictures!

That night we went out for awesome sushi and drinks with our new lovely Aussie mate, Buela, who was luckily (for us at least!) placed in our dorm room. We went to a couple bars and did some dancing on Jin Bukit Bintang St. It was a good night!

The next morning we ran some errands, then went to two large shopping malls - including one 12 floors high. The day was pretty rainy but that evening we trekked a few blocks in the rain to Central Market, where we had hilarious/gross/outrageously ticklish fish "pedicures." We then walked through Chinatown where we had dinner and did some stall and barter shopping.

That night we got back to our hostel and packed for our weekend trip to Taman Negara National Park!

Taman Negara Boat Ride

At 830am we took a bumpy 4 hour bus ride to have lunch by the river before departing on a 3 hour boat trip to the park. We arrived at Momma Chop, a floating restaurant which would serve our meals and be the meeting point for the activities for the rest of the weekend. We checked into Liana hostel, a budget hostel up the hill, then went for dinner and departed across the river to the actual Teman Negara park for our night trek. Our knowledgeable guide, Alvin (or so we coined him as no one remembered his name), led us along a wooden path through the jungle magically spotting insects with his flashlight. We saw: an 8 inch long millipede, a fist sized tarantula (which actually is not really a tarantula - just looks like one - however is the most poisonous spider in Malaysia), a black scorpion, a cave centipede (similar and more terrifying version of house centipedes), an amazing spider creating its web that was about 2 inches big with a large "leaf" stuck to the back of his body for camouflage (we all agreed we had never seen anything like it before), multiple termite mounds, giant ant colony (each ant about 1/2-3/4in long), a few deer, some sleeping king fisher birds and a small green snake. Alexis was in nerd heaven. It was super cool! 

Huge Millipede!

Huntsman Spider

We woke up the next day and walked along a canopy tour and trekked up as small mountain on a long trail with some 1450 steps to outlook spot with a view of the Taman Negara forest. Tropical jungle is much different than what we are used too! After our morning excursion we took a brief nap then "shot the rapids" in small wooden boats (we got soaked), checked out the local village, Orang Asli, where we learned about the aborigines culture who are the only humans permitted to live and hunt in the park. There was a demonstration on the types of wood and plants they use to make a fire, how to make a blow dart, harvest and cultivate wood sap to make poison for the blow darts and how to shoot a blow dart! Malco and Laura did the best, clearly being naturals whereas Alexis, Kerri, Beula and Lucas need to hone their blow dart skills more. After our informative village trip we went for a refreshing swim in the river. 

Viewpoint Landscape at Taman Negara

Group Shot at Canopy Tour

Struggle Cityyy at Look Out

That evening we had a nice dinner then went on a 4x4 night safari ride. Although sitting on the top and back of a truck was pretty neat, the drive through a palm tree plantation was a little lack luster. We did however seen three leopard cats which was pretty cool - although their only relation to actual leopards is their shared markings, they are adorable!

Swimming in the Taman Negara River

Group Shot on one of the long boats

This morning we woke up and took a relaxing boat ride back to catch our bus back to KL! It was an incredible weekend, full of fun and adventure and incredibly refreshing to be out of a smog filled city. 

Upon returning to KL, Laura and Alexis attempted to go to the clinic (which was closed due to a national holiday) because over the weekend Laura's illness had turned to the worst. We asked our concierge who encouraged us to go to a private hospital about a half a mile away. We arrived, signed in, Laura was seen and treated immediately all for about $30USD. Not great that she's so sick, but the whole ordeal was impressively painless!

We plan to go to the Batu Caves and Kaanching waterfall tomorrow, and then on Wednesday, Malco and Lucas are back to Sydney and we are off to Phuket,Thailand!

Xoxo,

Alexis and Laura and Kerri