#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Malaysia Forum >  >  Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia october 2007

## terry57

Continuing on from the Perhintians Islands we will now head down to the Taman Negara National Park which is peninsular Malaysia's greatest National Park and covers 4343 sq klm.

We left Kota Baru at 6.30 am on the train arriving in Jerantut at 1300.

Jerantut is the nearest town on the way to the park and it is from here that one takes a 3 hour journey down the river into the park .

I'll show you a few photos of Jerantut as it was a brilliant little town full of friendly locals and great food.

Because it was a mixture of Muslim, Chinese and Malay there was a nice mix and feel to the place. 

Enjoy.

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## terry57



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## terry57

The yellow building is called the " Hotel Sri Emas ", is the main travel agent in town and also has accommodation. They send a tout to the train station and the dude takes you here.  They arrange permits and anything else you will need to get to the park, its Chinese owned very efficient ,friendly and highly recommended.

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## terry57



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## terry57

Being a lover of Asian food I spotted this restaurant opposite the train station and just had to go in and see what they had.

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## terry57



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## terry57

To our delight and complete surprise the dude started bringing out Dim Sum.  
We just chowed down and went hard on these delicacies as it was the first time we had en counted this and at 1.50 ringit per piece it was a give away.
As you can see the quality of this food was awesome.  :Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

:Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57

We are now leaving Jerantut for a 45 minute bus ride to Kuala Tembeling.
This is where we meet the boat for the 3 hour ride down river deep into the national park and is quite an adventure.

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## terry57

As you can see this is no pissy little river but a major artery flowing throw the Rain Forrest and in the wet season is a raging torrent flooding much of the Forrest.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

:Smile:

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## terry57

I'll be back tomorrow to post the rest.  :Smile:

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## terry57

The river becomes shallow towards the end of the dry season allowing trees and other debris to accumulate.  The boat men ply this river twice a day and are mostly aware of the traps but a few boats have come to grief.

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## terry57



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## terry57

This photo gives you a good idea of just how shallow the river becomes at this time of the year but come monsoon season its another story.
They had a rise in the river of 74 meters in one particularly bad year and you will see the figures in future photos.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

This photo was taken from the other side of the river and gives you an idea of the amount of floating restaurants and shops.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

You can stay within the park but we decided to stay on the outside as the accommodation was much cheaper.

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## terry57



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## terry57

The jungle here is claimed to be the oldest in the world, having existed  largely as it is for the past 130 million years. We traveled 60 klm's in the boat  and approx 40,000 people manage to get here each year.

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## terry57



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## mrsquirrel

Bloody hell it's changed a lot.

When I stayed there 5 years ago there were a few concrete communual huts and that was about it. Spent two weeks there.

Hung out with a slightly mad Malay guy spent our days trekking or fishing. Spent a few nights with som Batek tribal sorts a few Km's ups tream away from the tourists.

Got dengue there as well.

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## terry57

I am standing at the 74 meter mark at which the river peaked. Its quite unbelievable that it reached this height and I imagine that at some time in the future it will happen again. A very good reason to stay well away in the monsoon season.

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## terry57

Soon as you climb the stairs you will see this restaurant and you can see that within the park things are very well organized for the paying punter. If you are prepared to shell out the coin you could have a very comfortable time here and considering the weakness of the Malaysian Ringit its very affordable.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

Depending on your levels of fitness and enthusiasm you can make your choice of what you would like to do. You can just do day walks or walks that last 8 days to the highest peak staying at night with the local aborigines but you must like mosquitoes, leeches and wild animals. Ourselves chose to do the canopy walk which was a round trip of about 4 hours.  :Smile:

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## terry57

The canopy walk is a suspended walkway located in between an ancient stand of trees. The walkway is suspended at 45 meters on trees that are 90 meters high and 400 years old. The following pictures document our walk there and back and it was approx 1 hour each way.

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## terry57

The first part of the walk is on raised platforms as the ground is impassable  and the rains have not even started yet.

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

:Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

:Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57



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## terry57

:Smile:

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## terry57



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## terry57

That is the end of my trip through Malaysia and we then jumped a train for a 12 hour ride back to Singapore from Jerantut.

I highly recommend Malaysia for its friendly people, value for money, exciting and beautiful destinations, great food and not to forget its sensational   "Special Brew " beer. 

Do yourself a favor and give it a try.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures. 

cheers.

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## mrsquirrel

It's a fucking resort now.

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## Vimes

Excellent pictures Terry, although I do enjoy a laugh at your attacks on the others members, this is where you shine.

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