I wasn't sure what to expect from Taman Negara, except more jungle, and I was pretty used to that... I started to worry when I was (eventually) picked up in a minibus that had two couples - French and something else, both middle aged and no young-ish looking single people at all. Luckily when we transferred to the big coach I met Matt and Jamie, both Brummie, travelling separately so I had friends to talk to. The bus took us as far as Kuala Tembeling where we transferred to a long boat to take us the last 3 hours up into the National Park. The people running the boat put us in specific seats, so I wasn't with either Matt or Jamie, but a Romanian girl instead, who was nice enough and was currently studying for a masters in Paris. The boat was so comfortable though that I just dozed off, but there wasn't much to look at anyway so I didn't miss much! We arrived at the jetty in Kuala Taman to find a long strip of floating restaurants, a hill with a few houses and hostels on it and not a lot else! There village is on the edge of the park and there is only one resort inside the boundary which is very expensive! We had to just pay RM 1 to cross each time which didn't seem too bad for cheap accommodation. Jamie had booked an all inclusive package so Matt and I followed him to the hostel he was staying at and all shared a dorm. It was pretty basic and the bathrooms were really grotty, but for RM 10 (2 GBP) I couldn't complain. I smugly pulled out my mossie net I'd kept from PNG and hung it over my bunk. I shouldn't have been so smug though as I still got eaten alive when we went down for dinner at the floating restaurant despite being coated in 80% DEET! Jamie had a luxury dinner laid on for him, followed by a night hike, so Matt and I paid up and joined a 4WD night safari, which was pretty cool if a bit weird and involved the Malay guy at the front shining a massive torch into the trees to find animals. It started off pretty boring with only a wild pig and a few small birds, but it soon got bumpier and we saw some more wildlife. I was pretty sure the herd of cows were domestic, but there were a few "leopard cats" which are just small wild cats with spots and a snake of some description and some owls - these look very odd sitting on palm trees - kind of out of place. The guys were quite impressive picking up on eyes in the undergrowth, even deep in the jungle. Unfortunately, we didn't see any elephants or tigers, but I guess we weren't surprised, especially with all the noise and light we were emitting!

The following day we started off with a particularly bad breakfast at one of the restaurants - the sort where Matt's apple juice was literally an apple through a blender - pips and all! that went in the river... We then went across the river to do the canopy walk, which is supposed to be the longest canopy walkway in the world. We got to the Park reception, only to find I'd left my camera permit back at the hostel, doh! RM 2 later I was back, permit in hand and we were ready to go. It took quite a long time to find the start of the walk and I'm sure the markers were not telling us the correct distance! We finally found the start, still not entirely sure what it would be like and discovered we had to pay to do it. There wasn't really any other option once we'd got there so we headed up the steps. There were loads of precautions listed, like not standing within 5m of anyone else and no more than 4 per section which made us realise it was actually quite a big structure. It was massive! It was pretty cool walking amongst all the treetops and looking down through the rickety slats of the floor. At some points the walkway contained ladders so you were climbing higher on a slightly swaying ladder structure, not so fun! Eventually we reached the end and got our feet back on firm ground and then set off on another mini-trek to the summit of a small hill to get a view over the jungle. This again was misleading in distance and seemed to take a really long time! It didn't help that they'd tried to be helpful and put in steps on the steep hills, but each step was massive and mostly not attached at one side, so they'd flip up as you stood on them! We finally got to the top of the hill, got our view, then didn't know how to get back. We'd met a Danish girl called Camilla who was with two Chilean and Austrian guys and we decided we'd go back one way and they went the other. Our walk took ages and I was starting to wonder whether it was a good thing I'd brought my compass and whistle! We went via a river which was pretty scenic before finally trudging back into the resort, hot, sweaty and exhausted. Camilla and co beat us and had already had lunch! We had just been nibbling on our small mean mock jammy dodgers... We all went and had ice cream at one of the floating restaurants before hunting down the internet cafe (I was amazed they had one!).

Jamie had been absent all this time doing basically the same activities we'd done but with a guide, so we went and had dinner with Camilla and the guys at another of the floating restaurants. Camilla was leaving the following day to catch the jungle train up to the Perhentian Islands and I was considering doing the same. I was a bit disappointed with the Park, mainly as I'd wanted to get properly into it and felt I'd been skirting the outside. I think though it was just a bit disappointing after PNG. My main objective had been to climb Gunung Tahan, the tallest mountain in Taman Negara, but it seemed ridiculously complicated to organise and involved either a 9 day trek or a 4 day one from the other side that would probably take me 2 days to get to! Not a plan for someone on a time limit!

The following morning Camilla, Matt and I headed off early to the bus stop to catch the local bus down to Jerantut. The jungle train came through twice a day - 9.33 and about 12.30. If we caught the late one we'd not be able to get a boat to the islands that night, so we got the 7.30 bus to get us there in time for the early train - or so we thought. Unfortunately the local bus lived up to its reputation of being rubbish and after a horrible pause on a (not very) steep hill and an overwhelming smell of burning clutch we had to take a break - then a run up. It finally got to Jerantut, where a random Malay guy bundled us into his car to take us to the station - we arrived 3 minutes after the train left. This is a train that had come all the way from the south, the most rickety train ever, and still managed to be on time! So annoying!! Matt got a lift back to the bus depot to pay for one of the nice coaches up to Kuala Besut - as he only had 2 nights there so had to get there today. Camilla and I meanwhile shared a taxi with 2 Swiss girls and drove an hour to the next station to beat the train - and managed it! It wasn't quite what I'd expected, it smelt like a musty old coach where they used to allow smoking, was filled with cockroaches and the chairs were mostly broken. The conductor however was lovely and very attentive and friendly. We finally bought breakfast on the train - greasy noodles wrapped up in brown paper and a chocolate filled roll - and then settled back for a long,hot and sweaty 6 hour train ride up through some beautiful jungle scenery. Unfortunately, we still got there too late so we found a room in a grotty hostel in Kuala Besut and bought tickets for the morning boat to the Islands. We didn't have to look far for food as there was a big food market in the car park beneath our hostel containing loads of exciting (as well as loads of disgusting) looking sweets, besides the obvious curries and blue rice. It was not a very nice place though and after a quick diet coke by the water front we were happy to go to bed to speed up the time until we could leave for the Perhentians.