I was moving south to my happy place, Tamen Negara. I'll always remember the first time that I was there when I was told, 'this jungle is not like the rest, you'll never find another place like it'. I remember doing the old, smile and nod, thinking, you have not been everywhere and you're just trying to sell this place. I am well aware that I have not been everywhere but this jungle has now and I truly believe will forever have a special place in my heart. It has a hold of me, even when I want to leave the town, if I take that little boat across the river, my mind starts fantasizing about building a home in the trees and never leaving. Next trip to Malaysia I will have to make an effort to explore different entrances to the park.

So when I got there, I went back to see some friends, got a job at a guesthouse as the receptionist and selling tours, which was great, since I knew many of the trails and was in love with the place, it wasn't hard for me to genuinely sell tours and give advice on independent adventures. I even met a group of guys (met on my snorkeling trip with the sharks!), who after having a little bit of eagle whisky and a chat with some trekkers, well.. they decided they wanted to climb Gunung Tahan, the tallest peak on the Malay Peninsula, but… they were one person short to make it a 'good' deal. Lucky for me! Obviously all in! The guide books say it is for experience trekkers only, well, wrong, with no experience, no training, and honestly no skill, we packed our bags with food and supplies and that was it, our group of four set off for our 7 day-6 nights in the jungle. We left with our 2 guides, big smiles, enthusiasm, excitement and positive thinking. In the jungle that's what really matters. Long story short, it was hot and hard. The humidity in the jungle usually gets to me by my 4th hour of trekking. My days were on average 6-8 hours so when you got to base camp, setting up a tent, washing yourself, cooking and feeding yourself was a mental struggle. BUT, one thing…a VERY important thing I NEED to mention was the season we were in the middle of, BEE SEASON! Now, anyone who is reading this, should know me well enough to know how I tolerate these amazing creatures who pollinate my favourite foods and keep us from starving. However, this was ridiculous. I have never, ever, not even in my worst nightmares imagined such a thing. I did not know these type of bee parties happened anywhere in the world. Thousands! I must explain. The bees congregate when you stop during daylight hours. So I wasn't being chassed all day through the jungle, but lunch and the last few hours of daylight before you could sleep were an experience that I will never forget. Imagine trying to get into your bag to get that little 'Mr, Noodle' package that had you motivated for the last three hours and they (meaning over 100) are guarding the bag. It made me want to go on a hunger strike and stop bathing, however, bees are apparently are attracted to sweat, so bathing was a necessity for my physical and mental safety. I intensely entertained my guides as they watched me try to get into my bag. To make matters worse, I brought the magical soap that attracted MORE bees… They would attack me half naked in the river as I screeched and scream and they stung….again very entertaining for others. Picture were taken of boots, towels and t- s***s, it was right out of a fear factor scene when they put the pheromones on people and put the bees on them. I was never so happy to see darkness, when they went to sleep. But the buzzing sound woke you up at 530, the break of dawn, when they came back and got stuck in between the fly and the tent screen, smelling you…just waiting. Now that I have ranted, I must say, I am SO happy I had this experience. I have become quite an expert at getting bees out a tent with a cup (sometimes 3 at a time!), breathing at a normal rate when I hear that buzzing sound, I can have them crawl on my BARE sking, even 8 stings later, I might even say, I no longer have a phobia of bees. It was the ultimate test and deep in the jungle, you have no choice but to push, mind over matter. I said the trek was hard, and physically it was, sometimes all you wanted to do was collapse and take a few more breaths, scrap the bugs out of the still puddle and take a handful of water to sip and moisten your mouth (which I did), but overall the bee thing was the hardest and the ultimate challenge that I surpassed. So glad they didn't tell me about bee season until I was in there, because I would have never signed up….never. Anyway, after countless hills, 14 river crossings, battle with the bees, cold wet nights with four people in a three man Asian tent, we made it. Only one day late since one of the rivers was too high to cross and we had to wait an extra day for the water level to go down. I must say, the river crossings was my number two challenge, my little legs could barley keep my body standing with the current, let alone walk across the river with my pack. Step by step, pack waist belt unbuckled, I kinda made it… with some help and some swimming involved. The 'wall', waking up with the coulds beneath you,the stuggles and the sunsets were all breathtaking. We didn't see any big animals, just started smelling like them a little more everyday. What a great time and a great friendly group of people to have done it with. I am so lucky.

Coming back to civilization, if that's what you can call the small town of Kuala Tahan, was difficult. People, motorbikes and small shops in stead on trees, animal and rivers. My fix needed just a little something to top it off. I was so lucky that one of the guys from the group felt the same way. So we set off the next day for one last night in the jungle. It was a quite trek, like I always have on my own, but with another person who appreciated the same little things this place had to offer. For this reason, I believe, the jungle gave us a little something extra. We saw a Raffelsia flower (which our guide told us a location for), and explored one of my favourite places, Lata B. On the trails we saw a giant spider, an unidentified snake that just bit a frog which we got to see slither away as the frog was trying to move but was paralysed…scary, an insect that looked like it came from the Tetris game and a very stage umbrella…that may have saved our lives, ask if you want an explanation. That night we slept on an abandoned slate of bamboo, open air, with no supplies, after being in the jungle for the week before, we didn't care. We got back to the GH, in rough shape. My feet, trenched… two days later, I had elephant feet, crawling on my knees, just waiting for mass infection. Lucky, it only took a week to resolve. The rest of my jungle wounds…a little longer. We have a love and hate relationship the jungle and I. It's nice to see nature fights back in such a time on our planet. It hurts, but I respect. Strange goodbyes and off for a different world. The Perhentian islands, take two!