Back from the jungle! After a few days in KL time to head north to the Malaysian jungle via Batu caves and the elephant sanctuary. Of course, when you book one of these 'all in' trips it means that you end up going to places not mentioned in the itinerary and that you don't want to see...so, quick stop at a pewter factory, a batik shop and a deer park. But I did have my own driver as there was no one else on the first part of the trip so he was happy to give me more time at the places I wanted to see and take me to a few extra places such as the Batu caves. These are amazing hindu temples and shrines built within the caves - which you have to climb 252 steps to get to!! As you climb, monkeys dash around and eat anything thrown their way!! The view from the entry of the caves is stunning and it was fantastic to wander around and see the various temples. At the bottom of the steps there is also the largest statue in the world.

At the elephant sanctuary we watched a video about the translocation of elephants from within Taman Negara - these elephants are mainly moved because they have been destroying privately owned plantations and so are moved to large areas of the jungle within Taman Negara. Once the video was over I, along with about 120 others, walked to the river to see about 8 elephants wash and bath along with their riders. Once freshened up it was time for feeding - which all the children did. Then time to queue for an elpehant - as there were so many people we all only got a quick turn lasting about 1 minute which was disappointing. Finally, for those who wanted to swim with the elephants, they could get on an elephant while it then lies doen in the water sending anyone on board splashing across the river! AS it was so hot and the queue was so long I gace that a miss. A great place but a bit chaotic and little actual time with the elephants..

Finally arrived at Kuala Tahan around 6.30pm - having left KL at 9am in the morning. My home for 2 nights was a basic chalet - but clean, quiet, had a bed, a toilet and a shower! Luxury in the jungle! Dinner was on a floating restaurant on the river and then off for a night junlge walk. Mainly saw lots of insects - from giant millipedes and spiders to geckos and scorpions. And a lone owl..

Just as I settled in for the night, the thunder storm started. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain - lying in my chalet listening to it was fab and it just went on and on...but, the good thing about the jungle is it knows to stop in the night so when I woke it was bright and sunny again!

Seeing the jungle in full daylight was great and hopefully I can get some photos uploaded soon! After breakfast a group of us headed across the river to trek up through the jungle for about 1 1/2 hrs to Teresek hill. The trek is well marked and was a mix of man made steps, paths and climbing through trees. There were 2 viewpoints near the top and these enables us to look down over the jungle. However, there was some cloud cover so not great for photos...

We then trekked back down about 3/4 of the way to walk the world's longest hanging bridge. It hangs about 45m above the jungle and consists of 6 rope bridges connected by 5 platforms. Parts of the bridge have been broken for about 6 months so we couldn't do all of it. Great views and an amazing sense of being on top of the jungle.

Back to the floating restaurant for lunch, a quick change and then off to shoot the rapids and visit a village tribe. The scenery as we went along the river by boat was stunning and a real once in a lifetime experience. The boatman took it quite easy on us going through the rapids so we didn't get too wet before visiting the tribe. I found this part a bit strange as the village was virtually empty and seemed to consist of lots of huts which were also empty. Those villagers who were there seemed bemused by us visiting - even though they get paid to allow us to come - so I felt uncomfortable looking around. One lad showed us how to light a fire using only wood and kindling and then we had a blowpipe demonstration. We had the opportunity to test our skills by aiming at a scooby doo toy - I killed him! Scooby doo has been killed by a blowpipe through the throat! The trip back was much more fun as our boatman ensured we got absolutely soaked coming through the rapids!!

In the evening was stuck on the floating restaurant for a while due to another thunder storm so watched the Portugal game with the locals!!

Spent most of today (Tuesday ) travelling back - firstly a 2 hr boat trip down the river, then a short bus trip to Jerantut and then a 2 1/2 minibus back to Kl.

So, that's my time in KL almost over...off out with the owner of the cookery school tonight and then flight to Hanoi in the morning.