After a comfortable and scenic journey on the jungle railway we arrived at the town of Jerantut where we got a taxi to the river. As we pulled up to the jetty a long boat was just about to leave and lucky for us we arrived just in time also getting the last seats! The boat was very small, just wide enough for two people and about 8 people long. The three hour journey took us along the winding river through the jungle; we had the front seats so enjoyed the beautiful scenery (although it was raining and we both got a little cold!).

As the boat pulled up to the jetty we climbed onto a floating restaurant where a guide told us what activities were on offer. We then set of up the hill with our back packs to find some accommodation. It was all pretty awful so we just settled for the one that smelt the least and had paint on the walls! The village itself is pretty basic but we were here for the nature so this didn't really matter.

That evening we booked ourselves on two tours for the following day followed by dinner on one of the few floating restaurants. Both our meals were pretty average but we did enjoy a chocolate and banana pancake with ice cream! I hadn't been sleeping well recently so when we woke up the next day after a solid 10 hours I was feeling refreshed and ready for and a day in the jungle! I was particularly looking forward to the canopy walk as I had read it was 1600 feet above the ground - I had read it wrong it was about 150 feet high and the entire walkway was 1600 feet long! It was still pretty high though and I was impressed with Amy for having a go! The guide walked us through the forest showing us the different plants and insects including the biggest ants, spider and millipede we'd ever seen! We returned to our hostel after lunch and changed into some fresh clothes for our afternoon trip!

We had arranged to head up stream through the rapids and visit an orang asli tribal village; the journey there was good fun and we got pretty soaked from the waves! We had visited a tribal village before in Thailand and expected this one to be almost set up for the tourists, especially when you consider the modernity of present day Malaysia. This was not the case; the village was fascinating and with exceptions to a few modern conveniences such as a plastic bowl, modern clothing and a knife their way of life hasn't changed really. Or at least it seems. The men still hunt for their food using traditional methods and fires were still made by rubbing sticks together. They demonstrated this and it took them seconds! Our guide explained to us how they make their hunting weapons which they use to predominantly kill animals in the trees such as monkeys but also deer and wild boar on the ground. Apparently they are scared of the large and dangerous animals such as tigers and elephants so they leave them alone. The main weapon was a blow pipe which was a hollow bamboo pipe from where poisoned darts are shot; this was incased within within a larger bamboo case to protect it. We were shown how to make the darts with the flights glued by sap from trees. Better than any super glue! We got to have a go at shooting the darts and all managed at least one near the target! The villagers looked different from any other Malaysian we had seen - a bit like aborigines you see in Australia. when a person dies in the jungle a tree house is built in secret and their body is left up there. The tribe believe that the tree is sacred and also that their body will not been eaten up by all the bugs and animals as they would in the ground. When the surroundings fail to provide the tribe with enough food, when people are sick too often, someone having constant bad dreams or when someone dies they move on and build another village, as they believe this is a bad omen. The saddest part of the visit was to learn that due to inbreeding the infant mortality rate is high and many of the tribe have deformities. As we said our goodbyes we both felt that the experience had been quite surreal and also fascinating.