Even by Al's legendary organisational standards, this stage of the trip was a shambles!

From our trusted guidebook following the visit to Taman Negara the done thing was to visit the park via a small town called Merapoh.To get there we took our seats on the train excited about all the tigers, monkeys, elephants and dodo's we may stumble across.90mins later the guard kindly advised us Merapoh was next.We got the backpacks on and made for the doors in anticipation of the station….well that was the start of it…. the station was a wooden hut nearish the track with a bunch of kids running about, not even a platform, just a near metre jump onto a grassy verge from the steps of the train!It was a bit like a scene from a Western.

We got our bearings and made for the town, it was getting dark and we just needed a bed for the night. Within 50 yards we saw a bunch of lads who were telling us something that sounded like 'full'….must have misunderstood as one of the hotels in 'town' would surely have a room…er nope!(so plan B) That was okay tho as the park had a complex about 4km down the road.At that point a guy (known to us as Jesus) turned up in a pimped out metallic Orange Honda and asked where we were going.We explained and he said it's 7km that way!Luckily he was a guide from Taman Negara (*the bit we had just been too) and spoke good English.He offered us a free ride and took us to the resort near the gate, looked very peaceful…turned out there was a reason for the peace, it was closed for renovation!!

Jesus was a legend and without asking for a penny took us to the next town approx 25 miles away, so we could get a hotel.We paid for him to fill his car with fuel and he was away.

In the end we decided not to stay and booked onto the night train all the way back to the south.After two buses and a long coach journey taking approx 24 hours in total and almost a ¾ lap of Malaysia, we arrived a tad tired in Penang the next evening!