ROOTY HILL DANCERS: Taman Negara 2

Hi there. We are in Taman Negara smack in the middle of Malaysia – a hot monsoonal location in the world’s oldest rainforest. The draw card is the Canopy Walk which at 550 metres long is the world’s longest tree top walk. The walk is 40 feet above the jungle floor and the rope system is precariously suspended between several tall trees. It’s scary, hot and an experience to walk. The rain forest below is dark and just standing in one spot make you perspire due to the high humidity. So why did we do it? Because it’s there! Some of us took every step with care and treated the floor like rice paper. Tomorrow we may decide to visit an Orang Asli village nearby. These people are the original people and are also known as aborigines. They use blow guns as weapons and live in “long” houses in the middle of the jungle. As you can see in the photos the river is brown because of the constant silt that comes from the surrounding mountains.

Now I would like to explain Heather’s previous burst regarding Neil’s driving exploits travelling from the Cameron Highlands to Taman Negara. Let me say that the road was extremely good and towards the end of our journey the road surface was pot-holed – difficult to see and unavoidable, nevertheless the end result was not uncomfortable and only Heather’s solitary remark was “If I wanted to be bounced I would do a Jive!” Also for those who would like to know about Dawn’s well being – she has not received the dreaded flu bug and currently healthy.

We are nearing the end of our holiday and all spirits are great. Each of us are now understanding each other’s way of life and more importantly we are still on speaking terms – contrary to some perception back in Oz Land. In fact I believe that all of us treat each other as great friends and will have good stories to tell when we return to Australia.

Our next stop is Genting Highlands, near KL, and only one week to go. Neil