We've got fun and games.
We've got tons of leeches
Sucking your bloody veins.
Ahhhhhhh the jungle.
Wet.
Muddy.
Filled with bees and bugs. Vines and trees. Leeches and
leeches and oh did I mention leeches?
So in Taman Nagara National Park I decided to do a two day /
1 night Jungle trek where we sleep in a fricking cave!
There were 7 of us and the guide. Three folks were doing two
nights. The rest of us the one.
We showed up with our packs and some extra clothes and then
found out we had to carry our own food and supplies. Normally one might prepare
for this, but it was a bit of a surprise, though completely obvious that we
should. Who else will? The jungle men?
Loaded up, I had an extra backpack on the front and we go to
the boat. It slips us up the river and to the canopy walkway. I think it's the
longest in the world or something, but half of it was closed. Still, it's 100
feet off the ground and very shaky and cool.
2 hours more on the boat and we begin our hike. Everyone is
sweating, but it's fortunately not that hot. We are careful to avoid the
muddiest patches and walk on roots and rocks to skip streams... until we hit
the first creek. It was a foot deep and 10 feet wide and we're getting wet.
From this point on it was really pointless to try to dodge the mud or water and
I can tell you, that speeds up the pace a lot! There comes that point in a
nature journey where you just have to accept how filthy you will get, and once
you do it's much more fun!
 |
| This is the official "Before" photo... |
We hiked 8-10km the first day. About 6 hours worth. It was
tiring. And at every stop there were leeches on us. Little wormy, trembling
leeches. I've never actually seen one before and it was odd to. They're so
small and they move so erratically. Becuase we had pants tucked into socks,
they were most often just trying to find a way to our skin. And sometimes they
did. I pulled one off my foot and the wound bled for a long time. It didn't
hurt. But it's strange to watch. When we stopped near the end of the hike, Monja
had a HUGE blood filled leech on her knee. It was nasty. Blood ran down her leg
like crazy. It was like a hidden beast under her pants... um, you know what I
mean. :) At every stop we would check our feet, legs, and I'd check my junk.
I'm not ending up all "Stand By Me" with a huge leech on my balls.
 |
| Bloody good fun |
We stopped to rest in a little cave and the bees came out.
Hundreds of them. Attracted to the sweat on our packs. I tried to go zen and
not have them effect me, but eventually the buzzing became to much for everyone
and we grabbed the packs and hustled away. Only to stumble into a wasps
nest. I'm not sure who touched it,
but they went crazy. Buzzing around. Starting to sting people. We were bottled
up at a creek / rock crossing and no one could move as Tek from France started
crying out as he was stung. I jumped down into the mud and hustled along and
others followed me. We all made it through. Fortunately these weren't the bad
kinds of wasps and the stinging went away quickly... versus the person being paralized
or dying.
 |
| Make a wrong step and you're knee deep in the mud. Hell, make a right step and you're knee deep in the mud. |
We reached the cave at 6pm. It was getting dim and dark. But
it was super cool to stay there. There were bats, but few insects. We all went
down to the stream and rinsed off. It was fun. We were all careful at first,
just rinsing our hair or arms, but then went for it, and were washing our
clothes wearing only underwear. What the hell? We're covered in so much mud. We
were going native!
We ate in the cave and slept on camp mats. No need for
sleeping bags, as it was so hot and humid. The cave was probably 100 feet tall
and was mostly two big chambers with some small off shoots. And a large opening
near the upper wall which would let light in... sort of... during the day.
 |
| Home sweet home |
Sleep came easy even on the hard ground.
I woke up in darkness. Total darkness. The candles having
burned out. I switched out my headlamp and walked over to pee. On my way back
four eyes stared at me from not 10 feet away from our sleeping bags. They
watched me, glowing in my headlamp. They would jerk around. My light isn't
bright so it was hard to make them out. Rats? They'd be reallllly big if they
were. Porcupines? Probably, that's what Sam (the guide) said would come to eat
the left over food. I watched for awhile, and it was creepy to be there alone
with them. But finally I laid down to sleep...
... CRASH!
I sat up. And so did Sam. He turned on his very bright light
and indeed the porcupines were eating the food. Along with a rat with the
longest tail I've ever seen. Others started to wake up and watch. I was creeped
out at first with the rat, but then thought: In this situation, what's the
difference between the porcupines and the rat? This is their home.
I had a lot of wild dreams.
The cave was dim as we woke in the morning, slowly ate,
packed and headed out. The hike was 6km. About 4 hours. Over roots and mud and
creeks and more. We smelled TERRIBLY in just one day. our clothes ripe and
nasty. I can only imagine what it would be like to be in the jungle for weeks
on end. Whew.
When we reached the jetty and the boat picked us up it felt
great. So nice to take off shoes and head back towards civilization.
 |
| Yahoo, the boat! We won't have to eat each other! |
We stopped at an Oran Ansi village (original people) to
learn about the blow pipe. And I was struck with the strange image. They're
Black. I wouldn't have expected that in Malaysia, but they looked almost
African. Fascinating how people have moved around our world, or perhaps
developed independently yet similarly in different places. The Blow Pipe was
cool, I want one.
Back in town I took a hot shower and rinsed off the muck and
mud. It's amazing how important and wonderful things that we take for granted
are when they have been removed for even a couple days.
Craigo
No comments:
Post a Comment