Fluffy Bom Bom: Taman Negara (2)

This is a continuation of my Taman Negara post.

In this post, I would be blogging mostly about the activities we did while we were there.

Day One
When we arrived Taman Negara, it was already noon. After asking the guides there and after looking through the pamphlet we decided to check out Lubuk Simpon, which is just 20 mins walk from Mutiara. Lubuk Simpon is up along the river towards Lata Berkoh which just about 800m from Taman Negara entrance. It is quite nice and accessible easily if you want to have a quick dip in the water. The water is quite shallow at the side, but, be careful if you are swimming to the other side of the river. As it is a flowing river, and a lubok (hole) no less, the current may pull you back.

From Taman Negara

That night while we were walking to the hotel's restaurant, we sighted wild boars for the first time :) (though at that time, rasa takut gak)..

Day Two
We decided to go for Canopy walk in the morning and do Lata Berkoh in the afternoon. The Canopy walk can be accesible through the river or through walking along the jungle trek. We opted for the jungle trek since it wasnt that far. As soon as we had our breakfast we started towards the entrance of the canopy walk which was quite near our chalets. The jungle walk is about 1.5km, which was about 40mins walk. It was quite okay, BUT.... nearing to the canopy, you'll have to climb the stairs to go up to the Canopy post. According to the signs, it is only 100m, but gosh, I felt like it was thousand miles away!
And you know what, after ALL that climb, we were told that our turn would be like another 3 hours!! We deliberated for a bit but finally decided to just give it a pass. So off we went back down without actually go on the Canopy. A bit about the Canopy walk, it is the world's longest, strung up to 40 metres above the sea level. That is equivalent to 13 storey high! Unfortunately we were not able to experience it. But hey, that would just mean that we have to go back some day :)
Btw, you'll need to pay a small fee of RM5 to go on the Canopy. So if ur going, dun forget to bring a bit of cash, and go early.

Kepenatan after the climb

From Taman Negara

The trek...

From Taman Negara

When we came back, we rested for a bit. We wanted to go to Lata Berkoh but unfortunately there were no boats left. Rizal and I decided to go to seberang to find availabe boat and lucky for us, Uda (the boatman that took us to seberang) said he knows someone. Lata Berkoh was not an option anymore since it was past 3, so we asked for Rapid Shooting.

Rapid shooting was a lot of fun. I loved it. Its actually just a boatride through the rapids (duh!), but it was our first time up on the river, and the view was just astonishing. Beware though, when going for rapid shooting you will get wet, so dun carry camera or any other electronic devices with you. Rapid shooting costs RM120 per boat of 6 (about RM20 per person).

Day Three
As booked previous day, we went to Lata Berkoh the following morning. Lata Berkoh is nice, but to me the boatride going to the lata was the highlight. It is so mesmerizing I never knew we had such beautiful forest and beautiful river. So untouched, and water was cold eventhough its a scorching hot day.

Same goes with the forest. Though the sun is glaring down at us, in the woods it was cool, with only hints of sunlight peeking through. I now appreciate the mother nature even more and more. The trees makes such big difference, it plays a major role in making our planet cooler and at the same time absorbs all those toxic monoxide we produce.

Back to Lata Berkoh story, take note that you still need to walk about 700m from where the boat stops. So dont carry too much with you, as the walk goes up and down a bit.

Boat parking..

From Taman Negara

One more thing, if you were going to Lata Berkoh, you might wanna combine the trip together with trip to Kelah Sanctuary as the latter is just few mins away from Lata Berkoh. (We didnt go, cos didnt know it was near there and didnt make the arrangement).

Came back from Lata Berkoh we didnt do much, except that lepaking at the floating restaurant. We waited for sunset there, and then went back up to Mutiara for dinner. After dinner, Rizal, Akmal and I went to Night Fishing.

Night fishing was quite an experience. Rizal had asked me earlier if I wanted to go with him and Akmal or to just stay at the chalet. It wasnt very difficult to choose, as I would have been even more scared staying by myself at the chalet. huhuhu.

Anyway, we set out on the boat at around 10pm, which was already pitch dark. It was quite eerie, and being on the boat, without lights, was really a scary but amazing but experience. Imagine manouvering through the river with only the moonlight and the riverbanks as your guide. The only consolation thought was that all of us are together, and if anything we'd be by each others side.

While the daytime boatride was exhilarating, the night boatride was beautiful (once you get past fear of course). Looking up, the skies was just filled with gazillions stars. Masyaallah, I could not explain it, for it was simply just magical. To think, how much we've missed Allah's creation being out there in the city where all you get to see and breath is dust..

Nothing spectacular about the fishing part though (cos I didnt exactly fish hehe), but I think Akmal enjoyed himself and we were glad to have taken him out on an experience like this.

me, finding the best spot to lie down

From Taman Negara

Akmal and Saiful (our guide)

From Taman Negara

All in all, I'd say hats off to Perhilitan, the organisation that is managing Taman Negara. One thing commendable, it is very well kept and I hope all visitors will keep it that way. Of course there are still odd rubbish here and there but generally our Taman Negara is much much cleaner than some places Ive been to locally.

Day Four
As they say, all good things come to an end, same goes with our trip. As much as I enjoyed my days there, we all have jobs and home to back to. Not wanting to say goodbye just yet, we had asked Asri to take us for one last boatride and a quick swim. This time I had the opportunity to take all the beautiful photos of the river as the sun was high up and the boat trip was not a wet one (rupa2 nya boleh request taknak kasi basah2...hehe)

one of my fav shot

From Taman Negara

That afternoon, after checking out, we left Taman Negara with heavy heart.

All is not lost though, while we were there we met up with good people, really nice people. One of the boatman, Asri (can catch him at 017.9244.202 if you want his service) who took us for ride on his boat up the river.

He kindly let Akmal have a go at driving his boat too..

From Taman Negara

Saiful - totally supermulti purpose guy - he can be your boatman, your fishing guide or even your Mountain Climbing guide. You name it, he's done it. He can be reached at 012.9453.502 though I cant guarantee that he keeps his phone charged all the time ;)