Hey, everyone! The past week has gone by in the blink of an eye – from Penang to Cameron Highlands to Kuala Tahan and now back to Kuala Lumpur… I’m like – what happened? How did it go so quickly? Despite the rapidity, it has been a pretty successful week!

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify called Rose Thorn Bouquet. Please check it out!
2) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
3) I have recently finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Death of Duncan Lee. I’ve sent it out to some friends to get feedback and I’m really excited to have it done(ish) finally. If you haven’t read it already, the link to my first book, Eclipse Me can be found here.

Cameron Highlands

My first two days in Cameron Highlands were a bit of a wash. I didn’t arrive until late afternoon on my first night. Basically checked in, grabbed a bite to eat, and then went to bed. Day two was pretty chill as well. I worked on a drawing, did my blog, washed my clothes… and suddenly the day was already over. Those errand-y days can certainly take up a lot of time.

By day three, I was ready to go exploring.

The town I was in, Tanah Rata, is based at higher elevation, giving it cooler tempartures. That’s sort of what the Cameron Highlands are known for – a break from the heat. And also its tea. There are a few tea fields sprinkled throughout the highlands. And strawberry farms, too! Because I’m such a sucker for strawberries, I decided to go strawberry picking on my first full day of exploration.

One thing is for sure: it’s easier to get around Cameron Highlands with a car. But, with a car comes traffic. Even arriving in town by bus, we were stuck in traffic for maybe half an hour. I don’t have a car and from what I’d read, Grab wasn’t super accessible. I ended up just walking everywhere.

It took about 45min to get to the strawberry farm. I paid a small fee and then was able to collect half a kilo of strawberries. Cute! I walked through the many corridors of hydroponic strawberries and selected my favorites. The affair certainly would have been more fun had I been with someone else, but it was still a nice time. Once I’d filled my basket, I walked towards the exit. On the way, I was startled by a squeaking noise near my feet. I looked over and a skink had a baby rat in its mouth. I had scared the skink and it dropped the rat, running for cover. The rat was able to scamper away. Lord have mercy!

I sat down and ate all my strawberries immediately. They were good, although not as good as the snow strawberries in South Korea, I must admit. I suppose they’ll all pale in comparison…

On my walk back to my accommodation, I decided to make a brief pit stop to check out Parit Falls. It was a quick hike through a terraced boardwalk to get from the entrance of the reserve down to the waterfall. It was a very tiny waterfall, but a waterfall nonetheless. I snapped a picture and continued walking the trail for maybe 20min. How nice to be able to walk a trail on my own without needing a guide! Looking at you, Indonesia. Scowling.

I stopped at the hostel for a nap and in the afternoon, decided to walk to one of the viewpoints of the tea fields. I had been seeing photos of the fields and was like – why am I not seeing any of them? I walked for an hour and didn’t see any – just some greenhouses filled with strawberries. Well, turns out the tea fields were in the opposite direction haha.

So off I went on another hour-long walk down the road. While there was no sidewalk, it was easy enough to walk next to the street without getting hit by cars lol. I listened to music and, because the road wasn’t near any buildings or people, I was singing along – one of my favorite things to do ever.

I was pleasantly surprised to spot something bright green to my left at one point. Could it be..? And it was! An Asian vine snake, just at the edge of the jungle. I watched it slither around through the foliage. It flicked out its tongue in the goofy way that those snakes do. At one point, it just looked at me for a moment and then moved deeper into the bush. What a nice sighting, though! The only other time I’d seen a vine snake during the day, it was practically motionless and I didn’t have my phone with me (that was on the sailing trip from Flores to Lombok).

My day was definitely made, having spotted a snake. To be truthful, though, I was hoping to see another type of snake. I have my eyes set on the Malaysian blue coral snake which is technically nocturnal – but I still have my fingers crossed I’ll see it either in Malaysia or Singapore. If not, that’s okay, but it’s certainly on my wishlist.

(As an aside – I didn’t bring my camera with me when I saw the snake… that tends to happen. But I suppose if I really want to see a snake or some wildlife in particular, I just need to not bring my camera and it’ll pop up!)

Anyway. Maybe half an hour later, I’d arrived at the tea field. And what an incredible view it was! The tea fields lined the hills in such a unique pattern. I thought it was beautiful. Because the Cameron Highlands are famous for their tea, I sat down and enjoyed a cup while overlooking the fields. It was a very tourist-y hotspot. So many people! I had the option to pay a small fee to walk along the tea fields but after having walked for a few hours already that day, I decided the view was enough. I still had a long walk back to the hostel. I’m very glad I went, though!

I also saw the largest moth I’ve ever seen.

Jungle Trail 6

The next morning, I slept in. I had been having the worst sleep in Tanah Rata because the hostel I was at happened to be located right next door to a school. And boy, were the kids loud in the mornings. Ugh! Still, despite waking up from the noise, I was able to fall asleep again until late morning. Because of the disruptions, it wasn’t very restful slumber.

Anyway. After having lunch, I ventured to the entrance of Jungle Trail 6. There are a number of trails around the Cameron Highlands. I had a hard time picking which one to do but ultimately settled on 6.

The trail started at the edge of town, near a petting zoo. After passing the zoo, the area quickly transformed into jungle-y terrain. Maybe ten minutes in, I was able to see the first falls, which I guess maybe is the Upper Robinson Falls?

I wanted to continue the hike to the Lower Falls which had a better view – so that’s what I did. At some points, I was concerned about the steepness. They had ropes connected to trees to help with balancing. At one spot, there was a ladder haha. I had to stop myself and think – worth it?

I’m glad I continued on because the viewpoint was only five or ten minutes later – and it was quite nice! I wasn’t sure if the falls were natural or not. After looking it up later, I discovered that they are in fact natural. Pretty sweet!

From there, I began my ascent and shortly after, was back in town. I didn’t do much else that afternoon. Grabbed some food, packed up my things, and otherwise rewatched season 1 of Wednesday. I had an early rise the next day so I didn’t want to be too ambitious.

Kuala Tahan

The next morning, I hopped in a van and began the 5hr journey to Kuala Tahan, the village right next to Taman Negara National Park – home to elephants, tigers, and many more interesting creatures. Spoiler alert: no elephants or tigers – those guys are pretty rare to see.

(Above: the beautiful dragonflies greeting me when I arrived in Kuala Tahan)

It seems like no matter where I’m going in Malaysia, it’s always a 5hr journey. Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth, Butterworth to Cameron Highlands, Cameron Highlands to Kuala Tahan, Kuala Tahan to Kuala Lumpur. They have all been right around 5 hours of driving.

I arrived in Kuala Tahan around 1.30pm and went to check into my hostel. My friend Claire had recommended the Wild Lodge accommodation because the owner Jason was pretty cool – so that’s where I ended up staying. I had an hour to kill before check-in, so I went to grab food first.

I mentioned Kuala Tahan is right at the edge of Taman Negara… so basically, the village is right next to a river. You have to take a boat for all of 2min to cross over to Taman Negara. And on the river, there are “floating restaurants.” How novel is that?

After lunch, I walked around town for a moment and… to be honest, was shocked by how small the town was. Teeny tiny! But at the same time, bustling with tourists and locals. The main draw was the national park for sure. It seemed the town’s economy relied solely on things related to the park – boat cruises, night tours, day tours, overnight tours, etc. Lots to do!

Eventually, I checked into my accommodation and told Jason I was interested in doing a night tour. Other people had already expressed interest as well, so I was told to meet up at the hostel at 8.20pm. However, I needed to get an entry permit to the park first. Fari, Jason’s friend (and, later, my night guide), informed me I had to actually cross the river to go to the park office to get my permit. Really? That seemed kind of counterintuitive. After getting situated in my dorm room, I paid the USD$0.50 fee to cross the river by boat.

The entry fee was 1 ringgit but there was an additional 5 ringgit for bringing a camera. At the time, I thought that was a fee for every visit to the national park but it actually ended up lasting me the entire duration of my stay which was nice. That’s just like USD$2, by the way.

I was originally just going to get the entry permit and then return back to the hostel ahead of the night tour but then I figured… might as well walk through the jungle a little before it gets dark, right?

I was pleased to immediately discover that the jungle trails had BOARDWALKS! If you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll know that I love, Love, LOVE boardwalks so much.

The boardwalk trails at Taman Negara actually reminded me of Cape Tribulation in Australia – the boardwalks I would endlessly wander in search of wildlife. Much of the same in Taman Negara.

I walked around for maybe an hour and a half before crossing the river to grab dinner. At 8.20pm, I met up with others at the hostel to go on the night tour.

Night Tours

I ended up going on two night tours during my three night stay in Kuala Tahan. I would have liked to have done three but it ended up raining my last night and no one else was interested in doing the tour. I was out of luck.

On night #1, I was in a group of seven, led by Fari. We crossed the river and were given a quick briefing. Fari spotted a giant millipede and shared some interesting facts about it. These millipedes eat moss off the trees. They also excrete hydrogen cyanide as a defense mechanism and if holding one in your hand, you could get burnt from its saliva lol. YIKES!

Fari was a pretty good spotter, honestly. He spotted stick insects and trilobites early on, which were unusual and very cool to see.

And, of course, spiders. So many spiders!

Majority of them were huntsmen but we also saw an arrowhead spider, which was unusual.

Being in a group of seven was kind of annoying – it was slightly crowded and because I was at the back of the line, I didn’t get the best view of whatever creature we were looking at until everyone else had moved on. And I was the only one with a proper camera so it’s like MOVE out of the way, people!!! I could send you guys these pictures, if you’d only let me take them…….???!!!

I was delighted when another group had spotted a flying lemur perched up in a tree. These guys are so cute! And they are able to glide from tree to tree. So many of these creatures in Malaysia live high up in the trees, avoiding the tigers below. Much like the creatures of Sumatra.

Fari asked us to turn off our flashlights and then he turned on his UV light. With a small stick, he poked around near the entrance of a scoprion’s burrow. It peaked its claws out and then eventually revealed its entire body. It was so awesome to see it glowing under the UV light. What a fascinating ability. I also learned that not only do they glow under UV light, but under a full moon as well.

We saw a few other glow-in-the-dark things that night, too. Some fungi on the forest floor, fireflies, and also little caterpillar-looking things that technically were just the firefly larvae.

We were nearing the end of the tour but still had a couple more exciting things to see. Fari spotted a bird-eating spider hiding in a burrow under the boardwalk which was a very cool sighting. It was hard to see it very well, since it was tucked all the way at the back. Still cool, though! And just a few spots away on the boardwalk, Fari also pointed out… drum roll.

A dog-toothed cat snake, ALSO coiled in a burrow!

Obviously, this was the highlight of the night for me. Well, that and the flying lemur. I was hoping the snake’s face would be pointing towards the entrance of the burrow but it was not. I actually returned to the spot during the daytime and was able to find the snake again. That time, its face was pointed towards the entrance.

I was shocked to see the cloudiness of its eyes. They looked so insane! Is this what snake eyes look like when they’re “closed”? I learned the snakes don’t actually close their eyes and the reason for this cloudy appearance is that the snake is likely in the process of shedding. They are essentially blind until they shed their skin – which makes sense why they would want to find a proper burrow to hide until they finish their shedding process.

I ended up going on another tour my second night and in some ways, that one was much nicer – mostly because it was just three of us. Teresa, myself, and a new guide: Cumbo. It felt more intimate and we were able to have a nice, constant dialogue going.

I could argue that the sightings of the second night weren’t quite as exciting as the first but we did see one very cool spider, named the David Bowie spider. It was discovered in 2008 and was named after David Bowie because of its reddish fur, reminiscent of Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie. I’ve never seen a spider quite like that before.

Before the tour, I also spotted a flat-tailed gecko at the hostel which was cool to see!

As mentioned, I wanted to go on another tour on my last night in town. I was debating either a night walk or a night cruise. Well, nature had other plans because it started pouring rain around 6pm and I decided to just forget it. Instead, I walked around town seeking out snakes. They tend to come out during rain, because that’s when all the frogs come out to eat the insects.

Well, maybe ten minutes after leaving the hostel, I spotted a mangrove cat snake. For a second, I thought it was a banded krait but then I realized – no, I’ve seen this guy before. The sighting was quite exceptional. I was able to snap a single photo of it and confirm what it was before it slithered into the foliage and completely vanished from view. The foliage it had snuck under must have been a cluster of maybe four-inch high plants. And somehow, it was just GONE. When walking the trails the past couple of days, I was feeling a little down. How have I been walking so many hours and not seen a single god damn snake?! (sans the one in the burrow that Fari spotted initially). Well, this was confirmation for me: it doesn’t necessarily have to do with my spotting skills. These snakes are such an exciting treat to see BECAUSE they are so elusive and well-camouflaged.

It felt like a nice reward in lieu of going on a night walk. While I wasn’t able to go into the jungle one more time, I was still able to see a snake. Yay!

Mowgli’s Road

When I wasn’t going on night tours, I was walking throughout the jungle trails of Taman Negara in the daytime. Unfortunately, there was a limit to how far I could go. After a certain point, a guide was needed. That is probably where all the good stuff was – but I prefer to explore on my own anyway. I decided to take my chances.

Honestly, I didn’t spot much during the daytime walks. Dragonflies, beetles, lizards, the occasional glimpse of a bird. But there were a few particularly special sightings.

The first one was on my way to Teresek Hill – a viewpoint from atop a hill. On the strenuous walk up a series of staircases, I startled a lizard who had been residing on a fallen tree trunk. It stood at attention and stared at me for a moment. I snapped a picture of it and another hiker stopped to check it out, too. I was surprised by how similar the lizard looked to the frilled-neck lizards. The thing that actually attracted me to the lizard was that it seemed to puff out its neck, similar to a bearded dragon. This wasn’t a regular lizard, was it? A moment later, the lizard jumped away and – WHAT THE FUCK – spread its wings as it glided onto another tree.

“WHAT?!” I laughed. I could not believe what I just saw. I had no idea some lizards could glide/fly. SHOCKED.

They actually have extra skin that connects from their front arms to their back legs and they can use that to “glide.” It truly looked like a pair of wings.

I saw another one later that day. It stood its ground for a while but then I quickly shuffled my feet (rude) and the lizard flew around and behind me, to the trees on the other side of the boardwalk. Insanity! I wish I’d been able to capture it in flight but it was way too fast for my phone camera.

The next morning, I decided to wake up somewhat early to get to Tahan Hide in the hopes of seeing some larger animals – maybe a tapir… maybe an elephant (no).

Jason, the hostel owner, said to me, “get there before the tours start.” Later on in my hike, I discovered what he meant. SO many people hiking on these tours, like ten or fifteen people per group. And they’re loud! They scare away all the damn animals!

Tahan Hide is a shelter overlooking a meadow with a lone tree in the center of it. Hanging from the tree branch is a salt lick, for animals to come and get necessary nutrients (minerals like sodium and chloride according to the Interwebs).

I was the first to arrive at the hide and I sat patiently, waiting to see something. I waited… and waited… and waited… sometimes, regardless of how beautiful a setting is, it can become boring quickly looking at the same thing. Maybe thirty minutes later, I decided to call it quits and continue on with my hike.

I exited the hide and then heard a familiar noise. The flapping of wings, but not just any wings. These wings were the wings of a hornbill! WHAT? I hustled back up to the second floor of the hide and happily shot some photos of a rhinocerous hornbill – the hornbill Shaun and I had been hoping to see when in Sumatra.

And then, to my pleasure, the hornbill flew to a tree even closer to me, where I was able to get some photos that I’m really, really happy with.

WHAT a crazy bird! I think this is the craziest looking bird I’ve ever yet seen in my life.

A second one joined, too. I noticed the second one had white-ish eyes, where the first had red. Apparently, red eyes = male, white-ish blue = female (or sometimes juvenile).

I must have gotten five or ten minutes watching these magnificent birds before they flew off. The sighting absolutely made my day and were a major highlight of my time in Taman Negara.

Later in the day, I returned to the hide and was lucky enough to see some dusky leaf monkeys playing in the distance. I stayed until it started to rain. The first time it rained while I was actually in the rainforest. I enjoyed it for a while but then decided to get back to town before the leeches came out. EEK!

That was my last day in Taman Negara. Aside from some squirrels, birds, and visiting the shedding-snake I mentioned earlier, my time in the jungle was finished.

I wish I had spent more time in Kuala Tahan. I think three more nights would have been perfect – enough time for me to go on a nighttime boat cruise and a couple more night walks. Hindsight is 20/20, or so they say. I would have extended my stay but the rest of my time in Malaysia is already mapped out – I ended up planning to be in Singapore by the 6th of September so I can overlap a couple nights with my friend John from Darwin, Australia.

Still, I think leaving a place wanting to see more is better than having overstayed my welcome.

I love you, Taman Negara! Easily my favorite place in Malaysia so far.

Miscellaneous

Malaysia has been teasing the hell out of me, but especially in Cameron Highlands. I mentioned that I’ve had my eyes peeled for the blue coral snake. Well, Malaysia has a LOT of things on the ground that are the exact shade of blue as that snake. Whether its paint, straws, signs, etc. Bastards! But… perhaps foreshadowing?

I also thought it was funny that Taman Negara is regarded as one of the oldest rainforests in the world. Why is that funny? Because I have been to so many places that claim to have the oldest. Australia… New Zealand… Malaysia. I think some others I am forgetting about, too.

I have to share the news that I have also retired my beloved tote bag from Whitehouse Post – the sister company of a job I had back in Chicago. This tote bag has accompanied me on my travels for YEARS. Alaska, Hawaii, Yellowstone, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, all these damn countries in Asia… Thanks for everything, babe!

Art of the Week

I’m not completely pleased with this guy BUT I think it was a good learning experience for me. I am trying to draw creepy-smiley-teeth and I think that part of it is definitely working. Some other things, not so much. I don’t know why I can make profiles of faces look so decent but straight-on is such a challenge at times? That’s okay. I will continue to learn and create, baby!

Reflections

What to reflect on?

Well, I’m back in Kuala Lumpur for a few nights before going to Tioman Island, which I think I’m really going to enjoy. The mission there is simple: snorkel/dive and walk in the jungle.

Tioman Island is my last stop in Malaysia and I must say, at this moment it feels like my time here has been going by a little too quickly. Cameron Highlands and Kuala Tahan feel like they’ve gone by in the blink of an eye. A little over a week and I’ll already be out of the country! There is potential to come back, though. Jasper may come home around Christmas and if that’s the case, I may pop back over to see him. We’ll see how everything pans out – it all depends.

All in all, things are good! It has been a wildlife infested week and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x