Kuala Tahan National Park

6^th July 2010

It was a long ride from Bangi to Kuala Tahan, the winding road as we head towards the national park was nauseating, but that did not damper the anticipation of embracing the beauty of the tropical rainforest as well as completing the fieldwork on the Orang Bateq. Prior to the trip, I have done several internet researches on the indigenous tribe, and have seen some of their photographs during prof K’s lecture thus it would be amazing to be able to get to know them better. Well, I hope they are not as shy as what prof has described of them. =)

We arrived at Rainforest resort at 3pm, had our lunch and then off we go on a boat ride for a swim at a fish sanctuary of the nearby river. The ride on the boat was rough, no thanks to the boatmen who was manipulating our fear of the ride. I lost count of the number of times we have screamed on the boat, others must have thought we were some nutcase but seriously, the ride was as exhilarating as roller coaster in Genting.

Fish sanctuary was just mediocre, with some really gigantic, creepy fishes swimming around. However, the water was like a cool breeze. Chilly and cold.

The night was spent at the national park for a night jungle walk. I am eager to experience a night stroll in the jungle but…. I am scared of leeches. I had to wear a tight inside my track bottom and a high ankle socks in order to avoid leech invasion, but there were no leeches afterall, so much for being paranoid over the blood sucking creature. HAHA! There weren’t much animals to be observed though, except for spiders. I saw a family of wild boar around the resorts in the national park, it was so bizarre.

And I must mention, I managed to see…. SKIES OF STARS! It was one of the most gorgeous scene ever seen at night. =)

7^th July 2010

Today we were told that we will be going for a canopy walk in the national park. After breakfast, all of us headed to the jetty and hopped on the boat to the national park. We were then brought into the forest reserve by our guide whom along the way explained to us on the biodiversity of the forest as well as traditional medicine in relation to the indigenous communities. Later on, we were told by our guide that we will be walking up Bukit Teresik of an almost 1.6km journey before walking down to canopy walk. It was indeed a great preparation for our mount kinabalu climb. Torturous climb due to steep steps, going up was hard enough and going down was even harder due to the force placed on the knee.

After the long climb, we headed to the canopy walk. It wasn’t exciting to me because I have gone on canopy walks for a couple of times. It was just a stroll in the park for me. But there were pretty tropical rainforest to be observed from the walk.

We went brought back to our hotel after the walk and prepared for our next destination : orang Bateq resettlement village. I kept my notes and camera close to me, so that I could get the most natural shot of the people and to jot down every possible symbols or events being observed. We reached the village via an almost 20 minutes boat ride, on our way walking up, we were greeted by a bunch of Bateq kids. They were everywhere, in the small hut, behind the trees, up at the top of a tree and etc. They make lots of noise and all I could understand was… ROTI. I suppose they saw the bread we bought for them. We handed out the bread to the kids and they were shy at first but once they saw a friend took the bread, they came up, took and ran in the blink of an eye.

When we walk into the village, to our horror, we saw a huge group of tourists all over the place. It suddenly dawned to me that I have actually walked into another tourist attraction area. It is such a pity that the people were not given any freedom in their life and were treated more like the animals in zoo. Everyone rushed around them to snap images of them with them helplessly looking on.

It made me quite furious to see how these people are not treated how they should be. They should be given rights to choose the life that they want and no one should keep them aside, away from the mainstream society, away from their ancestral lifestyle, and leaving them in the state of confusion. Seeing them so helpless, especially the shy ladies clad in batik attire, I can’t help but to feel sorry for them. Some people have manipulated their greed desire to have a better life and put them in such a condition. Some may claim that this is a better move to boost tourism and to avoid further destruction of the forest by their nomadic lifestyle, but have they realize that these people, just like us, have their rights to live their lives?

8^th July 2010

Before we head back to Bangi, we were brought to Lata Berkoh for a good, relaxing and fun swim with the group. Lots of laughter and screams when water was splashed to one another in the river. Even though I can’t swim, I still jumped into the river and indulge in the flow of the water. Amazing.

At almost 1pm, the bus departed us and yes, back in our comfy room in KDO! =)

cheers. ♥