Janes of the Jungle - Taman Negara National Park

After combing Scandinavia with my childhood girl pals, I decided not to under-estimate the power of an all-girl trip. Not only did it deepened our friendship, the sisterly assurance built up much of my confidence for adventure. I became a Lucy Lawless overnight, minus the biceps and homosexuality, of course. So when the opportunity came for me to explore Taman Negara with two other gal pals, I jumped at the chance. It helped that I had an understanding partner who knew I didn't want to wallow in cold, cold Korea! While hubby was freezing his butt off in -5c Seoul, I was happily gallivanting from tree to tree in the balmy, warm jungle of Pahang. It turned out to be an adventurous, girl-bonding trip. I never knew how much I missed those long and honest conversations, the lurid jokes and the slumber party feel. Now, if only every gal were to go on a trip like this, there won't be a market for Prozac no more. Yes, we were laughing our heads off, never mind if we were in a room that had no air-con and a stinky loo.

We were Janes of the Jungle enjoying each other's company and ready to conquer the park!

And conquer we did, we had a fantastic time exploring the intricate ecosystem of Taman Negara. I mean, how often do you find out that elephant poop is responsible for fertilising a big tree in front of you? We also shot the rapids, went into a claustrophobic bat cave and polished off all their droppings on our shorts and hands. Oh yeah, we never felt more primal than that. That was no way we could have done that in urban Singapore! Guess what really helped us forget our woes was another fun-loving group of new friends from Klang, Malaysia and ahem, Bavaria, Germany. Somehow, the group chemistry turned out right and everyone had a great time . Lillian, Alice and my new friends from M'sia and Germany, this page is dedicated to you.

A child from the Orang Asli Tribe, Taman Negara

The True Natives of Taman Negara

Like the Amazon, Taman Negara has a band of indigenous inhabitants called the "Orang Asli". They look nothing like the Malaysians. Instead, their strong Negroid features were more reminiscent of the Aborigines in Australia.Of course, there's where the similarity ends, these folks don't go on strike or complain about unemployment as they literally live off the land. Click here to see more pictures.

Hornbill, Taman Negara

The other Natives - Flora and Fauna

Other than the Orang Asli, there is a myriad of other inhabitants in Taman Negara. Too numerous for me to name (that's for sure) but I tried to capture as many as I could with my nifty Sony digi camera. Here's a jaunty little fellow with an unusually large yellow beak.

source: virtual tourist