The 5000 Project

So, there I was with this french couple on the docks of mersing, just hopped off the ferry. We took the earliest ferry from the island at 9am, it was 11:30am by the time we arrived on the mainland – which was quite late for hitchhiking to taman nagara in a day, according to my well experienced traveling companions. We scoffed down some chinese food and I quickly bought the cheapest and dodgiest shoes I could find (I was told that I need shoes for the jungle, which makes sense). We tried to get out of the main town area as quickly as possible, as the outer areas are much easier to get lifts.

After 2min with the thumbs up, we were picked up by a horticulturalist for a few dozen kms before he turned to go fishing. 5min wait for the next, a motorbike mechanic from Kuala Rompin, heading back to the bike shop; we decided at this pace and the late stage of the day that we will get dropped off at the turnoff for the 2nd national park in malaysia, Endua Rompin, just before our transportation host headed to town. Our last car was a 15min wait and happened to be one of the main tour guides for the park, off we went to the jungle! with completely free and happy transportation!

At this stage my main worry was that I didnt have a tent or covering, I tried to find a mosquito net in mersing but we didnt have any time – there was none to be bought on tioman. Thankfully there were tents for hire at the basecamp, equipt with my trusty towel for the base and serong for the top sheet, it was adequate for sleeping. We made a fire (which took a good hr to light, thanks to everything being wet in a rainforest), boiled many litres of water from the river and cooled each for drinking the next day, cooked and ate some noodles, finished off the last of the rum from tioman, shared philosophy; then retired to sleep.

long shutter shot of the campfire

The next day we set forth on a 2hr trek to an impressive waterfall, nearing the waterfall we noticed small worms which seemed to move scary fast in the direction of our feet… at closer inspection (once we got a few sucking at our ankles) we discovered that they were infact leeches, and there were, infact, shitloads of them; We decided to trek with haste on the way back to camp, resting only in the areas of sunlight (yup, leeches dont like the sun, I can totally see them being the inspiration for vampire folktales). upon returning, I counted 5 on one foot and 3 on the other, squirming around trying to get through the socks, they were in my shoes the entire time. A couple were still sucking on the back of my legs, hidden from sight and somehow I couldnt feel them earlier, after the decent trek they were rather fat; however they were easier to rip off when bloated and lazy. The annoying ones are the tiny ones that slip through the socks, then get much bigger once they stick to the foot for a while.

macro shot of a bloodsucker

The same day we met with a guy from the Czech Republic who hitchhiked through Kuala Rompin and was adopted by a muslim family, not unlike my own experiences in indonesia. The difference being, he actually converted to muslim and to our bewilderment; he was given 1000riggit ($333) for completing the induction ceremony, reciting some lines and becoming to a new faith. Before deciding on making this bold decision, he mentioned to the family that he is christian, he asked if it was ok to become muslim as well; his answer was yes and thus he became a man of two religions. He was leaving the next day so we asked if we can get a lift with him back to kuala rompin, he contacted the family and the news was positive, we were to meet at the base camp at 4pm to await pickup.

The Czech guy camped with us that night and performed the night and morning prayer rituals, then headed off on his own very early in the morning as we were just waking. We headed down a different path this time, on a journey less leechy but more adventurous, a bit thicker and some fairly tricky river crossings over slippery logs and rotting wooden bridges. We arrived back at the basecamp at 4pm, but the czech guy was nowhere to be found, the lift arrived and we waited ’till 5pm, yet still no sign. It was decided that we will ask park management to call us as soon as he was spotted. We headed to the family’s place to await a response.

Many hours past and the family recieved a text, our friend was lost in the jungle. We couldnt call the number after reading the text and everyone was deeply worried, the family wanted us to stay the night then together lodge a police report the next morning, preparations were being made for several search groups. We woke the next morning bright and early, preped for another trek through the jungle; my phone was charged and ready for some serious GPS navigation. In a car convoy we headed out of town, when we got a call from the czech guy! he arrived at a village on the way to johor (the provence south) they fed him and supplied a guide for the trek back to basecamp. With this terrific news we decided to use the early morning wake to continue the hitchhiking to taman nagara, we thanked our hosts for their hospitality and shared phone numbers, I asked to be informed of any news regarding the czech.

We were dropped off just out of town, it took 2min of thumbs up to tag a car…