Fuzzy Funnel: From Ko Lanta to The Taman Negara

Leaving Ko Lanta I was heading for the Jungle in the middle of Malaysia. This meant quite a journey as it was not easy to get to. On the first day I set off from Ko Lanta with Mike for Trang, where he was going to stay, and I would go on to Hat Yai. When we got to Trang after much delay waiting for ferries to get of Ko Lanta we happened to bump in to Paul and Maureen again, who'd gone there the day before to get there camera fixed.. small world as ever. We all had lunch and I satisfied my Feta and Olive cravings with a Greek Salad. I really enjoyed it! I then headed off to Hat Yai on another 4 hour bus run and stayed the night there. It was a bit of a sleaze hole, catering to Malaysian tourists escaping the countries strict Muslim laws. There was definitely an overabundance of "massage parlours" with pictures of the masseuses posted on shopfront so you could see before hand!

Next day I got a train from Hat Yai to the border (6 hours) where it was relatively simple to cross into Malaysia and then get a local bus for one hour to Khota Baru, the local state capital where I spent an afternoon and a night as I wanted to catch the Jungle Railway to Jerantut at 6am the next day. In the afternoon I went to free cultural show, which was enjoyable and not something I'd seen before on this trip. First up was local music with an oboe like instrument and various kinds of drum. Some boys then performed a dance that was part martial art, and culminated with them trying to wrestle each other. Then there was another drum group, this time with just a selection of large standing drums, which the visitors were also invited to take a turn at. There was also a demonstration of spinning tops, where men launch a heavy top from a wound glued up rope to see who can get it to spin for longest (usually a few hours). Though I enjoyed the show I got very annoyed by tourists taking photos non-bloody-stop, not actually listening or watching, going right up in peoples daces with their cameras. At one point the compere said here is a guy making kites, and there was an old guy tying some pieces of cane together with string. Well some people thought this was the most amazing thing ever and took photo after photo! I couldn't understand it! It turns out that at the cultural centre I'd already missed the "Royal Go-kart tournament" and was to early for the " Monkey-plucking coconut competition" (their hyphenation not mine) and the "ASEAN Bantam Chicken Beauty contest". Can't be helped.

Next day I was extremely early for the Jungle train to Jerantut (especially since I'd lost another hours sleep coming over the border). The train was cheap, but hot and sweaty and the jungle views didn't impress me much. When I got to Jerantut I found I could still get a minibus transfer so I wouldn't have to spend another day on the journey to the Jungle. I got to Kuala Tahan, the base for trips to the jungle that evening and checked into a small hostel, my first dorm accommodation of the trip so far, but I'm going to have to get used to it before Australia which'll be expensive!