My taxi picked me up and took me to the Coffee Bean in Mont Kiara. This is where I was going to meet the group of women I was riding with. I had met the driver and one of the other women at the mosque tour the week before. There were a total of five us riding in Laurie's vehicle. Our destination was the zoo (this is now on my bucket list) so we could meet up with the rest of the people doing the walk. The journey was one of the highlights of the day! It's always a good thing when you can get in a car full of women you don't know and laugh most of the way to the destination. That is a sign of a good life!
We made it to the zoo and in spite of a few wrong turns and recalculations of the GPS, we were only 15 minutes late and we weren't the last ones to show up! So far the day is going spectacularly! When our entire group showed up we caravaned to the starting point of the walk. First thing, as soon as we started the walk, there was a really big hill to climb. Hmmm...
Here are some pictures that I took while I was on the walk...
This is one of our guides. He is showing us a plant that can be eaten. This is actually the root of a yam plant but it needs to be cooked before it can be eaten.
This is most of our group of women (there were 13 total) along with our two guides.
Way back in the day rubber was the major export of Malaysia. That's changed now but there are still rubber trees every where - this is one. One of our guides cut into it so we could see the rubber that comes out of it...that's the white stuff dripping down the trunk.
Just a pretty jungle shot.
This is one of our guides cutting away growth so we can follow the path and the back up caused while waiting for him to finish.
This tree is over 100 years old - as are most of the trees in this jungle. This one will most likely fall over in the next few years because of the insect activity that has caused a large hole near the base.
This is another 100+ year old tree. Just off to the side of this tree it looks like there is a much skinnier trunk right next to it. That is actually a root that grew out off the tree and down to the ground.
Here is another view of the root going up the tree. It even wraps around the tree a far way up. This root is helping to hold the tree up - it's kind of like a cane for the tree.
How pretty are these?
After the walk we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant that the guides knew well. I did not eat - only drank water just because I was so overheated!
Overall the jungle walk was a good experience and I'm really glad I went. I doubt seriously I will do it again. We walked a little over six kilometers (about four miles) and as the day went on it got really hot. There were also A LOT of leeches. I had never even seen one in person - now I can say that I have been bitten by one. But I'm glad I went so I can say that I have done it. This was something I had never had an opportunity to do so I would have been sad to let it go by.
When it was all said and done I went home and took a very cool soaking bath. I think I might have even dozed off in the tub. Then I took a shower and chilled out the rest of the afternoon. I knew I didn't have anything planned for Friday except doing laundry so I didn't have to get ready for anything. I was looking forward to the weekend though. Patric and I had already discussed some really cool plans.
See you next post!!
Monkey update: I was certainly on the lookout since we were in the jungle. Alas, someone must have told them we were coming because we didn't see a single one...
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