Canopy Walk at Taman Negara

This is my second time going for the Canopy Walk at Taman Negara, my first was somewhere back in 2008. I visited Taman Negara for the first time back in 1982 when I was a secondary school student. It was a school trip back then. However, everything was definitely more rudimentary and the biggest change is of course back then, the Headquarters was just hostels and chalets run by government agency and deers and wild boars came to the camp site and HQ like goats and cows in a farm. The noise level from boats was definitely also lower... also, electricity got turned off at 12 midnight because it was generated by a diesel powered motor. Nolstagic but better anytime...

Back to present - thanks to progress, we can now visit the National Park (formerly King George V National Park under the British and it was the first national park in the country) as a day trip. We drove to Jerantut after a late breakfast at almost 11.30 am and reached Kuala Tahan via Padang Piol Felda scheme by 2.30 pm, 160 km of winding trunk road. As it was already late afternoon and we were told by the ranger that the Canopy Walk close within the hour, we rushed along the 1.7 km trail, ending with me having some dizziness at the base of the entrance...needs more stamina exercises in the future!

View of the entrance to Taman Negara from Kampung Tembeling

another...

swell idea to have restaurant at the river bank...hope they don't pollute

a bract fungi along the trail

torch ginger

tiny fungi like tiny table lamps

fruiting bracts of a wild ginger, Calathea spp.

a tiny skipper butterfly visiting a wild ginger flower, locally known as Tepus Tanah

the entrance to the Canopy walk

hanging walkways suspended from mid-trunk of huge trees

part of the walkway

view of the Tembeling River in the distance

a quick shot

one needs to do some climbing on the walkways

beautiful sight awaits the patient observer : a Prevost's Squirrel feeding on figs...

one of the most handsome creature on the canopy...this might not have been possible with an ordinary camera from ground level...

at the exit...

interesting plant along the trail

a tiny lizard

another species of Calathea ginger flower...

ixora-like flowers

a mating pair of papillionids howering over a Lantana bush

It came from the canopy above...

another...

a tiny grasshopper

a colourful beetle on the forest floor

at the HQ centre, a big aquarium displaying river specimens from the Tahan River...these two are Tengas

Icon and 'King' of the Malaysian rivers - the Malaysian Mahseer, Tor tambroides, sadly an endangered species due to pollution and overfishing for the restaurant table and aquarium trade.

signboard at the entrance

Best ever Hokkien Mee at Bangsar

If I have to rate the best Hokkien styled noodles in town, those served at Reunion at Bangsar Village II Kuala Lumpur will have to be at the top of my list. This is my 7th or 8th time eating the same dish there and I still like it a lot. Unlike the hawkers' fare where often the good taste of the dish is marred by soda-tasting yellow egg noodles, those served here never have that problemo numero uno. Then, the best part: every mouthful of the noodles swimming in thick, rich dark soya sauce has at least a bite of fried pork lard bits, and that's what the joy of  eating Hokkien fried noodles is all about! However, be warned: this is not your regular Char-Kuey Teow noodle shop. A plate of Hokkien noodles here will equal quite a few trips to your regular favourite street hawker stall...

I discovered this dish on their menu one day on a nonchalant dinner tryout around here with my ex-housemate. We ordered our regular favourites but couldn't stop wondering why every other diner was ordering this dish. So one fine dinner at Reunion, we decided to give it a try and got hooked on it since...

Late morning balade in Kg Chenua

Kampung Chenua is a small traditional village not far from Raub town, about 27km give and take a km or two. What is interesting about this 'uninteresting' village is its semi-wooded old farms, its forested surrounding and of course, the stars: its denizens. I often come here to observe birds and other small animals when I need to send my wife to her school, just like this time...well, this time we came late, at about half past eleven and the morning sun is already near its zenith. The forest denizens were more or less 'resting' in the shades but there were still some interesting actions...

strange velvety fruits

flowers of the Hoya vines

a bunch of fruits of a fishtail palm

a male damselfly on its sentry

a female closeby

a grasshopper resting in the shades

a brown squirrel marking its presence with loud barkings

a brown pansy

a clipper

waxy orchid-like flowers of a wild ginger (same family with the Galangal)

a hanging bridge, a common feature of riverine villages in this part of the country

view from the hanging bridge over the Lipis River

Bungor, a common riverine tree with impressive mauve flowers

a hut in the open

a dragonfly against the morning light

another female damselfly

a hornbill (there were at least five of them in a group feeding on figs)

a small berry in the shades

the Seven Candlestick, Cassia alata in the open grassland

Spider lily in the shades

flowering fronds of the Pinang palm

figs the size of mandarins

A Coppersmith Barbet came to feast on the figs. This bird has distinctive metalic knocking calls and is called Burung Tagut in Malay...

a Skipper butterfly