With much regret we leave our little personal paradise on the way to oldest rainforest in the world, Taman Negara. There are several ways to get here, the most comfortable they offer you almost before getting off the boat, but since I read in the Lonely Planet still in Spain that there is a train that crosses the country making its way through the jungle, I convinced Lety not to handle other alternatives, if the name just fell in love with me: “JUNGLE RAILWAY”, the jungle railway.
So we get to work, changing in several stations until we reachWakaf Bharu, the little town where this train makes its first stop. With some fortune we find a very nice little hotel (all the GuestHouse posters are on closed and rusty doors) and after a dinner of those abundant, we will rest that the next day touches early.
At 6.30 above, and at the station. The train is not bamboo as Lety believed, and it has a roof for my grief, we go a normal train (in fact it is up to Express, we have seen too many Indiana Jones movies), but the good thing is the landscapes that we are going through, with lush forests of huge trees, rivers of brown waters that drag branches and trunks, and villages of humble and smiling people.
There are 8 horitas that fly by, especially for Lety who sleeps half the way. I end up half dizzy and hypnotized to look so long through the window, so I also nodded, until the reviewer wakes us up announcing that we have already reached the town that acts as a bridge to the Taman Negara National Park, Jerantut. But to get there we have to take another bus, and finally, when it is beginning to get dark, we step on the happy park Taman Negara under a spectacular rainbow!
The idea we have in Taman Negara is to make a next day boat trip even a few waterfalls through the park, the problem is that we can't find two other people to share the boat, and being only we go out for a kidney! We are going to sleep in the hope that in the morning we can find someone else, or that or we are going to Singapore!
Well, indeed, we are going to Singapore: p. It should not be very attractive for hikers to get to the park to catch a boat, if you like walking to the rock. My joy in a well ... However we would not leave there without navigating the river, we turn it around in a small wooden boat from where we leave the green Taman Negara behind and behind to give way to the plantations of palm trees that turn the landscape radically.
Just one day after getting off the train we see ourselves asking at the same station for the train to Singapore, but they give us very bad news: the line is cut this week. More buses, more waiting, more Kentuckys to hang out ... in 2 days we have taken more transports than in the 20 we have in Malaysia! Hopefully Singapore is worth it.
We understand that the line was suspended a few years ago, however since Wakaf Bharu until Jerantut There is a train that leaves at 18:16 and arrives at 02:20 ... the truth is that it is not too interesting to see the landscape and they are not good schedules, but that you know that there is the option. You can make the reservation on the easybook website and look at the official website of trains in Malaysia.
Easybook image
Transport. The Jungle RailroadWe came from the Perhentian Islands. From the station Kuala Besut (past the agency street turn right on the main road) we took the local bus 639 to Kota Bharu (1h. 6 MYR). There we take bus 27 until Wakaf Bharu (15 min, 1.60 MYR). The jungle train departs from this town, we get off at Jerantut 8 hours later. The ticket costs MYR 25 in 2nd class.
How to get to Taman Negara from Jerantut?
From Jerantut to Taman Negara you can go to Tembeling and take the boat or approach the bus station and take the local minibus that takes 1 hour and 7 MYR to take you to Kuala Tahan. The return was made by boat to Tembeling (35 MYR) and from there a taxi for 10 MYR to Jerantut between the two.
Accommodation. Where to sleep in the Taman Negara?In Wakaf Bharu we sleep in the YY Motel, next to the gas station and 200 meters from the train station. Room with A / C and TV for 40 MYR (ask 50 MYR). In Kuala Tahan, The main center of the Taman Negara, we slept in the Dakili, in a double with ventilate for 40 MYR (ask 50 MYR).
Taman NegaraThere are quite a few accommodations and there is no problem finding something without reservation as the Lonely Planet says. On the riverbank there is GH with good views. Agencies and restaurants are usually on floating platforms on the river. There is also an area where you can take a bath quietly. They are offered from one-day walks on the suspension bridges to several-day treks sleeping in the jungle, or night outings in search of animals.
