Malaysia day 3

For my final day in Malaysia, I really wanted to see a rainforest. Malaysia has beautiful rain forests with exotic plants and animals, but they are a bit far from Kuala Lumpur. There is a place called the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), which is just outside the city, and has a forest where they do research particularly on trees. So I decided to check it out. I arrived at 9am, and met my 19-year-old guide. The first thing we checked out was the giant fish called the arapaima or pirarucu (look it up!). In FRIM’s small pond, there were about 4, and the biggest one (that is actually small) is about 6ft long. Yes, feet, not inches. These fish can grow up to 10ft and weigh about 400 lbs! They leap out of the water to catch animals like monkeys who sit on low-lying branches. He suggested I not leave my camera hanging around. The water was quite murky, so I didn’t get a picture, but I could see it’s spine slithering through the water, and one’s head popped out once. It was ugly!
We walked through the forest while my young guide pointed out different trees and plants. I think my two favorites are the puzzle looking treetops and the twisty trees. The puzzle trees (that’s not their real name) are super smart trees that do not touch each other and even stay at different heights to keep apart. That way, they do not pass any diseases. How considerate! There is also the elephant tree, which my guide pointed out was a “boy.”
The main attraction at FRIM is the canopy that is suspended about 30 meters off the ground with spectacular views. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance until the October 20th or so. Then I saw that its main support was one metal rope tied (and bolted) around a tree, and I wasn’t so disappointed anymore.
The last thing he showed me was a small waterfall/river. I saw a sign that pointed to a trail to the right, along with all the people walking to the right, so I assumed that we would also go that way. Silly me. The 19-year-old boy wanted to take the “faster” way down the hill. We climbed over rocks, around a pipe, and through streams to make it down faster than all the rest. Yay! We won!?
Now luckily I had doused myself in bug spray (called “Mushi Bye Bye”), which actually did a great job keeping the bugs (mushi) away. My guide did not have anything on (I offered to share!), and was surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes, various bugs and a leech. I kept looking at myself, but I didn’t see anything! I was happy to not be the bug magnet.
As I learned by doing some research before I left, most Malaysians are Muslim. Right now is Ramadan, and so my guide could not even have a drop of water, I felt guilty drinking in front of him.
After the hike, I rushed back to my hotel room, showered, checked out, and then went to the train station to catch the train back to Singapore. This train left at 2:15 and was supposed to reach Singapore at 9:30pm, but somehow we were delayed along the way and I didn’t get there until 11:30pm. So my plans for going to the night safari and shopping were changed to sleeping curled up in a little ball on a chair at the airport. But actually to stay overnight in an airport, Singapore’s is probably the best. They have shops that stay open all night, free internet (if you stand and use it), big TV’s to watch, bars, and The Coffee Bean. I did get some sleep, but it was not very restful. Once in the middle of the night I was awakened by a police officer that was checking everyone’s ticket and passport. He was very friendly, but along with many pairs of police officers and customs officer that I saw in Singapore, there was always a third man dressed in military looking clothes, wearing a beret, carrying some sort of large automatic weapon, a handgun on his side, and a machete slung on his back. Pretty intimidating I’d say.
After a restless night, I got on the plane and left at about 8am back to Japan.
Overall, I enjoyed both places, I think I would like to go back to Malaysia and check out other cities and maybe some rainforests. Both places had good shopping and great food. I would definitely go back again.