“Living in full wild jungle is often less dangerous than living in a human agglomeration.” Daniel Desbiens

After the long bus ride yesterday we decided to stay one more night on Pangkor, especially since this morning awakening is hard and late. We will have perhaps a day or two to put us at the pace of the new time zones ! We swallow our last two BN (brought from France) Joyce and ask from where the trek through the Malaysian jungle spotted on a map. She explains that few people do, and we'll need a machete because the path must be covered by vegetation. It takes three and a half hours according to him to reach the west coast of the island as the trail goes up and down, but apart from mosquitoes place is safe. Boon, great son, tells us to stop on the road to his fish farm where he will lend us a machete.

To the "farm fish"

Wooden boat building

When we get there it is in the process of sharpening and we entrust it with a smile meant to be reassuring : “You will be alright! You’ll be safe!”. We redemandons it with details of the way but despite his laughter – is it so funny two tourists who want to go into the jungle rather than sugar-coat ? 😀 – he assures us again that it is safe and tells us where the starting location : continue north and then take the first concrete trail on the left.

Strait of Malacca

Malaysian graves

We will know later that we decided to take was not yet good start is nice, amid the tombs Malaysian, overlooking the Straits of Malacca and off the continent ; but soon the path disappears and the percentage of the slope is increasing. Also armed with a compass, We regularly check the westbound while paving our way amidst the various trees, plants that bite, cobwebs, red ants… Very soon our clothes were soaked with sweat – literally – but by giving us small regular breaks to rest heart and lungs, we keep a reasonable pace. This should be a little less than an hour we walk – along the west because still no way ! – when we hear the sound of water flowing and reminiscing Joyce spoke of a waterfall we follow an instant index. Fortunately we realize very quickly that the semblance trail returns to the east and we turn around and continue up the hill to the slope of increasingly impressive. We reach a clearing where a path goes down but the rest is only short lived as we are again trying to climb, almost on all fours in some passages, what spit toxins !

The second glade we meet seems to finally be the highlight of our road, we sit on the floor to retrieve when a third thief comes to join the party : a wild pig grunts a few meters, Monsieur grogne plus fort et l’animal file sans demander son reste. As I am about to go down straight, Monsieur – or Crocodile Dundee soul, see below video ! – suggests that we go a little further west even if the way seems to go back. Very good decision because we fall back on a path – the way ? – even with the luxury of an indication of one of the trees ! Here and there the trees are marked with a red band and path is clear. Again the calm is short, the descent is extremely steep and we must cling to trees (not good palms full of spikes or small needles) to avoid surfing the leaves – Whatever we may arrive more quickly at the bottom !

Plusieurs fois nous perdons trace des arbres marqués mais heureusement Monsieur nous redirige sur la bonne piste à deux reprises – without him, I will surely out of the jungle as, ça m’aurait juste pris quelques heures de plus 😕 ! Fatigue is at its peak, the urge to lie down to do nothing is not far when we finally succeed on flat, we are not so far removed from the tropical forest and the sun begins to seriously decline. On our way we passed some human trash, civilization approaches but all openings are dead ends… Wading a moment in a muddy creek, we find one of the marked trees and arrive to dwellings – surely one of the first times we will be happy to see concrete. 😮 Et voilà la fameuse cascade – small – where holding us to drink we still Rincons. We missed a few steps to see the panel advising not to soak in water – ça va nous sommes toujours vivants 😉 , a few others to get in a holiday camp where stands a fountain… !

First sign ... after more than two hours

First signs of civilization

The few people present apologize for not drinking water – after we have asked if we were looking for “cascade”, no thank you but actually from this side it's easier, five minutes walk rather than four and a half hours ! They tell us that the village of Teluk Nipah is a few meters and we find water. We stop at the first house where a man gives us a small bottle of almost hot water, puis un peu plus loin nous achetons une grande bouteille fraîche dans une guesthouse que nous vidons doucement – la bouteille d’eau pas la maison d’hôte 😛 .

Leech Malaysian

Leech saliva anticoagulant =

Finally arrived oceanfront, we buy two apples crossed the first place to fill our stomachs. Sitting on the beach, Monsieur prend le temps de regarder ses chaussettes sur lesquelles est apparu du sang presque dès le début de la marche. Nothing at first sight, until a leech is finally unmasked, then a second ! It removes immediately socks and shoes to check that there are no other, I also did so and makes me realize that I have not been spared ; if I am not evident to me earlier that's just because my socks are black ! The anticoagulant in leech saliva that our few half-dozen small wounds do not stop bleeding, so it's full of mud, sweat and blood as we near the taxi rank in the city to request a return to SPK, without a moment's hesitation to pay twenty ringgit !

A little salt water on wounds

Malaysian meals

After a hot shower, we tell our day Joyce and Boon, the discussion continues in laughter until we were going to eat. It's pouring and few places are open, so we follow our guests in a local tavern. Joyce takes the time to explain the principle and all the different ingredients – Basic simple soup or curry, tofu addition, fish, meat, noodles. I enjoy a broth with noodles, tofu and fish – after all we are in a fishing village ! – tandis que Monsieur ne peut manger le poulet au curry un peu trop épicé (encore une fois promis comme très peu épicé 😛 ), Fortunately there is a good dish of pork dumplings accompanied watered soy sauce noodles ! Joyce also recommended us a fresh and green local drink, very good but I do not know what fruit it is ! A local anyway, whose taste is softened by the addition of a nut – which one ? – directly in the glass. Back at the guesthouse late we are discussing with Joyce that enjoins us to spend one more night on the island. We lie on reflection, very tempted as we love the place… yes, yes, even after we almost lost in the jungle ! 😎