Who knew you could find internet in the rainforest?? I'm currently writing from a computer inside a villager's home, across the river from our hostel. The family has set up quite a nice internet business catering to tourists, like yours truly.

Taman Negara has been absolutely breathtaking. We arrived on Sunday after a very long day of travel. On the final leg of the trip - surprise, surprise - got caught in a massive rainstorm whilst in our boats! Rain in the rainforest is crazy! Luckily the men who operate the boat seemed unconcerned and provided us (well, some of us!) with ponchos so we were able to cover ourselves and our bags up. Still, all were quite drenched by the time we got settled in.

Yesterday was our first full day here, and it was incredible! We began with a morning hike to the canapy walkway. You climb up this watchtower and then walk along this rickety netted path across the tops of the trees! Poor Dan is afraid of heights so it was a bit difficult for him, but I had a blast. The walkway is basically metal ladders linked together with plywood planks nailed on top. Then there's netting and a rope handrailing on both sices. You drift back and forth quite a bit while you walk along so I could see how someone might get nervous. I, however, found it exhilerating.

After the canapy walk we did a 45 minute uphill hike to get to the best vista in our section of the park. By the end of the hike I was not only exhausted, but I also looked like I had just walked out of the shower, I was that drenched in sweat. There was an unbeatable view from the top, though! At some points on the hike, the path was so steep you had to pull yourself up by clinging to a rope. Very cool, but very exhausting! Once we got to the top we could see the river below and the green hills of tropical plants everywhere.

After making our way back to the camp, we went to a swimming hole/waterfall area about 45 minutes away by boat. I think the boat trip was my favorite part of the expedition (though I loved the swimming as well) because we got to see so much. The roots on the trees here look like giant octopuses. There are birds everywhere, and crazy looking plants dot the waterline. Once we arrived we went on a short hike to reach the waterfalls and dove in. It felt amazing after such a long morning!

After dinner, we all went on a night hike with a guide to see all the nocturnal animals and insects in the forest. It's a good thing we didn't do the walk the first night we were here because thoughts of those massive insects would have creeped me out during our hikes! The spiders here are at least the size of an adult hand. We saw a bat, some snakes, scorpians, stick insects, tons of massive grasshoppers, and some really cute birds who didn't seem to mind at all when we shined the flashlight in their faces. Our guide, Bogo, told us lots of interesting trivia about the jungle and identified some of the major sounds which was really cool. The level of noise is unbelievable. My favorite part was just ignoring the rest of the group and getting lost in the sounds of it all.

Today we are going to go visit the Orang Asli, or indigenous peoples of Malaysia. I'm prepared to be depressed about it though because their way of life is increasingly going the way of the dinosaur. They resettle in the jungle every year so Prof Heng isn't sure how long our boat ride will be or if we'll have to hike to get to them. In any case, it should be quite an adventure.

More when I get back to KL! Am still in awe of being online in the rainforest....