Our friend Hanis Harun invited us along with her Team Radiant to explore Taman Negara in Pahang, and we were very happy to join in with their activities. Although, I have to confess, we certainly felt our age after this!
Taman Negara is a National Park of huge size (4,343 km2) established in 1938/1939 as a protected area. This deciduous rainforest is estimated to be over 130 million years old. We stayed at the Han Rainforest Resort which is a short ferry ride across from the park. The river here is very shallow and merky; a brown colour associated with too many silted-up rivers in Malaysia as the result of excessive logging. Thankfully, the Tahan River further inside the park was crystal clear and a reminder of what rivers should look like.
Han Rainforest Resort provided the guides for our excursions; this is not a park to wander around alone in. We saw and did so much in the two days in the park, so I have decided to present the photos as Day 1 and Day 2. As the Radiant Retreats group are known for their corporate team-building exercises and nature-based educational camps for children, they also tried out a few new activities on us. We had an English spelling bee competition in which both Lawrence and I failed! We weren’t much better at Zumba either but did manage the Mindfulness session.
On our third day, we drove to Temerloh for lunch on our way back to Janda Baik. This is near the Pahang River and you can find many restaurants serving up the famed ikan patin tempoyak; river fish cooked with a fermented durian sauce which I have described previously. The Pahang River used to be rich in fish but it is now muddy brown and non-productive. If you want to try this famed dish, go to Gobang Maju Patin Tempoyak which is a restaurant by the roadside.
It’s a long drive from Johor Bahru to Taman Negara so we stopped overnight on the way up at Hanis’s place in Janda Baik. Her durian orchard was starting to fruit so I took some photos of this mysterious fruit for which people have a love-hate relationship. You can read about it here.
Finally, a big thank you to Hanis and the staff of Radiant Retreats who made this such an enjoyable trip.
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