Wednesday, September 22, 2004

[continuing the trip to Taman Negara]..... Since the road end at the river front, we decided to look for our accommodation at the Rainforest Resort..... When I made the booking the night before the receptionist who took my booking, told me that there are road sign showing the where about of the Resort and he said that we could drive straight to the front of the Hotel.... So how do I get to booking this hotel....Well the story is like this, actually I do not have any clue as to the existence of such resort.... My first choice was the Mutiara Hotel, that was recommended by our daughter who made the visit to Taman Negara recently.....She say that we should stay there so I check the internet for the hotel site and learn more about this, it is a four star hotel and the rate is not that expensive, so I tried to book two rooms for the duration of our stay there, but when I made the booking, I found out that if I did not take the room reserved I would have to pay for the reservation.....Well....What if I had to cancelled at the last minute....One can never tell...And not to take the risk I decided not to book through the internet and since it is not a holiday period, my spouse say that there would be plenty of rooms, so it would advisable to just book it a day earlier.....So a day before leaving for Kuala Tahan,I call Mutiara Resort and was told that for the days that I requested, the hotel are fully booked.....Well.... What to do, we planned to leave tomorrow....I then ask for advise from the receptionist and was kind enough to give me the number of the next best resort that I could enquire..... Thanking him...I call the Rainforest Resort and was told that there are rooms available for the days requested.....So I made a booking and hoping for the best...... The receptionist at the Rainforest Resort even told me that we could drive right to the front of the hotel......Well luck was on our side and on arrival at Kuala Tahan and after looking for a while we found the hotel, a sprawling complex of new buildings and an imposing reception hall and awaiting our arrival are a set of fine young man and woman smiling, providing us wary travelers a sight of relief....Our two room was just waiting and after looking at several other rooms we decided to take the room that was assigned to us....A great room with all the modern amenities and well done washroom......We settled down and took a rest and then at about six in the evening decided to go out to look for more adventure and perhaps a great dinner by the riverside......We were rather surprised to see the floating restaurants, that many and throng with European tourist enjoying their dinner, across the river is the Mutiara Hotel and the National Park's management office, so we decided to get across and it cost just fifty cents one way to cross the river by boat, it is just a two minutes crossing and yet we had the difficulty of boarding the small boats, for the spouse of my friend had a phobia of boats and was reluctant to get into this small boats...It was a hilarious occasion.., I thought at first when the ladies were talking about not taking the boat were just a joke and would eventually passed, but then when it came to the real thing, it was a difference story altogether....My spouse was willing to try but the other lady was real afraid..... She was so frighten that only after some gentle persuasion, would she board the boat...It was indeed an exciting events, but then it is one of those thing in real life, that happen to people who had never been on a boat crossing a river before.....As for me I enjoy the river boating for in my youth I had done it many time and enjoy it like any adventure in our youth.....After getting four of us into the boat....The boatman took us across the river and then we had to climb steps, pretty high to get up the top of the bank of the river, where the Mutiara Hotel is situated, among lush forest trees, the hotel was built to accommodates all those old forest trees, the floral and fauna intack, making the setting of the hotel complex such a picturesque sight, like a well designed setting in a play....Well blend with its lush green forest surrounding....We walk around the resort complex and enjoy the evening wondering under the lush canopy of forest trees, that had been there for million of years...It is just like going back in time, the air were so fresh... Living in the city for so long, we sometime forget the real smell of freshness and what it is like to live in natural surrounding, like these area in the National Park.....Seen at the chalets are many western tourist, sitting at the balcony enjoy the wonderful atmosphere and quietly reading books, passing the evening like those Rich and Famous that one see in the movie.....We wonder a while and then decided to get back across the river and look for a place for dinner.....[to be continue]

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