Trekking into the rainforest

With our heart in our hands we got onto a mini-bus after a wonderful Dosa for breakfast. Our first stop was a butterfly farm. This was simple set-up but the stick insects, reptiles, tortoises and lovely coloured butterfly were nice to see. Our second stop was BoH tea plantation, the tour of the tea making factory was not only aromatic but also very interesting.

After a simple lunch in Brinchang we headed downhill to a roadside 'tribal settlement'. We were informed that the aboriginal tribes in the area were drawn out of the forests, given simple housing, schooling and medical clinics. From here our guide was joined by 2 tribal men and we headed into the forest. After 2-3hrs of walking we stopped and setup camp. Once we put the tents up we were informed that sleeping bags were not provided (the website stated that camping gear was provided)!

After we freshened up at the stream & explored the forest nearby we returned to camp to find the 2 tribal men building a bamboo structure, which was eventually layered banana leaves to shelter the fire (it had been raining a little up here). We were in awe of the speed at which the structure went up. The men went into the forest, with one swipe of their machete they detached a bamboo and carried it back to camp.

Once the structure was up, they started on preparing dinner (rice and chicken curry) & tea (tea leaves and water) in bamboo tubes. It was a good feed.

After dinner we went for a night trek to see if we could see any nocturnal animals and insects. We didn't come across anything... Just a 3metre wide buttress tree they we asked to return to in the morning.

Bedtime was uncomfortable, our tents were setup on tree roots and other debris, with no sleeping bags and just liners we were absolutely freezing all night. The misinformation by the company was annoying because we all had travel sleeping bags back at home.