Royal Belum Rainforest, Perak

Travel on: Mid January, 2014 for 3 days-2 nights
How: by private car
With: husband and his friends (total 13 people)

Type: ecotourism
Total cost: 1000 MYR for 2 persons, including permit, boat rental, chatel, food (self cooking), car fuel n highway, guide to waterfall & rafflesia and visiting indigenous people.
When I write this, 1 USD is about 3.32 MYR.

Royal Belum Rainforest is said to be one of the oldest rainforests in the world, even older than the amazon. It is located in state Perak, north Malaysia.

To enter Royal Belum, we need to obtain permit first. My friend arranged this for us a week before, so I don't know exactly the details to obtain this permit, but as foreigner, my husband and I only provided a copy of our passport.

We left Klang around 3.30 a.m., stopped several times to refuel and sholat subuh, arrived in Gerik around 8.00 a.m for breakfast. We arrived in Pulau Banding jetty in around 9.30 a.m. Then we waited for our friends there.

The car is left in Pulau Banding port, parking fee is 10RM. Then we took jetty to Sungai Tiang, which took less than half an hour. We used Belum Temenggor Adventure Crew as guide for this trip (package include rental boat, chalets, tour).We stayed in Sungai Tiang campsite, which has five chalets (each has one king bed, attached bathroom), two single chalets (two single beds only), public toilet and bathroom (separated for male n female), public kitchen (you have to cook and even bring your own cooking amenities), hall, and a lot of huts. No restaurant, no network coverage, no TV, no hot water shower, electricity from generator only for evening which are fine for me since it was only three days and I came with my husband anyway.

There is alternatif other than campsite, we can rent a house boat. But the price does not make sense for me (4k MYR per night plus 1K per night for two boats). For price like that, I would expect to get a luxurious yacht, not a bamboo/wooden house boat.

When we arrived in Sungai Tiang campsite, the ranger has not come yet so we could not enter our chalets. So we cooked and had our lunch first. When the ranger came about four hours later (around four in the afternoon), I finally see inside the chalet. My first impression was: it was dirty. The floor was very dusty, the bedsheet n pillowsheet had stains here and there, the toilet seats was dirty, the bathroom floor was dirty. The place had just been renovated about three months before, so everything can still be considered new. But I was not happy to have to mop the floor first (and even swop it with lots of my wet tissues) and brush the toilet before using it. I covered the pillow with my clothes when I sleep. Okay may be the others did not do these, but I am very sensitive with cleanliness. Things like those can ruin my mood.

Each has two single beds

Each has king bed and bathroom with shower

This place is fantastic for people who like lake fishing. The lake is artificial lake, made by damming up the river. But it is a very huuuuge lake. For those who don't like fishing, like me, there's not much to do here. Fortunately I bring my book. I just read the book, sitting on the bench on the lakeside. My husband's male friends went fishing all the time, leaving their wives behind just to cook and chat. Again, fortunately, my husband doesn't like fishing, so he spent time with me chatting and reading side by side.

The second day after breakfast we took our boat to the trekking area to see the waterfall and rafflesia flower. The trekking was light, took only 20 minutes (maybe less). But I got stressed because on our way there, there are soo many small bloodsuckers ready to jump on you and suck your blood. Some were sticking on my feet but I realised it and cleaned them off before they suck anything. My husband did not realised them sticking on between his toes, and ended up surprised by blood on his feet. The baby leeches have some kind of anti coagulation agent so even when they stop sucking blood, the blood keeps on dripping. It did not hurt, but I think it was disgusting. The waterfall was okay, and seeing rafflesia on its nature habitat was nice.

After that we visit a village of indigenous people. They already use modern clothes, sing modern songs, use boat to travel to the city, and some can speak Malay and English. The house was still using thatched roof and bamboo/rotan floor. They use net for fishing and blow pipe for bird hunting.

The next day after breakfast and preparing lunch, we cleaned up everything, put everything on the boat, and went to another waterfall to swim there. We had lunch on the rocks beside the waterfall, cleaned up everything, and got back to the boat, back to Pulau Banding port. The journey back to our home near KL took about 6 hours driving, including one stop for refueling and one stop for sholat.

The place is nice for two days-one night trip only (if you don't like fishing), nice for retreating from daily routines, and the scenery was amazing. The weather was nice, cold at night. But overall, I rate this trip as 'just to know only' because of the leeches and dirty room. Nice experience, but once is enough. Well, I'm not a spoiled city girl. I have been undergound caving, waterfall rapling, rafting, body rafting in the river, etc. But I just can't stand leeches, and dirty room/bedsheet/bathroom.