Johor Bahru to Kota Bharu

Well, we are sitting here in the Perhentian islands, relaxing. But how did we get here? This next post tells of our trip from Singapore to here via Johor Bahru, Taman Negara National Park, and Kota Bharu.

Johor Bahur

Only a quick bus ride across the border from Singapore, Johor Bahur (JB) didn’t offer much except a place to sleep the night before taking an early morning train to Jerantut—the entry point into Taman Negara National Park.

Filled with shopping malls, JB is where Singaporeans go for cheap shopping—making use of the advantageous exchange rate to buy clothes, watches, and haircuts. Claire even got in on the act, albeit with some trepidation, as she took the opportunity to get her own haircut. Despite a few more layers than desired, she came away happy and with a much lighter ponytail. I was happy too as it cost significantly less than a haircut in Sydney—albeit I was slightly concerned by the content of the womans’ magazines that I was forced, by lack of choice, to read!

Sleeping in and missing the train was not a good way to start the morning. Fortunately the next train was just a few hours later, so we took that instead.

Malaysian trains are almost everything Indonesian trains are not. They are clean, comfortable, and smoke free. They do not, however, run on time—an infliction common to Indonesian trains as well.

Our train, the ‘next train’, was over an hour late. But that’s not the troubling part. Rather, the troubling part is that the train still managed to make it to Jerantut by its scheduled arrival time. This suggests one of two occurrences. One, the train company knows the time it arrives in Jerantut, but somehow—after all the years it has been operating this train—does not know or intentionally misrepresents the time it arrives in JB. Or two, the train driver knew the train was running late so made up the time by driving extra quickly—which sounds extraordinary given the limits placed on trains. Either way, the occurrence is baffling.

Taman Negara National Park

The train ride to Jerantut was scenic. Colloquially referred to as the ‘jungle railway’, the train line heads north from Johor Bahru through the Malay Peninsula’s semi-mountainous interior. It passes palm oil, rubber, and banana plantations, jungles, small towns, and various mills. It crosses rivers and winds around limestone outcrops. We read mostly, enjoying the comfort and looking up every so often to see the changing scenery or alighting passengers.

Arriving in Jerantut just before 5pm, we raced to get the last public bus to Kuala Tahan—the small laid-back village the sits directly across the river from Taman Negara National Park. Making only three trips a day, the rickety bus took 1.5 hours to reach the village. We climbed hills and passed misted rainforest as we drove. The air cooled noticeably.

That night we stayed in the Tembeling Riverview Hostel and ate at one of the floating restaurants that line the river bank. We stayed for two days in Kuala Tahan before heading north to Kota Bharu.

Taman Negara is touted as the oldest rainforest in the world—it remained unaffected by ice ages, bush fires, and volcanic activity for at least 130 million years. Although a sanctuary for rare animals like the Asian elephant, tigers, leopards, and rhinos, sightings are rare. Instead, explorers like us seek the pristine extant primary rainforest and a break from urban jungles.

Our first day started slowly but ended with a four hour trek. We climbed Bukit Teresik (344m), balanced along a canopy walk, and swum in the muddied waters of Sungai Melantia—a nearby river. The looped trail was well used and signposted.

Day two was longer. Starting early, we set out on an 8 hour trek to cascading rapids and back. Our trip was uneventful until we were attacked by leeches—Claire’s second brush with the blood-sucking critters. More of an annoyance than anything, our socks we drenched in blood and our feet covered in small lesions. We ate fried rice on rocks for lunch and I swum while Claire read.

The next day we returned to Jerantut and took the jungle railway to Kota Bharu—a night stop before our trip to the Perhentian islands.

Kota Bharu

The sun was setting as we arrived at the train station, 5km from Kota Bharu. We intended to take a public bus to its centre, but that plan failed as no buses came. We then tried to haggle our way to a cheap taxi. But that failed too as most taxi drivers were praying at a local mosque.

Frustrated after wasting almost two hours, we finally split a more expensive taxi fare with two Swedish travellers. Lessons were learned!

We all stayed at the Ideal Traveller Hostel and went out to the night market for dinner. Cheap and with a large selection of local food, the market had many mobile stalls. We ate steam buns, murtabak, and blue rice. We slept easy.

The next morning we took an early morning mini bus with our Swedish travellers to Kuala Besut. Here we boarded a fast boat to Palau Perhentian Kecil—the smaller of the two Perhentian islands.

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Our next post will be about the Perhentian islands. Until then, love to all,

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