A few things have occurred to me – or things have simply occurred – since my earlier piece from Mutiara Taman Negara. So here is a second despatch from the Malaysian jungle before we head back to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.
The trees fascinate me. Yes, I can remember learning at school that the tallest, most successful trees burst through the luxuriant vegetation to get light from their uppermost leaves. This makes them very tall and straight. I drew a picture of it all in my geography book, aged about 11. What I had forgotten, or never knew in the first place, is what wonderful bases and roots they have. Each tall tree is supported by a powerful pattern of huge pale grey – slender but strong stablisers, like dinosaur shoulder blades.
I was taken to see the tree which claims to be the tallest in the forest and its “stabilisers” are about eight feet high, each one powerful enough to hold up a heavy 200 foot tree for many years.
Then there was the boat trip. Four of us sat, legs akimbo in the bottom of long thin craft. Would we call it a skiff? Then we (life jackets on) shot down the Timbeling river at high speed. Propulsion depends on a skilled combination of the right number of revs from the man with the outboard at the back and adept punting by the chap at the front for all the world as if we were on the Cam on a prim, spring English afternoon. Thus we scraped through shallows in which the stones grated on the underside of the craft and darted through deeper stretches, constantly weaving from one side of the river to the other.
In places the canopy meets over the river creating dappled tropical shade. Elsewhere it’s full sun as we ricochet round the meanders. Everywhere the vegetation merges with, and feeds, the river just as the river nurtures the plant life. Trees sit at strange angles like a damp game of giant spillikins. Gigantic rotten branches are in the process of melting away into the water. I know there are crocodiles in this national park but of course, common sense tells me they’re aren’t likely to be any in this relatively built up section which attracts tourists. Nonetheless I look (Kipling and Roald Dahl have a lot to answer for) hopefully at every log. Otters do live around here though and of course the bird life is abundant. No shortage of insects either – 150,000 different species in the National Park and the repellent I bought back home at the supermarket doesn’t always seem to be up to the job.
Several times we’ve crossed the river (ferrymen are terse but plentiful) and tootled around in the hire car. The warning sign about elephants crossing the road made my day. I also love driving on these roads – immaculately surfaced and maintained – no sign of the signature potholes we’ve grown so used to in the UK.
And in between times we walk into the forest on the boardwalk. Nearby is the world’s longest canopy walkway. There’s an ancient hide overlooking a salt swamp too built by the British before independence when this area was called the George V National Park. I’ve seen nothing at the hide, despite trying at dawn, but I’m told there are often deer there and that some tourists reported a puma sighting in January.
As for the Mutiara itself well – with a few very minor caveats – I think they’re doing a pretty good job. The joy of this place is that there is nothing to do – except relate to the jungle and what it offers. The company, which has eight other more conventional hotels elsewhere in Malaysia, has wisely resisted the temptation to add pools, gyms, children’s play area or anything else which doesn’t directly relate to its raison d’etre. The accommodation is more than adequate for two tired people in search of an escape and a completely undemanding rest in a pretty idyllic location. Ants in the bathroom add to the natural feel although I could have done without a visit from a huge spider which we failed to catch and then worried that, still at large and close by, it could be venomous.
We’ve had a lot of very courteous attention from staff, especially from Rohaizam Bin Idris, food and beverage manager, who has personally ensured that we, as vegetarians, have had plenty to eat during the week we’ve spent here.
Yes, come here to learn about the jungle – as many school parties and youth groups from all over the world do. Come as an energetic young tourist to hike and photograph. Or, as we did, come and switch off. It works – really works – at many levels.
I’ve seen most of GDS Productions’s shows in recent years. It’s an interesting, enterprising company and there’s always something to commend. This time – in the annual February half-term pantomime – I was struck particularly by the quality of several beautifully choreographed (by Emma Hodge and Bethany Kimber) and sung ensemble scenes. A gold star too to whoever rehearsed the six very young children who formed the junior chorus. They are more or less together and evidently well drilled. Moreover, any scene which gets audience children literally and spontaneously dancing in the aisles – as happened at the Friday matinee I attended – is clearly getting it right. The finale to Act 1 – A Beastly Banquet, which owes a big debt to Disney is great fun, for example.
I have written many times about my firmly held view that recent performing arts graduates should be inventively creating work of their own and that drama schools should be warmly encouraging them to do so. Lost Watch, formed by three women when they were students on Uri Goodner’s BA Acting and Contemporary Theatre course at East 15, is an interesting example of how well it can work.
