Tuesday, December 3, 2013
We departed Cherating via flooded roads and headed inland away from the East Coast. The plan was to head to the high ground around Taman Negara National Park. The forecast called for more rain and there was a flood warning in effect. The newspaper stated that 5,000 people had been evacuated from their homes.
The roads were flooded in places with water around 40 cms (or 15 inches) deep in places. All quite passable by Sterlin. We spent most of the day driving ending up in Jerantut. There is not a lot going on in Jerantut. To quote our guide book; “Jerantut is the small, slightly dreary gateway to Taman Negara. There are no attractions in this town”.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Slept in. We figured it was raining and the National Park would wait for us. Turns out our plans were once again thwarted, with the road to the National Park being flooded. The general consensus was that the road would re-open in 3 to 4 days. We tried to get to the jetty where boats depart for Taman Negara, but the road here was also closed. This is a real pity, as we were quite keen to visit this jungle area. Oh well, flexibility is the key and there will be other jungles. So after a quick consultation with our GPS we rerouted ourselves to Kuala Lipis.
The scenery and drive to Kuala Lipis were nice and the rain was easing up. On arrival we found a hotel and also found our first “other” foreign overland vehicle. Later that afternoon we found the owners, Coen and Marijke, and spent a delightful late afternoon, dinner and evening chatting to them. They had lots of good information about getting a vehicle into China, so we picked their brains a little.
A quick check of the news before bed has 20,000 people now displaced and the flood warning still in place. But as we look out of our balcony window, we can see stars, so the weather is definitively improving for us.
