Elvis Saves The Day

Lunch over we are herded onto this clapped out old VW campervan and driven about 20 minutes to the jetty to board our boat to take us on our 4 hour journey deeper into to the rainforest. It’s a wooden boat, very typical of what you’d expect, and seats about 12 people, 2 in each seat. With all of us on board plus our luggage (mine looking the most ridiculous amongst that belong to my fellow boat travellers) we are pretty low in the water which is slightly disturbing especially when you consider we have got about 4 hours to go. Still, what I have to remember is that these guys know exactly what they are doing, and i trust they know the weight limit of the boats.

I don't think there are crocodiles in this part of the country either...

And so we’re off – what a fantastic way to travel. We speed through the river upstream, navigating the currents and swinging from left to right hand of the riverbank, which gives brilliant views of the bank sides, with all the lush vegetation, wildlife (monkeys, water buffalo, some skinny cows, exotic birds) and, as we sweep from bank to bank, views up and downstream. Absolutely stunning: I feel really relaxed as I lie back in my (surprisingly comfortable) wooden seat and allow the sun to warm my face and the wind to cool me down. Bliss! I’m sat next to this young black guy who sleeps most of the way, which seems a bit silly really – I’d want to spend every minute looking at what’s around me and taking in the ride. Elvis and Jiyoung are sitting behind me, and it’s cool that we are all alone, as we’ve started chatting to each other. 

I feel very relaxed now.

About an hour into the journey, the engine starts to splutter and then conks out. My initial reaction is that of a bit of non-concern: these trips have been going on for years and the boatman are very experienced, so I just think that he’ll get it started again. He then ask whether anyone has a pair of pliers and a knife, and has taken apart the motor fuel lines. Hmm, maybe we really are fucked! Great, I am stranded on a wooden boat and drifting downstream on a river running through a jungle in the middle of nowhere without any mobile signal. 

Suddenly I am not so relaxed…

Elvis saves the day as he’s got a penknife, with both a pair of pliers on and, of course, a knife! After farting about with the engine, for about 30 minutes, the driver restarts it and we’re off! Later on, when we were discussing this over dinner, we did wonder whether it was part of the tour, but that’s just because it turns out that we are all cynical bastards! Funny enough though, it got everyone talking to each other, so maybe…

There are a few more splutters and engine failures before we reach our final destination – the Taman Negara resort, specifically the Floating Restaurant, where we disembark and are met by a ‘welcoming party’. Actually, the guy was really quite rude and sounded like he’d given this welcoming speech so many times before. Granted, he probably had, but he at least could have pretended – after all, he was probably getting paid quite a bit for this.

Actually, he probably wasn't. 

He looked at my luggage as it got unloaded and smiled to himself.