Since I had already been to Tioman, Jackson and I decided we wanted to trek to Tsik Chini, Malaysia for the remainder of the four day weekend. The Lonely Planet described it as “a hidden gem…hard to get to, but so worth it”. If only we had taken those words more literally. We left on Sunday afternoon to begin our trip up North to Tsik Chini where we were planning to stay at Rajan’s Guesthouse. Jackson and I lucked out by getting the last two spots on the bus to Kuantan, which is the closest city to Tsik Chini. Once we got to Kuantan, it became a hassle finding a taxi. The taxi drivers were too scared to drive back from Rajans alone due to the "evil spirits" in the rainforest at night. We finally found a brave soul to drive us up to Tsik Chini, which we soon discovered was in the middle of nowhere, in an isolated village, in the center of a tropical rainforest. After a long and frightening cab ride through the slippery roads and pounding rains, we arrived at Rajan’s Guest House.
Rajan was quite the character. As we pull into the guest house, Rajan is shaking his head at us and angry that we had arrived later than was expected. His wife had waited up to serve us food. She miserably gave Jackson and I some tea and biscuits and directed us to our room. I did not know what a ‘budget’ room was until Rajan’s place...it was as basic as basic can get. It consisted of a room of wooden walls, a blanket and a bugs net. Since I was so tired I didn’t mind and fell fast asleep. I then was awakened by the loudest and heaviest rainfall I had ever heard. Thought the roof was going to collapse on us, but luckily it died down. We woke up to a wet morning with tea and fried noodles with thai sauce (not your typical breakfast). Jackson and I were eager to start the Jungle Trek and boat tour, however that’s not how things work in Rajan’s village. Rajan’s words exactly “You city people are always go-go-go… this is not the city, you don’t push button and get what you want. You need to take it slow, take your time, things happen when they happen”. The only thing on our minds were uh-oh, we trekked all the way here and we are not going to get anything accomplished. After being a little aggressive and acting like typical ‘city people’ Rajan agreed to try and arrange a boat tour for us.
We walk through the village and the villagers are outside on their porches starring at us. We peered into their houses… and interestingly, there were no couches, no tables, no pictures on the wall, just a large plasma television screen. Very odd. We finally get onto the boat tour and are taken on a lake full of vegetation, narrow channels and blooming lotus flowers. In the narrow channels, you could look up and see monkeys rustling in the trees. The ride was beautiful, although we were hoping to see a little bit more lotus flowers. The journey back home was long and freezing, since they blast the AC colder than the Canadian winter. This was then followed by Jackson losing his student pass and me being locked out of my residence room at 3 in the morning. Not a problem...Jackson just needs to get a new Student Pass and the locksmiths here in Singapore just break down your door. Definitely a very adventurous weekend. Jackson imitates Rajan till this day “this is no city, you don’t just push button” and it is always a good laugh.
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