This post is wayyyyy overdue. I went on this trip sometime end of May and haven’t gotten time to blog about it, until today. This is the second of my KNK Adventures, the first one being my trip to the Sumbiling Eco-Village. This tour was organised by Freme and cost about $98.

As usual, the day starts of very early, at the ungodly hour of 7am. We waited at the jetty in Bandar for our boat which will take us on a 45 minute ride to Bangar. Above are my children, Ches, Ror, Jay and Azam. Haha, they really are a riot. And yes, that is the same shirt I wore the last time I was in Temburong, in another colour.

As we arrived in Bangar, we were greeted by a pretty Iban girl, Melissa, who was our tour guide for the day. She took the above picture of us before we stuffed our faces with cucur ubi (which I distinctly remember was very nice). We scoffed and talked about how many calories that was and things like that. Little that we know she was preparing us for the strenuous jungle trek (falsely advertised as “leisurely walk through the jungle”) that only cucur ubi can provide fuel for.

Then was the fun 30-minute ride on the temuai towards the National Park. It was quite interesting. Bumped into a few people coming in from the other end and had to slow down each time. The water was pretty shallow so the driver had to navigate carefully or the propeller will be spoiled by the rocks on the riverbed. Ches and me kept wanting to sing, “JUST AROUND THE RIVERBENNNNNDDDDD!!!!!!”. Well, I don’t know if he wanted to, but I really wanted to.

During the temuai ride, you can see loads of interesting sights. Not sure what Jay and Azam saw up there. But if you’re lucky you can see some those giant green lizards, or monkeys and squirrels and things like that. But I thought the people were quite interesting. Some were just hanging around on the rocks, kinda like those men up there. I don’t think they’re fishing cause their net it like hung on a tree branch. I mean, what are they doing??? But they were never stingy with the hellos and his. Waved when we went pass.

30 minutes of ooohhh and ahhhh, we finally arrived here. This is where we were supposed to get down from the temuai to register our names. Since we are going to enter a protected forest reserve, we were required to log in our names, and IC numbers and stuff like that. Not really sure for what.

All was nice and rosy, until… *cue 70s horror movie music* the JUNGLE TREKKING.

Well, let’s just say these guys had to wait for me, more than once. I pretended to take pictures so I can stop and picnic. It really was very pathetic. Melissa our guide? SHE WAS WAYYYYYYY BEYOND IN A LEAGUE OF HER OWN. Went up without even breaking a sweat.

Finally on top! Took me ages! Hahaha. Here’s the obligatory group photo. We had to wait a while for the first group to finish climbing the canopy walkway. There is a certain number of people allowed on the walkway at one given time. They were so noisy man. We made fun of the boot camp tour guide hahaha who was like, “You want to go back to the hotel or not?? YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO HOTEL OR NOT??!! Then climb upstairss!!” Hahaha!!! I kid you not!

Then it was our turn! The canopy walkway was in short, awesome.

Here we are in different states of elevation.

It’s extremely high and perhaps those with extreme fear of heights or extreme fear of falling headfirst into the brown earth will probably have doubts about the safety of the walkway. But if you could just overcome that fear, you’d have the most awesome view.

God, this picture does not do the view any justice. And the sky was just so beautiful. The air there was amazing as well. Perhaps this view is worth the $98?

Red ant I saw on the way down. Perhaps this red ant is worth the $98?

Follow the safety guidelines!

Truthfully climbing up or climbing down was not as scary as I thought it would be. It was pretty secure, especially with the metal railings and steel cages that protects you just in case you slip. I did get a few jitters here and there when the wind is pretty strong, but as long as you hold the railings, and follow the guidelines, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t feel safe.

Then we swam around, well more like drifted around for me. Hahaha. I really don’t know how to swim in the river. Currents are weird. I’d rather swim in the sea where we have waves. In the river it just flows non stop. But water was very nice and cool, perfect after the sweaty jungle trek. Had a little “scare” which I am not at liberty to discuss, but all was well. Hehe. Everything that happens in the Temburong River stays in the Temburong River.

Then it was time to go back to the Lounge and clean up before our delicious prepared lunch.

I was illustrating the mouth of the crocodile which we thankfully did not get a chance to witness. Then we packed up and left for Bangar, where our boat was waiting to send us back to Bandar Seri Begawan.

Kids all tired (and some traumatised) after the day’s activities slept all the way back. Huhuhu.

This was before we too dozed off! LOL.

Was very sunburnt. Had a lovely tan for about 2 days. Haha.

Overall the trip was just okay for me. I have to say that I enjoyed the first trip better as it was more leisurely and more personal, plus we get to eat jungle stuff. This trip had barely any animal sightings, aside from that one lone red ant. Also had to do with our guides. Melissa looked quite intimidated by my 4 children who were chatting non-stop and pretty much left us on our own. It was ok, we liked her giving us some space. The information given was very basic as well, things we could’ve looked up on Wikipedia. I would prefer more insider knowledge, which the guides at Sumbiling had very much shared with us. Made the trip quite special. However, I would recommend this trip for the canopy walkway experience. It is really absolutely breathtaking. DO come by for a visit if you like seeing nature from a rare perspective. But if you like to interact with nature, then perhaps Sumbiling would be much suitable for you.

That is all. Stay tuned for more KNK Adventures! 😀