Day 163. - Biggest flower in Malaysia

Nic and I had arranged another tour today, this time through a travel company, so we could see Rafflesia - the world's biggest flower.  We were collected at 8.45am by a 4wd.  There were 5 other people in our group - 2 French, 2 German and 1 guy from Austria. We drove for 40min out of town, then met 2 other 4wd's for a real 4wd adventure through the jungle.  The roads were incredibly rough and muddy so the next 20min was incredibly entertaining!!

We reached a particular spot and were told we were on foot from that point.  Each person was given a crown made of fern - meant to be good for keeping away mosquitos and bees.  The trek was lovely but unfortunately quite short.  We had been told that we might be walking for 2-3 hours to reach a spot to see a good quality Rafflesia, but we had only been walking for half an hour.  Scouts are employed from the local village (Seniai Orang Asli people) as once the flower opens, it only lasts for 7 days.  It really is an incredible flower (from the fungus family) and I am so pleased we went to see it.

After seeing the flower we then made our way back out of the jungle, and visited the local village for a blow pipe hunting demonstration and to wander around the village.  I sometimes wonder if this is tourism or exploitation - don't really know the answer to this one.

After a great buffet lunch of tasty India in a road-side restaurant, Nic and I were dropped of again in Tanah Rata.  It was about 3pm and really quickly the cloud came rolling in so we could barely see a couple of metres in front of us.  It was so eerie!  I was keen to take photos of a convent in the town but I couldn't because of the fog.  Instead we walked back to the hotel in the rain - I loved it!  It was so nice to be cool, but not cold, and to feel the rain on my face.  We arrived back at the hotel (approx 20 min walk), really wet.

After chilling out for awhile, having a gin, shower and changing, Nic and I caught a taxi into town for dinner.  We had chosen one place but nobody was in there so instead went into a restaurant that was veyr popular.  We both had a curry that was really tasty.  We bumped into various people from our tour earlier that day on the street.  We had an early night, it had been a big day.