Orang Asli Village

Shooting Blow Darts

“Keep your eyes closed, try to sleep in, come on keep them closed!”

​Unfortunately my goal of sleeping in wasn’t reached. I was able to at least stay in bed until 9:30 am, which might seem late to many but having had my sleep interrupted a few times, I needed those extra minutes and I had nothing else to do.

The waiting game began…

There isn’t that much to do in Taman Negara, which we have come to realize. Completing most of the activities here at the national park, the last adventure was to visit the Orang Asli Village which was on my list to do back in Cameron Highlands, so finally the opportunity was present. Visiting the village didn’t start until 3 pm, so we packed our things and made our way down to Mama Chop for breakfast where we left our bags at the travel agency located there.
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Four hours later Liz and I were on our way via long boat to an Orang Asli Village. There was already a long boat there when we arrived, so the tour was packed. We climbed up the sand into the small village – well what appeared to be small but apparently up to 40 people live in the huts. We walked around a bit, while the villagers gathered together in a small hut to stare at us. It was a different experience, as we came to see tribesman and their way of life, while they watched as foreigners came into their homes. The Orang Asli are traditionally nomadic and believe there are spirits in objects. Nowadays, they use some of the money from the tours to support their families and ensure everyone in the community is taken care of. 

Our tour guide showed us all of the different natural materials they use to make fires and build intricate blow darts. The Orang Asli villagers showed us how they make a fire and how to use the blow dart to hunt. The tour guide asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to stand infront while the villager tried to hit the target. I volunteered right away! But he ended up just joking about that, as they aren't always as accurate as you would want it to be. Giving all of us a try at the blow dart - some of us a second try - we had a great time trying to shoot the teddy bear. After the tour and demonstration was over we walked on down to our long boat, where our young passenger was scooping out the water from the long boat.

The Orang Asli Village and Rapid Shooting package isn’t worth it, as they arrived shortly after we got back from the village ourselves. Your best off just purchasing the Orang Asli Village ticket. Also, while the tour guide was talking a couple kept on talking throughout which was kind of annoying, so hopefully you don't have that!

Once we were back from our tour, we caught up with Tonia who was feeling a bit better and waited some more. We got into our bus/van to Jerantut where we would be catching the sleeper train at 1 am to Singapore. We had a lot of time to kill before the train so we made our way to a Pizza Hut to have dinner and kill time. The joys of a Pizza Hut! At some point we decided to head to the train station as we didn't have anything else to do. We met a German couple at the station, so we chatted with them a bit about their travels. When the sleeper train arrived we ended up going to the wrong beds and almost got in with other people! But quickly realizing our mistake, we walked up into the next cabin and found our beds. I quite liked the sleeper train and would recommend it to those on a budget.

Total Cost = 113.65 RM

• 45 RM Orang Asli Village
• 16 RM for Breakfast at Mama Chop (Banana Roti & Mango Lassi)
• 7 RM for Magnum ice cream
• 15 RM for Bus to Jerantut
• 12.10 RM Desserts at Pizza Hut
• 17.05 RM Pizza and Water at Pizza Hut
• 1.5 RM Mango Juice from Store