Jungle Fever

Hello friends, I'm not in the jungle. Yet.
I spent 12 hours on a train yesterday to get to Kuala Lipis from Singapore--a distance of maybe 400 Km. Needless to say 12 hours was a long time.
I tried to arrange something to go into the national park this morning, but I once again found that I was the only tourist in town. Literally. No tourists means no tour. The guide will only take a group of 4 or more in. So, I spent most of today on local buses getting to Jerantut, gateway to Taman Negara, a much bigger, more developed national park. I am fairly certain I will be able to arrange a 4 day excursion from there.
I wish my guide book said that if you're alone you will not be able to arrange excursions. All is not lost though. I did have the pleasure of being the only foreigner in a couple of towns I stopped in today. I was quite a spectacle.
Taman Negara is the world's oldest rainforest. Apparently, it did not freeze in the last ice age, so it's been around since before then. That's quite a long time. They have a 30 meter high jungle canopy walkway that should be fun.
I decided to go to the other park, because my guidebook said it offered the same kind of experience on a smaller scale and that a lot of the animals and whatnot have left Taman Negara because there are so many people there.
I did, however, meet a guy from Spain on the train. He was on his way elsewhere today, but I got to use my Spanish with him for awhile. It's a bit rusty after using it in such a limited context for the last few years. He teaches Catalan in Russia. I had a hard time believing anyone in Russia would want to learn Catalan, but apparently someone there does.
Anyhoo, I'm feeling a little out of it and just want a hot shower and a bed before I see some cool jungleness. The place I stayed last night was a real hole, but there was a dearth of options. The shower and bathroom can only be loosely referred to as such. They both issued forth a unique, unpleasant smell. I preferred not bathing to showering there.
I am waiting for transport into the park right now. I will try to write again before I do a jungle trek.