It was an unusually dry day and the blue skies came through despite the effort of the clouds and smog's choking grasp. I left the national park by boat. It took about 1 ½ to 2 hours to get downstream to the jetty. It would have taken about 15 minutes less if we didn't have the motor to our boat die and have to get repaired on a river beach. It was an unsettling feeling - not knowing how bad the motor was and the boat drivers not being able to communicate in English. I had wondered if these guys had a cellphone they could use to call for help – yeah, right. During the boat ride, I talked a 39-year-old guy named Mike, he was the guy from the previous day who also wanted to go on the night hike. He was a sales engineer with a wife and two kids. After docking, we shared the cost of a 20-minute taxi ride to Jerantut with two French (but maybe Dutch) women. It's really cool to run into different people as I travel. I would imagine I wouldn't be as social with strangers if I was with another person.

I spent most of the day wandering in the city of Jerantut. I was glad it was Friday because I would be able to see the dismissal of a mosque right when it happened. At this time, I saw the mad rush – all of the mopeds and motorcycles get out in one wave, then the cars. There was a situation when a driver got mad at another driver for not letting him turn onto the major street – just honking and screaming. Traffic was pretty bad. I imagine the same happens weekly. I wonder what it looks like when it rains.

I bought a train ticket to Johor Bahru for RM 27. It was to arrive in Jerantut at 1:20 AM! So to pass the time, that evening I saw the movie, Three Kings in the lobby of the NKS guesthouse. One of the more memorable things was seeing the shadow of a man walk across the screen as people do in the movie theaters. Also for more than half of the movie, part of someone's afro was at the bottom of the screen. I wasn't surprised that this was a bootlegged movie. I'm not even sure if the movies was out on video or DVD in the States yet.

For dinner, I went to a local restaurant. Along the way, I got some satay - grilled chicken, for 30 sen (US$.10)a stick! Each stick has about one fingers worth of meat. I bought 3 of these delicious treats that came in a bag with some peanut sauce. As I ate dinner – Chinese fried rice and a lychee drink, I, along with tons of Malaysians, watched their version of Wheel of Fortune. It was identical to the show in the States, however I the prizes aren't as valuable. They had on display a mini car, and one person who won a vacation trip valued at about $1500 US. For dessert I experimented and bought some sweet corn ice cream for RM 1.20. It wasn't much like corn in taste. It was sweet, had some kernels, and had the twinge of ginger in it. One time is enough for this unusual treat. I would only recommend it to someone who was on a quest to try all flavors of ice cream.

Just a side note: The solution for constipation is curry or spicy food. It seems like it may act like a diuretic. I had some curry today and it smoothly pushed out all within me that had sat for 2 days – just in case you wanted to know :-)