Yesterday we went to FRIM. Oh la la, what is FRIM? Forum of Really Intelligent Mice? Oh no no. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, of course! It's a big park (with lots of buildings actually) where Malaysians practice a bit of Forest Research. Mmmm. It's on the outskirts of KL, but still in the Klang Valley. We were going for the canopy walk - a high bridge walk through the rain forest, so we packed a picnic and met our friends at the train station.
Our friends recommended NOT catching the train to FRIM, as the line was unreliable and overcrowded, so we caught a cab. Ooh, the place was rather not what we expected. It was like a little, spread out village with houses, schools and a few cafes. The rain forest was sort off around the edges of this. Down at the information center we were informed that the Canopy Walk was under construction. Oh no!
'But you know,' we were further informed, 'there is sooo much more to do lah.' (Some Malaysians like to add 'lah' onto the end of some sentences, sort of like 'yeah'.)
'You can go to the fish pond where, if you clap your hands, a huge fish will jump out of the water! It can jump so high, it could eat a baby monkey out of a tree, ok!!' (Some Malaysians like to add 'ok' onto the end of some sentences. Sometimes they add 'ok lah!' ;) Well we went to the pond and we clapped and clapped, all four of us together, but the fish wouldn't play. So we went to see some bamboo that we were told was the oldest bamboo in the world!! :0
Soon we wandered down to the picnic area only to discover it had been taken over by an inter-school event, where a large noisy game of musical chairs was in progress. We found a quieter spot by a waterfall and ate, battling over sized ants all the while.
Later we took a stroll through the edge of the rain forest, following the FRIM guide, which detailed the uses of different trees. Did you know that the
Campnosperma auriculata is used for match boxes and sticks, packing cases, shoe soles, and disposable chopsticks? You didn't, did you?
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