With their life in the balance, the Kuans turned on the charm offensive.
They first befriended the aboriginal children (although some, like the one right in front, were more difficult than others to charm). For this, they sent their two most childish and childlike operatives...
...these two.
Then, they offered to help the women with their laundry, an idea that was quickly abandoned when the city folks in the Kuans realised there was not a single washing machine in sight.
In the end, the Operation leader stood tall with pride with his second-in-command and declared "Mission Accomplished".
After successfully pacifying the aborigines, the Kuans continued with their search for the foul-smelling Rafflesia plant. This was a little more arduous and demanding than expected. After another 30 minutes boat ride and a 20 minute traversing up a muddy hike, negotiating slippery rocks and the constant voice (both from inside their own head and from all the mothers and fathers in the group) that repeatedly screams "Rat urine, rat urine", the majority of the Kuans finally made it to where the plants are.
Their joy, although evident on each of their faces, were short lived, as the fabled largest flower in the world had yet to bloom, and all that was there to see were this; black nodules on a tree trunk.
Lunch meant another hike into enemy territory, the Royal Belum Ruok Waterfall, a forest reserve run by the locals...
...but ruled by a minion of leeches and their king leech with his sinister looking crown...
...and is assisted by his ethereal looking niece, perched on her sharp edged rock, whose mythical singing is said to lure Iraqi (or was it French, or maybe Lebanon) holiday goers to their rocky demise.
The Kuans were in no shape to overcome the danger they faced, not after lunch of only a couple of thinly spread sandwiches, and a fried chicken each (by the looks of the size, in most probability kampung chicken), and their only resistance were two scrawny operatives, both with less than desirable eye sights.
And so the Kuans slowly made their way back to where their boats were anchored, down slippery slopes of mud (while protecting their designer Kipling handbags)...
...underneath the blazing hot sun...
...and through the thick thorny undergrowth.
With only a few leech bites, muddy buttocks and a few missing shoe soles to report, the day was considered wildly successful.
As the Kuans bid farewell to the iridescent emerald waters of Lake Temenggor for the day, there is no doubt that there was a sense of achievement within everyone.
Wait, wait.
The fat lady hasn't sang (although a fat man was belting out "Just The Way You Are" two nights in a row) and this tale has yet to end.
The fat lady hasn't sang (although a fat man was belting out "Just The Way You Are" two nights in a row) and this tale has yet to end.
What other perilous danger lurks just beyond the corner, waiting patiently for the Kuans, plotting like a bunch of gluttons craving for a second helping of pork chop?
What will the final leg of this epic adventure entail?
Stay tuned for the concluding episode of Belum: An Adventure of James Bond Proportion.
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