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Published: January 31st 2008
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Hey everyone!
I hear that you have recieved some snow at home of which I am jealous. I find that you have to move away from Canada to really appreciate the seasons that we have at home.
Just to keep you updated on what is currently going on, I am as of 3 days ago traveling solo. Amy wasnt enjoying Malaysia so flew to Perth early. I was worried about what I was going to do for a bit, but everything sorted itself out and I am having the greatest time. I am traveling with two guys from England (they're brothers) and two other girls. On Saturday I will be going to Thailand with the guys to stay there for about a week and a half. We're going to Kho Phi Phi for some beach laying and if I have time, Ill go with them to Ko Tao etc. I'll then catch a flight from Phuket to Singapore then to Perth.
I am a little behind in this blog its hard to keep up when your having fun, so this is what happened about a week ago.... there are a few pictures also!
After being in 2
major cities full of pollution, stickyness and heat we headed to the Cameron Highlands in the interior of Malaysia for some fresh air and good tea. Our bus ride there was quite the adventure. We were driving on rather curvy road that dropped of into nothing on the one side. There was however a little railing about 1.5 feet tall there to assure you that your huge coach bus would not tumble down the side of the mountain. I was not reassured by this. Our driver seemed to be playing a little game called 'how fast can I drive around these corners and talk on my cell phone at the same time'. Thankfully he won and we made it to the Highlands in one piece. When we got there we saw our first bit of rain since we left home. It lasted all of 10 minutes. We stayed at a great hostel called Fathers guest house off the main road of the town Tanah Rata. We paid 10 Ringgits a night (3 dollars) for a 10 bed dorm. The beds were clean and decently comfortable. For the first time we also needed to wear long sleeve shirts and pants. The
Fathers Guest House
This was our dorm room at the hostel. weather is cool up there but felt so fantastic compared to the air in KL.
We had dinner at our hostel and then back in our room talked with our dorm mates. 2 guys from England, a girl from Ireland and and Aussie. Because the hostel closes its common area at 10 (very early compared to others) we played poker. I had never played before so they had to teach me how. We played for tooth picks and I lasted a while and was not the first on out but didnt win. Went to bed under blankets for a nice cool sleep without being super hot.
The next morning we got up early and had breakfast and prepared for a long day. I was going on a full day tour of the Cameron Highlands involving jungle walking, tea drinking, tea plantation touring and learning about the Orang Asli (aboriginal people of Malaysia). The tea plantations are just huge!!! Rows unpon rows of tea leaves on little bushes. We leaned about how they make tea at the BOH tea plantation then got to have some and it was soooooooo good.
Went on a jungle walk after and saw
these pitcher plants, and everything was so green and mossy. Our guide taught us about what leaves would kill you and what could save you, he was quite humorous. After having some lunch our group of 6 loaded into the Land Rover for an extremly bumpy ride through the highlands. On the way we stopped to walk along the trail and look at the spiders and cool insects that were around. He found this huge spider that we all ended up holding as it walked along our hands. It was spinning a web as it walked and the silk was so strong. The females are huge and the males are a little bigger than the tiny red spiders that we have at home. After continuing along on out bumpy ride we arrived at the Orang Asli village, had a look around, took some pictures. After a while it felt a little weird since we were kind of just looking at them like we were at a zoo. Luckily at that point we got to go into one of the hand-made bamboo houses and have some tapioca (very starchy root) and tea and learn about their culture, musical instruments and how
many of the tribes are disappearing due to modernization.
After a bumpy ride back to our hostel, we had some dinner and played another round of poker which I won! 8 whole ringgits (about 2.5 dollars) woo woo, but it bought me breakfast in the morning.
The next day we took a bus to Ipoh, then switched and got on another to Lumut. This bus left earlier than it said it would! I luckily got in a quick trip to the bathroom and Amy was going to go when the bus started to pull away. I hadnt eaten since breakfast and had to have granola bars on the way!!
Once arriving in Lumut we had to get on a ferry to go to Pulau Pangkor. Finally we arrived at the beach. After finding our English friends that we met in Singapore and in KL we got settled into our room and went down to the beach. It was high tide so there wasnt much sand left. There were some swings that you could swing on and jump off into the water which was good fun. We had drinks on the beach and then some dinner, played some cards
and went to bed. The guys left the next day for the Highlands and we just lazed around, going to the beach and stuff. I was good with putting on suncream but still managed to get a bit of a burn. We spent a total of 3 nights in Pangkor before heading to penang, which will be my next post!
Miss you and love you all lots,
Valerie the poker champion and spider holder!
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