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We left Penang and arrived in the Cameron Highlands after an eight hour coach ride (If we see another squat toilet I can not be held responsible for my actions!) The journey took us up and up winding mountains and everywhere is surrounded by tea and strawberry plantations, it’s a very beautiful setting. The weather up there is a lot cooler and greatly appreciated! We only have two halves of a day here so we headed straight out to see a strawberry plantation, and to be honest we were a little disappointed. All the plants were in peat bags and up on shelves, but we did have strawberries and cream - yum!!
For dinner we went to a local Indian, and afterwards we took advantage of the DVD player and English films on offer at the hostel - very sad we know, but it’s been a while!
The morning before we left we had time to see a tea plantation, which was owned by a Scottish family. We had a guide and one of the locals told us all about the history of tea all of which I have now forgotten! We were also taken through the on sight factory
and shown how the tea is prepared. The one thing I have remembered is that tea bags are bad and made out of the dust of the tea leaves not the actual leaves themselves, so from now on people, we need to buy tea leaves!
Back on a coach again and we head for Kuala Lumpur (Or KL as everyone there seems to call it) We stayed right in the middle of China Town, where ever we go there seems to be a Chinatown and a Little India, Exeter will have them soon! And after a quick tour of the market we headed out for dinner at a Chinese stall within the market, where we were serenaded by a local guitar player, singing Oasis who just wouldn’t leave! After dinner we went to a Rasta bar where it’s ladies night every night of the week - woohoo!
The second day in KL we took a coach around the city and went to a Mosque where we all had to wear bright purple robes so as not to offend the Muslims - just like the episode from The Simpsons where Homer joins the stonecutters - see picture! Next we
went to the KL museum and then to the Communication Tower which, lucky for us was right opposite a mall so we all went shopping!! That evening Emily and I visited the Rasta bar again for pizza and ladies night. Where we met a crazy Australian couple and a couple of German guys - fun had by all!
Another coach journey and we finally arrived in Singapore, where we checked into our last hotel of the tour, which was in China Town (again) and we were extremely pleased to discover that we got a free breakfast (so we could steal our supplies for the next few days), and then headed off to the River Front for dinner. It was our last night with the rest of the group so we made the most of the night by going out for drinks and karaoke in China Town.. which was a bit random but very funny to watch. It seems strange that people are actually quite good at Karaoke here.. Or maybe it was just that we were just really bad.
The next day we went in search of our hostel, which actually didn't take as long as we thought
it would. The tubes are so much cleaner and easier to use here than London and it didn't take long to master it, and tickets are only $1 per journey, which is probably the only cheap thing here! But really good because all the journeys we've made here have been by tube. The Hostel is really nice and friendly and we get free internet and dvds to watch as well a kitchen and common room, so we've met a few new people already and two of them even came from Bristol funnily enough!
Our days out here have consisted of mostly eating and sun bathing, with a bit of shopping in between. We discovered a small island just off the coast which we took a cable car to and spend the afternoon on the beach next to the most luxurious hotel with a cocktail bar in the pool and bed shaped loungers next to the crystal blue sea and surrounded by palm trees. It was heaven, and so strange to be so close to such a busy city whilst sitting in such paradise. So after a bit of tanning we went out for dinner again in Little India where
we ordered soooo much food. All the menu was in indian and so we just picked some random items off it and hoped for the best. Fortunately it was delicious and quite cheap as well, which meant we were able to go for a pint afterwards where we whipped everyones asses at pool. A good day all round.
We also went to the Zoo with some people from our tour, which was really cool and got to see some more monkeys, and a white Tiger and an extremely cheesy sea lion show. Although it wasnt as much fun as seeing the animals in the wild like when we were in the jungle, but all good fun anyway.
Our next stop is Bali, our flight leaves tomorrow evening. And we plan to do a bit of exploring and travelling to the north to find dolphins. So the next blog should be a little more exciting.
Lots of love
Emily and Ruth xxxxxxx
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