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Published: April 26th 2007
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So, it has been about a week since the last time I was able to sit down and write one of these things. My plan was to go to Kuala Lumpur(KL), see the city for a night or so, then catch a flight up to southern Thailand. As it usually happens when traveling, the plan got thrown out the window. Erin and I hopped a 7 hour train from Singapore up to KL on Sunday, which was a great way to get a real feel for the countryside, and see how typical rural malaysian towns operate. I was surprised to see the stark contrast between lush jungle and palm plantation nearly the entire way. The jungles of malaysia are being torn down at a rapid pace and being clear-cutted to make way for palm plantations. The palm oil extracted from these trees is very profitable, and when a family earns less than 1,000 USD a year, it's easy to see why so many people stand by and allow the massive deforestation.
Upon arriving in KL, I was immediately overwhelmed, but in a good way. Definitely the busiest, noisest city I have ever been in, but then again, I have not been in that many big cities. We stayed in a really cool hostel in Chinatown, called Red Dragon Backpackers. It is right in the middle of all the craziness-in one direction, a series of massive skyscrapers, including the world's second highest man made structure, the Petronas towers, which are truly mind-boggling in size. The other direction is filled with ornate mosques and temples, as well as Merdeka square, the heart of KL, where independence was claimed in 1957 from the British. Everything else in between is a mesh of street vendors, chinese restaurants, and the wildest markets I have personally been in. Lucky for me, everything is fake, cheap, and easy to bargain with. There are literally 1000s of vendors offering all pretty much the same: gucci purses, rolex watches, adidas shoes, and typical surfer/skater style t-shirts and shorts(all fake). I bought a pair of shorts and some adidas shoes for a pretty good bargain-they originally quoted me at 195 ringgit(about 60 USD) but after moaning, groaning, rolling eyes, and walking away a few times, was able to get it all for 64 ringgit(about USD 20)...not too bad, I thought. After two days in the city of hassling, walking, and gawking, we knew it was time to make a move. We met a really cool guy from England that is on the same general trail as we are, and so we paired up and made a game plan. Apparently, there is a place up in the mountains known as the cameron highland which is a must-see on the backpacker trail, so we changed out minds and hopped on a 4 hour bus to check it out for ourselves.
The cameron highlands are the highest points in peninular malaysia, a region settled between 4,000 and 6,000 feet up in the mountains, with truly the thickest jungle I have ever seen. As far as the eye can see, it is just a massive sea of green, comprised of gigantic bamboo chutes and enormous fern-lined monoliths. A long time ago, however, they figured out that the cool climate and mild temperatures are absolute perfect for growing tea. The main attraction here is the tea plantations, which are interspersed in the jungles -they look like giant fields of green cordurouy, long lines of 1 meter tall bushes that seem to flow on forever. We decided to spend our one full day here with a local guide and see it all firsthand.
Our guide picked us up at 8:45, then drove us and our fellow backpackers up to the highest point in the highlands for a view of the tea valleys below. Wow. I am not able to get our pictures online right now, as we are missing the cable to connect the camera, but I found some others taken from here that I will attach. Our guide then took us on a long tour of the nicest plantation, BOH estates, taking us into the fields to see the crops, then walked us step by step through the process in the factory below to see how it goes from hillside to teacup. We then had lunch overlooking the valley and were able to sample some of the local brew before heading on to the next portion of the tour.
A new guide picked up our mixed bag of a crew and took us about 60km out of town for the second half of the day. I really liked our little group, there were just seven of us, comprised of one local malay, one man from turkey, 2 girls from Germany, chris from england, and then erin and I from the states. It surely made for a nice group dynamic. I really enjoy this aspect of traveling, because it is only for opportunities like this that I am able to hang out with such a mixed crew and learn about the customs and traditions from so many walks of life at once. Anyway, the guide took us to a small tribal village at the edge of the rainforest where the locals tought us how to use a blow-gun to hunt, the way they have subsided for so many generations. Afterwards, we began our 3 hour bushwack up through the jungle in search of the world's largest flower(boring it sounds, I know). As you delve deeper and deeper into the forest, you can't help but feel a bit like you are in swiss family robinson or something. Civilization and the western world seem like a distant memory, replaced by the sound of wild birds and a plethora of snakes, spiders, and odd-looking creatures. We were truly in the heart of tiger country, and it's definitely a thought that you never quite shake-you find yourself looking behind you every 30 steps or so. We finally got to the place where this flower blooms, and despite my previous apathy to seeing a flower, it was actually pretty cool. The flower takes almost a year to blossom, and it is only in bloom for 7 days, so we were fortunate to find it on its 4th day in bloom. We then continued on to a waterfall, where we took a swim and sampled some bamboo water before heading back down the long trail.
All in all, one of the cooler days traveling that I have had thus far.
Today, we packed up all of our stuff and we are about to get on a 5 1/2 hour bus to Butterworth, then a 3 hour bus to Hat Yai in Thailand, before catching a 6 hour night bus to Krabi, then a 2 hour ferry over to the island of Ko phi phi. Talk about a long trip ahead of us. Oh well, the ipod is charged and we are ready to finally be at the beach from the movie, "THE BEACH"......
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marissa
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adventuras
wow brian! seems like you are getting what you came there for. thanks for the blogs. you write well, and make me feel as if i were there. keep up the good work and take care of yourselves and eachother. matt's coming here in a few days to visit and see me graduate. heh, i still think its crazy that i ended up meeting and falling in love with your brother. ok, we await your future blogs.... "pura vida"