Malaysia

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Hello again!

This time, I'm writing from Malaysia. We've been in the country about a week, arriving in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city from Singapore by bus. The bus ride was only about 6hrs and went by fast since I was deep into my latest book, 'The Time Traveller's Wife'. Our bus driver was hilarious - he spoke always like he was yelling and had about 2 teeth.

So we were dropped off in Kuala Lumpur and had no idea where we were. The bus station is an insane place - so congested w/ traffic so we were let off on the street. We figured out where we were and headed to Chinatown where most of the backpacker hostels were. We found the BEST hostel ever (slightly pricey) but made up for it in lots of charm 😊 It was decorated very oddly with chandelier's and western style doors to the bathrooms (like in saloons! haha). It also had a wicked rooftop patio that allowed you to watch the comings and goings of Chinatown below.

We only stayed in Kuala Lumpur, for about 2 days. It is a big, loud and busy city with a lot of pollution. I spent my time shopping in the central market (didn't buy anything though) and touring around the various museums and gardens. My favourite was the Islamic Arts Museum which was a gorgeous building with lots of galleries displaying a huge variety of art forms. I loved the Chinese Arabic calligraphy which were beautiful paintings of flowers and other shapes all in arabic verses of the Qur'an. Equally beautiful was the gallery of hand copied versions of the Qur'an from many different centuries in many different styles. Some were plain, some were colourful and some were even mini - about 3 cm tall! The other gallery that I thought was neat was scale replicas of important mosques all over the world from different countries and time periods. They also had a gallery about Islamic women and their influence throughout history. I really enjoyed learning more about Islam and spent the whole afternoon perusing the museum.

More excitingly for architectural fans was our visit to Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers. It's a famous building which houses the national petrol company. Although there are 88 floors, we were only able to go up to the 44th but the view was still neat! Down below was Tory's heaven - a posh shopping mall with shops like Tiffany's, Gucci, etc. I felt VERY dirty and VERY un-posh in the immaculate mall but we went into stores nonetheless and Tory even bought a charm from Thomas Sabo (a famous German jeweler apparently!). We also strolled down the busy shopping streets at night which were lit up like crazy.

After a couple of days, we took a bus to the Cameron Highlands - which is a mountainous area in the interior of the Malaysian peninsula. The bus ride there was awful! haha I felt sick - the road was VERY narrow and VERY twisty. But we got there in one piece and I LOVE it here! First of all, for once since the start of the trip, I am not constantly sweaty and sticky. Since were are so high up in elevation, the temperature is much lower - about 23C during the day. It is even cool at night - we were even wearing long pants and long sleeves!

The Cameron Highlands were 'discovered' by the British about 120yrs ago and since turned it into a tourist resort destination as well as an area that is known for it's tea plantations, strawberry, flower and produce farms. The first day, we toured around going to then highest point, Gunung Brinchang, at 2000m, exploring the tea plantations and sipping tea and eating scones overlooking the mountains 😊 The scenery is beautiful and we learnt all about the tea making process from the harvesting of the tea leaves right to the end product.

My favourite adventure was today, I went on a 5 hour trek in the jungle with a friend of our tour guide's. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was wicked. My guide was about 70 but man was he in shape and I had a hard time keeping up with him (he's been trekking and guiding he said for 58 yrs). I was at first skeptical about paying for a guide since I thought that I could just hike around on the trails myself. THANK GOD I didn't! haha wow. The trails are not trails at all. You would never recognize them as paths and I would still be lost out there right now if I had been alone 😊 So anyway, as we walked along in the jungle, my guide showed me different plants that you can eat, make furniture with, use for medicines, etc. He also patiently answered a million of my questions about the area and his life here. We walked about 3 hours up and down (SO STEEP - most of the time I was either sliding down the slide or on my hands and knees crawling up) taking a break at a tea plantation. Next, he took me high into the mountains in the tea plantation and through the agriculture farms and flower garden houses (the export the flowers to Asian countries). I was exhausted by the end of it but was so glad I did it - I learnt so much that I would've missed on a typical tourist tour which you ride around in a minivan. I rewarded my strenuous efforts w/ strawberry scones with cream! 😊

So now it's POURING rain which is why I'm writing so much - I'm stuck at the internet place! Tonight, Tory and I are heading via an overnight bus to Hat Yai - in Southern Thailand so tomorrow I will wake up in another country! Tory is very much excited for this next week or so of this trip since it involves lots of beaches and sunbathing! I just need another good book and I'll be set.

Anyway - enough from me. Sorry this is so long! I hope all is well in Canada. Much love to everyone,
Celia
xoxo

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