Malaysia

This past weekend Kailea and I went to the Cameron Highlands. The area was first developed by the British as a retreat from the heat. The British were followed by vegetable and tea farmers and the region is still mostly agricultural. The parts of the highlands that remain undeveloped are gorgeous. The hills around towns are being leveled and covered with boxy hotels for tourists, but when you get out of town a little it's rolling hills, streams, and small waterfalls. And the weather was such a nice break from KL's heat. It's hard to want to do things outside in KL, especially in the middle of the day, but in the Cameron Highlands being outside was a pleasure.


A tea plantation.

It's a difficult area to explore without a car because the Cameron Highlands area is actually three small towns that are strung together with tourist sites. We booked a tour for our second day there, but for our first day we wanted to try and do what we could on our own. The local bus is pretty useless because it only runs every 2 hours but we gave it a shot and took it to one of Cameron Highlands' most famous tea plantations. The bus dropped us off 2 km from the plantation so as we were walking to the plantation we met a group of tourists that had stopped to take pictures. They offered us a ride because they were headed in the same direction and we ended up spending most of the day with them. They were already on the way to the top of Gunung Brinchang, the second tallest mountain in Malaysia, so we went with them and got a chance to walk around the mossy forest. After Gunung Brinchang and the tea plantation they were on their way to a strawberry and cactus farm so they took us too! We ended up going to all of the places Kailea and I didn't think we would be able to see because we didn't have a car and got to meet some very nice people. We were so thankful that we ran into our accidental tour guides and that they let us come along and join their vacation. On this trip we've had to frequently depend on the kindness of strangers but I am amazed at the amount of kindness that we've received and the enthusiasm with which it's been given. I've been watching the people that I've met that give freely and easily to strangers and I'm trying to pick up their knack for it, because it's a gift I'd like to have.


The mossy forrest.

Our second day we went on a tour to see the rafflesia flower, which is the largest flower in the world. We hiked pretty far into the jungle and even though it was a much more strenuous experience that either Kailea or I anticipated, we were glad we went. That night we met up with some German friends we'd made on the bus to the Highlands from KL. We meet Germans everywhere we go here, but these girls were especially friendly and we enjoyed befriending them. We'll see them again when they pass through KL.


The rafflesia flower.

My highlight of the trip was having tea at Ye Olde Smokehouse, a historic British Inn. It was so pleasant to be able to sit outside in the cool weather and drink tea.