What a beautiful country filled with wonderful people! After we left the amazing Perhentian Islands we headed up into the mountains to the Cameron Highlands. This area is an old British hill station, dotted with small towns, the rolling hills covered in farms and rain forests. We stayed in a very unique guest house composed of bunker like buildings leftover from around 100 years ago.
Our first full day in the Cameron Highlands we hooked up with 3 other people staying at our guest house and decided to go check out the "Boh Sungai Palas" tea plantation. We took a bus out of town and then walked a few more kilometers to the plantation. The bright green tea fields on the rolling hills were a sight to be seen. We watched as farmers harvested the tea leaves and admired the beauty around us while enjoying a cup of tea at the plantation. After finishing our visit there we decided to continue our trek and head up to the top of a nearby mountain. The book said it was only a 2 hour walk up... we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The road all the way up was a steady and steep climb with around a 1000 meter elevation gain (the peak is exactly 6666 ft high... Hmmm...). We eventually made it to the top of the mountain after some confusion since none of the roads and trails are marked. We arrived at the top just in time for the clouds to roll in and cover us in fog which was really beautiful in the middle of the forest.
From there there was a "jungle walk" that we were supposed to be able to take back down the mountain. Well I have done a few different jungle treks by now but nothing like this one. We climbed straight down the mountain through thick mud and over/under/around trees and roots. It was such slow going we only went about half a kilometer in 45 minutes. By the time we made it down we were covered in mud and exhausted. We figured that we had done a 9+ mile hike, and that was after weeks of inactivity at the beach to make it worse. I was sore for days to come after that one.
After another day of easier hiking and touring around the Cameron Highlands we headed south to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. What I love about KL is the international and multi-cultural feel it has to it. You walk down the street and see a woman covered from head to toe in a veil,, Buddhist monks in their red robes and Indian women wearing saris and bindis. And the great thing about it was that there didn't seem to be any tension between the cultures- to an outsider on a quick visit at least. Everone we met no matter their background was very helpful and friendly. It was probably the first city in Asia that I felt like I could even blend into the culture there.
We wandered around the city taking it all in. Visited the Petronas Twin Towers, the ex-tallest buildings in the world before Taipei and Dubai out did them. Got a free tour (on condition that you watch a 15 minute advertisement for Petronas) and went up the towers, to the sky bridge at least. Visited the National Mosque as well as the oldest mosque in Malaysia. Did some shopping and exploring and just enjoyed being in a nice city.
I think many times when people plan their South East Asia trips they don't even consider visiting Malaysia, we met very few people who had been there while we were in other countries. But Malaysia ended up being one of my favorite destinations of the whole trip.
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