After the beaches of Thailand, it was time to hop on a plane to Malaysia. I absolutely love the old-timey (i.e. low budget) way of walking out to the plane here in Asia. Topher and I tried to capture us and our plane (I mean, how often do you get the chance), to mixed results. This was the best of the both us (and features the ladder, so you know how that went...), though I got this great one of Chris alone:
We took our requisite flying-in-a-plane photo:
And a few hours later, we landed in Kuala Lumpur and partook in something that we swore wouldn't appeal us... until it did.
Which, by the way, fries really aren't worth it? They weren't especially hot, which I think made a difference. We were glad we split the fries and soda, to say the least. But that Big Mac- with its special sauce (code for, basically, fry sauce)- was exactly what we needed.
After that little calorie-laden break, we hopped into the nicest bus we've seen in two years:
...and proceeded to relax into the hour long journey into the middle of town.
After hitting Sentral station in KL, we found a train for our next destination: Ipho, the gateway to the Cameron Highlands (or so they say.)
Again, we were enthralled with the cleanliness and comfort of the public transportation.
Once in Ipho (not a gateway, in fact, but a detour. But, a pleasant stop nonetheless), we went in search of food. After finding many a restaurants closed for the evening (we suspect it had something to do with it being Sunday?!), we stumbled into this giant outdoor cafeteria type place serving Chinese food staples and what seemed to be a Malaysian specialty- fish head curry.
Let's Rock, as the 'restaurant' is called, gave us some truly delicious fish head curry. For less than ten bucks, we ate to our heart's content (I was so FULL) and enjoyed one another's company.
The next day we hopped on a bus to make it to our long awaited destination of the Cameron Highlands. It was a trip to feel the air outside get colder and colder to our touch via the windows.
Once we arrived, we both quickly slipped into long sleeves, and sought out a warm drink.
Tanah Rata, the middle of 3 small towns nestled in the mountains of the area called the Cameron Highlands, was picturesque. Almost like a quaint Bavarian village, in the middle of Southern Asia.
While we wandered around the small town that first evening, we stumbled across a leather worker. We had recently learned that a third wedding anniversary's traditional 'gift' is leather. So, we bought each other super awesome leather bracelets. You'll be able to see Chris' choice clearly in an upcoming picture in this post, and mine in a later post detailing our final stop. Ten bucks if you guess now which one I chose...
After dropping a relatively small amount of money on our gifts, we settled in for some more hot drinks, and a few good hours of card playing.
The next day, waking up chilly and happy, we spent our morning visiting some of the touristy yet beautiful farms in the area. First up was a "Rose Garden" that was actually full of dozens of varieties of flowers.
Don't forget to stop and smell the roses...
And pose in a myriad of other somewhat hilarious, somewhat ludicrous ways with the roses...
These looks like dirigible plums to me...
Friends, I was seriously cold. I was mad I let Topher talk me into not bringing my jeans.
After the rose garden, and a couple dozen too many photos, we traversed to a bee farm. It was a terraced garden full of small wooden boxes which housed the beehives. We arrived early enough in the morning that the majority of the bees were not yet awake, so our trek through their homeland was full of ease.
After purchasing some honey for our host family and friends back in our province, we jumped off to our next stop: the Boh Tea Plantation. A fully functioning tea plantation, started in the early 1900's, owned by a Scottish family, and worked by Malaysians. I had mixed feelings about all that, but it was truly beautiful...
And I gained a huge appreciation for the hard work and taste of tea while in the Highlands...
That's me, just sipping some vanilla something-or-other tea.
After bypassing the next stop of a butterfly farm (we were various 'farms'-ed out by then), we ventured to a small strawberry field...
And provided some delicious nourishment, if not inappropriate nourishment for eleven in the morning.
Those strawberries were damn good, and enjoyed in the comfort of our cozy bed later that day.
Chock full of strawberry sugars, we made our final stop: a Buddhist temple. We were most impressed with a wall covered in ceramic images of the Buddha that extended from floors to rafters.
We went to bed content that evening.
Our final day in the Cameron Highlands, Chris took advantage of our afternoon bus to spend the morning hiking a beautiful area around Tanah Rata town...
...while I stayed cozied at our guesthouse, reading and drinking endless cups of tea. Though when I saw these photos, I was a bit sad that I missed the sight. Until I remembered Chris' mud-covered bum after his return, and this tales of various falls and slips throughout the hike...
That afternoon, we headed into the final leg of our trip- the bustling town of Kuala Lumpur. Coming soon, to a blog feed near you!
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