Over the last term break, yes, it was yet another week of
vacation, I know, boo hoo. Anywho, my friends and I went to Malaysia, which
actually was our third choice. Once again, darn, we just had to go to Malaysia instead of the Philippines or Cambodia. So,
here are the highlights from the last week of March.
1. Kuala Lumpur
The capital city of Malaysia. We were only there for less
than 8 hours Friday night. All we did was fly in, take a bus to our hostel,
sleep and then take an early bus headed for our destination far away from the
city. We were very hungry when we arrived, so we did venture out quickly for
sustenance a little after midnight when we finally made it to our hostel. We
were near the China Town area of the city, and we had some good noodles with
kind of strange sauce on them, but they did the job.
This was our destination after KL. It was a short 4-hour bus
ride that cost us each around $10. We stayed in a town called Tanah Rata.
Kristina found us an amazing place to stay, and we couldn’t have asked for a
more fantastic introduction to the area. The owner of the hostel, Jay, took us
on a short driving tour of the main places to go, see, and where to eat before
she dropped us off. There was even a book full of laminated maps of the
surrounding trails in the area. These were logical, self-explanatory maps that
really helped us to not have to hire guide.
On Saturday afternoon, we were ready for a nice, short hike.
Jay recommended Trail 10, so we went off to find our way. After a detour of
walking the wrong way, ending up at an entirely wrong trail, we finally figured
out which way to go, and we made it to the trail we had intended to hike. We
ended in the neighboring town where there was a strawberry farm as well as a
night market, both of which we checked out. We were rewarded by absolutely
delicious Indian food at the restaurant Jay had recommended. It was such good
food that we ate there at least once each day that we were there.
Day 2 in the Cameron Highlands involved an intensely long
hike (we literally hike all day). We hiked up to the top of Gunung Brincheng.
On our way down the “other” side of the hill/mountain, we were following our
map, headed to the Boh Tea Plantation visitors’ centre. This is when we were
actually walking through the amazingly green, vast tea plantation.
Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and ended up on a 1-hour detour through a
farm. Once we got back on the right track, it started raining. Not light, singing
in the rain, This was downpour, cats and dogs, tropical rain. We didn’t have
much of anything to take shelter under, so we just walked in it.
We made it to the plantation, tried to
dry a little while enjoying some tea (even though I am not much of a tea
drinker). Our plan to take a taxi from the plantation did not work, due to the
rain, so we ended up walking along the road, toward the town, hoping to catch a
ride from someone. Eventually, we hopped in a big truck that dropped us off at
the next town, which was not where we were staying. This lead us to hitchhike a
second time (don’t freak out, Mom). Looks fun, doesn’t it? We also met a guy
from the Netherlands on holiday, in our same situation, so he came along for
the adventure.
Day 3: We took another hike this day, on a loop around the
jungle. No guide required again; just a map and a little faith that we were
going the right way, most of the time.
3. Penang
We took another 4-hour bus trip from the Cameron Highlands
to Penang. Kristina told us the only two reasons for this stop were the food
and hiking Penang Hill. We tackled the first on the afternoon we arrived. It
was the most intense, obnoxiously steep hike ever! For the first half, we were
following a trail in the woods, part of which followed stairs ending at a small
gathering of men who regularly hike the hill. The few who passed us while
hiking were nice enough to encourage us along the way. We made it up to the top
after hiking for about 2 hours. The last half of the trail was just walking on
the steep, blacktop road. When we finally made it to the top, I was so sweaty that
I could wring out all of my clothes and produce a small waterfall. Luckily,
that was not the only way to the top, so we hitched a ride on the ‘monorail’
train down the side of the hill (and, by the way, “hill” is a bit of a
misnomer). To reward our hard work of the day, we went to “Glutton Street”
filled with a bunch of local food stalls. We each bought a different type of
food and brought it back to the table to share. It was all very delicious,
although I don’t remember, at this point, exactly what I ate.
4. Langkawi
For the last leg of our journey, we took a short flight to
the beach (we could’ve taken a 3-hour ferry ride, but we opted for more time at
the beach, instead). We had a bit of a surprise with the hotel, considering it
was not in the ‘happening’ area, and not even near the beach. We took care of
that by leaving to find two rooms across the street from the beach. That night,
we ate at a Mexican restaurant simply so we could drink a margarita. Then, we
proceeded to walk along the beach, where we found a bunch of people hanging out
around a bonfire. That soon turned into people jumping over the fire and the
crowd cheering. I did not find it amusing. Interestingly enough, the LIMA air show
(apparently it’s kind of a big deal) was happening at the airport. The day
after we arrived, we heard and saw the planes flying over while we swam and lay
on the beach. The second day at the beach, I stayed in the water too long, got sunburn
and retreated to the shade for the rest of the day. Kristina and Nicole rented
a jet ski. On the last day, Kristina, Danna and I rented kayaks and paddled
around the shore for a couple of hours. It was relaxing and the first time I
had ever been in a kayak. It was more tiring than I had realized it would be,
but it was a good break from ‘sunning’ on the beach for too long. There is also a sky bridge that we visited one afternoon for sunset. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance (fine by me). But we still rode a cable car to the top of the hill. See below for what we didn't get the chance to walk on.
