Malaysia

Day 1:

Malaysia was my spoon full of sugar to help India go down.

I absolutely had no idea what to expect from this country and quite honestly, I didn’t have enough time to develop any expectations. I guess the only thought that formulated in my mind was, ‘it will probably be a little cleaner than India…but I bet it will still smell’ and that’s all I got. Pleasantly surprised is the perfect phrase to describe my reaction to arriving in Malaysia – it was extremely pleasant to smell the air as it should smell and it was incredibly surprising to see rolling green hills and a highly modernized, clean city. I will come right out and say it – Malaysia could quite possibly be the most beautiful place I have ever visited.

Our ship anchored out in the bay, so we had to tender in our life boats to the shore. I signed up for the Cameron Highlands trip with SAS, which left as soon as we arrived. I actually had no idea what this trip entailed when I signed up for it – I just wanted to do something in Malaysia that wasn’t in a city. I didn’t know a single person on this trip, so I was a tid bit nervous, but I knew it would all turn out okay in the end. Ten minutes into our bus ride I began to notice how lush and green this country is – there are palm trees, mountains, marshes, jungles, etc. everywhere! We drove 2 hours to a little Chinese restaurant for lunch, and then drove another two hours uphill to the Cameron Highlands. The Highlands are a popular vacation spot for Malays because of its cool temperatures and a frequented spot for backpackers because of its beauty and serenity. It is also where they make their famous tea and grow numerous vegetables and strawberries! The area is gorgeous, clean, comfortable, cute, and just plain wonderful. Being out in the country was very much needed for me at this point.

As soon as we arrived in the Highlands it was pouring rain and of course I hadn’t thought of bringing my rain coat, let alone a sweater. I’m not really sure what I was thinking when I packed. But I did bring a bunch of quick dry clothes – thanks Mom and Dad! A big group of us walked into to town in the rain (we are adventurous like that) and bought one dollar ponchos even though we were already soaked. We tooled around looking at the little souvenir shops, but didn’t find anything too thrilling – it is a very small town. We had dinner at the hotel and all went out to the one bar in town. It was a good bonding experience.

Day 2:

Wake up call was 7:30, which was like heaven compared to the 4 a.m. ones in India. We had breakfast at the hotel then piled into 4x4 vehicles to go on an all day jungle adventure! I was in a jeep with both Uncle David, our adorable tour guide, and Satya, the coolest jungle guide out there. We drove up through the tea fields to the highest point in Malaysia. The view was breathtaking from up there – it made me feel like I was back in Montana again. Afterwards we went on our jungle trek! The forest was full of plants and flowers with medicinal purposes, along with tons of striking catcher plants ranging from one inch to a foot long! We all got super muddy trying to maneuver around vines, drop offs, and trees. It was a good time.

After the jungle we visited a tea factory, which was less than exciting, although the scenery was spectacular from up there. I sipped a teacino and bought some gifts for you all back home. We were all super hungry at this point and the guides said we were going to drive out to a place where we would have a picnic…an hour of driving through windy roads we finally reached our picnic spot, which was really just an area on the side of the road. I had no idea I could ever enjoy an egg sandwich more than at that particular moment (it was 3 p.m – Nicole is not a happy person when she is hungry)

The plan for after lunch was to drive out to a trail where we would hike through the jungle to an Orang Alsi village…until we discovered the road was blocked by a gigantic tree! The road we were driving on was so tiny that our jeeps didn’t have any room to turn around, so we all hiked back to a village we passed earlier while the 4x4s backed up the road. (Flexibility J) En route we saw quite a few rather large insects – I got to hold a whopper of a centipede. Satya had us put a little yellow flower on the tip of our tongue and after about 30 seconds it went numb and stayed that way for a few minutes. The Orang Asli used to use this flower when they needed to pull out a tooth.

The village we came to was utterly surreal. Their huts built entirely of bamboo rest on a hilltop overlooking their dependable jungle. The Orang Asli, meaning “original peoples”, inhabit the Cameron Highlands with fifteen or so interconnected villages. Many of the people died out after the 1930’s when pollution became an issue. These people live entirely off their land and hunting – they have no need for money. They do, however, have plumbing, electricity, schooling, and modern medicine. A doctor comes around to each village once a week to make sure everything is sound. At the same time, all of the villages have their own shaman practicing traditional medicine who rarely comes out of the house. Each village also has a chief – chiefdom is passed on by generation to both males and females (it is an egalitarian society). There were dozens of children in this village who seemed rather indifferent and uninterested in us. We brought the kids lollypops and our shampoos from our hotel rooms. The chief of the tribe showed us how to shoot a blow dart and we all got to take a stab at it! It was a blast! I hope to have an opportunity to live with a community like this some day.

After the village we drove back to town, visited a strawberry farm, went to dinner, and sacked out.

Day 3:

We checked out of the hotel at 8:30 and went to the morning market in town. They mostly sold vegetables, fruits, and giant stuffed strawberry paraphernalia. We drove 2 hours down the hills to visit a colossal Buddha inside a cave. It was as out of the ordinary as it sounds. The walls were covered in murals and scriptures and there were statues of Buddha and other figures tucked in random corners of the cave. I tried to take pictures of this place but it didn’t quite work out too well. After the cave we went to lunch at the same Chinese restaurant as Day 1, then drove back to Penang. I spent the remainder of the evening on the ship catching up on rest.

Day 4:

I ended up making a good friend on my Cameron Highlands trip, Clare Foley, and we decided to go on a little shopping adventure at Prangin Mall. Every other store in this mall sold shoes…there were shoes everywhere! The fashion was mainly Asian – really funky, black and whites, small… The most exciting thing about this mall were the bootleg DVDs they sold for only 5 ringets per movie (less than 2 dollars)! You can only imagine how excited I was in this store – it was like Christmas. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the DVDs don’t work all that well…haha. We had an amazing Thai meal, went to the grocery store, and returned to the ship.

At 4:30 I had an SAS trip called the Taiping Zoo and Night Safari. For some reason I thought this meant we would be riding around an area inhabited by all sorts of indigenous animals and searching for them with a spotlight or something. Again, it is best to not have any expectations on this trip. This is how the trip went: We drove two hours, had an aweful Chinese dinner, went to a zoo, walked around in the pouring rain looking at animals that I had seen on my African safari for two hours, then drove another two hours back to the ship. If it sounds like fun then you are highly mistaken. I was very close to skipping it and going out with some friends to experience night life in Penang, but I decided not to waste the money…bad choice, I guess.

Day 5:

I woke up early to get to the Starbucks for free internet! I got to talk to my mom and sister on MSN messenger for a while and uploaded a few pictures on Facebook. The internet was so slow that it took me 5 hours to do this! I didn’t have any other plans for the day, so it didn’t bother me. My friend, Clare, joined me after an hour so I hung out with her most of the time. After the internet festival, we got some more Thai food and got back on the ship. It was a pretty uneventful and relaxing day.

I absolutely fell in love with Malaysia! I can say without a doubt that I will be back one day!