I intended to stay one more night cuddled up under some blankets in the Cameron Highlands before meeting up with Ash and Kyle but I met a Polish guy named Mat who convinced me to join him and two other people from our inn on a trip to Ipoh. They had hitch-hiked earlier in the day with a man from Ipoh who said he would take us on a food tour to sample the best food in town. I couldn't say no to delicious food and a fellow Pollack so I jumped on board.
We arrived in Ipoh with no place to stay and ended up walking around town for 45 minutes trying to find a hotel that rented rooms by the night and not by the hour. Apparently a lot of tourists don't make it to Ipoh, at least not to stay for very long. We eventually found a place, dropped off our bags and headed out to Masjid Ubudiah. This is probably the most beautiful mosque I have seen yet.
After we finished our urban hiking, during which we were all bitten by the kind of mosquito that carries dengue fever (updates to come after the incubation period arrives), we returned to town in anticipation of our food tour. Except we were stood up. We couldn't get a hold of our foodie friend and so we wandered around town trying to remember the name of dishes we should try. We didn't succeed. A little disappointed that our food tour didn't work out, we stopped by a convenience store to get some water before heading home and then this happened and made the whole trip worth it:
The food in Singapore and Malaysia was pretty delicious. Most meals cost between $1 and $3. Breakfast was usually a banana pancake (roti) or dim sum with Chinese green tea. Yes, I am eating street food and no, I haven't gotten sick.
Sometimes I'll eat something like this for breakfast:
Everyone I've met, except the one other American girl I've seen, speaks two if not three languages. And while they are traveling, they are constantly speaking in their second tongue with other travelers who also are speaking in their second tongue. Makes me feel pretty useless and uneducated. That is why I try to learn at least hello, goodbye, thank you, how are you and the numbers 1-10 in each country I go to. 1-10 really wins people over for some reason. Probably because you remind them of their child or niece learning to count when they were 3. "Oh how cute! Look at the silly American trying to count to 10!"
So here I am, talking to foreigners about education, politics, economics and terrible reality TV and all I can think is "How in the world do they know all these words????" Literally the hardest thing I have to do is speak slower because sometimes these over-educated, trilingual people have a hard time keeping up with my pace. Other times they speak faster than me.
I was mulling this over one day while hiking through the forest with a bunch of French people, wishing I had continued with my French or Polish classes. I decided, well you're amongst a lot of French people, why don't you try and say something simple.
We were coming to the end of our hike and were faced with walking back the way we had come or scaling down a steep rock. It was one of those situations where the guide says "Let's have a vote" and only one person says anything and of course that person chooses scaling the rock so that's what we were going to do. I couldn't see said rock, just the fearful expression on the French people in front of me.
Here was my chance....I conjured up the simplest phrase I could think of and asked with the best French accent I could muster: "Facile ou difficile?" I was so proud of myself. The man I asked gave me a puzzled look and replied "I'm sorry, my English not so good. Could you repeat?" Thank you Frenchman for simultaneously making me feel better and worse about myself :)
Fortunately I can now practice French with Ashley and Kyle.
I found heaven in the highlands! I can't even remember how I decided to go to the Cameron Highlands but boy was I giddy when I got there. I stepped off the bus and the weather was gray, drizzly and a perfect 60 degrees. I was one happy girl.
A British man named Sir William Cameron discovered the highlands in the late 1800s and when he realized that not only could you escape the heat but that you could throw pretty much any seed into the ground and it would grow, he decided the British should set up shop. Some unfortunate things happened, like he didn't mark the location on the map and then died, so they had to wait until another explorer named Sir Hugh Low re-discovered the place before they could get the ball rolling.
One of the biggest attractions is the tea plantations. The hills look like they are covered in thick, green carpets of tea leaves. I took serious notes about how to grow and harvest tea and am thinking about starting a tea company when I get home, if anyone is interested. Plant, grow, pick, squish, oxidize, dry and boom, you have tea!
I met up with my friend Sameli one day and we went on a hike that started at a campsite. As we came back through at the end of the day we asked to take a picture of a couple boys that were chatting. All of a sudden the entire campsite came running over and wanted to take pictures of us. As we left every single one of them shook our hand and said "Goodbye!" "So nice to meet you!" "Have a good day!" I have officially had my 15 minutes of fame.
The last exciting activity I partook in before leaving the highlands was a solo hike in the forest. Let it be known that a lot of people do this hike in the wee hours of the morning in order to see the sunset. The words "Know Thyself" popped into my head and so I slept in and did this hike during the wee hours of midday with plenty of natural light to guide the way. I also used this hand-drawn, hand-me-down map which I give 100% credit to for getting me back down the mountain without taking a 5km detour. There were lots of side trails, I swear.
That being said, I'm still not sure I popped out where I was supposed to but if I did get slightly lost, it was worth it because I came out right above this charming village:
I definitely loved the Cameron Highlands. If you like colder temperatures, forest hiking, tea or strawberries, get yourself over to the highlands when you are in Malaysia.
After Malacca I headed to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. This was the third city of the trip and the third time I stayed in Chinatown....it's THE place to be. Good, cheap street food, a huge market and a lot of hustle and bustle.
Kuala Lumpur is this weird mishmash of rich and not rich. There are lots of shiny, new, flashy skyscrapers popping up in the city and a huge mall selling expensive Marc Jacobs, Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci goods all of which are surrounded by shabby, run down buildings. The city is much grittier than Singapore and feels more alive.
Of course I had to see these bad boys:
And since they went from charging 0MYR to 80MYR ($26) to go up the Petronas Towers, we went up the Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower instead. It's one of the world's tallest communication towers coming in at 421m tall, just shy of the 452m Petronas Towers.
One afternoon in Malacca, Werner, Sameli, Christian, AB and myself went to do the river walk. It's a bit like the river walk in San Antonio except less crowded and more open feeling. About halfway through the walk we started following along a monorail track above us. Sameli told us the story of how they spent millions of MYR to build the monorail and had a huge opening ceremony in 2010. Shortly after it opened the monorail started experiencing lots of technical problems, eventually broke and they never bothered to fix it.
As we neared the end of the walk, we looked up and saw the monorail car sitting at the station and decided to go check it out. We walked up two flights of stairs that had a lot of local art hanging on display. "How nice!" I thought. "They turned a bad experience into an art gallery."
We reached the top and the doors to the monorail were open so we got on to explore. I climbed into the driver's seat and noticed several of the buttons were lit up. I looked back at my friends and asked "Where to, gentlemen?" and almost pushed one of the buttons. Then I noticed a low humming noise, thought better of pushing the button and we disembarked after taking a few pictures.
We were sitting around in the shade chatting for about 30 minutes when a lady approached us and asked if we were waiting for a ride on the monorail. Knowing that she would tell us it was broken we jokingly said, "Yes, we would like a ride." "Ok, but you have to go downstairs and buy a ticket first." "Wait, you mean it isn't broken??" She laughed and told us "No, of course not."
Great security they have here in Malacca :) I'm very glad I didn't push that button. And just FYI, the Wikipedia page still says the monorail isn't running: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacca_Monorail
I thought I would escape the heat of Singapore by heading to Malacca. (HA!). It was a fairly painless journey except when the locals go running off the bus at immigration, breeze through their special access lane in minutes while you stand at the end of a 30 minute line, you really start to worry if maybe it's common for the bus to leave people behind. I then fought my way through a very packed night market, knocking people aside with my backpack (not on purpose), cursing myself for never taking an orienteering class so I could confidently navigate side streets without a map. But I found the hostel on my first try in the advertised 10 minutes. This is a big accomplishment in my book.
My first day in Malacca I went to breakfast with an Italian named Werner then off I went to explore. I lasted one hour until I headed back to the hostel. I burst in, bright red and dripping with sweat from every pore on my body. "Howwwww do you do this?!" I asked Werner who was sitting at the computer. He replied, "It's the hottest part of the day. You stay inside and explore later." Oh. My problem was I kept thinking "MUST SEE ALL THE THINGS!!" and was going at a frantic pace to accomplish this.
Staying in Malacca was my Backpacking 101 refresher course where I relearned how to do extended travelling. It only took one day to get into my new groove and now my days look like this: Wake up around 9am. Shower. Go to breakfast with friends which can last about 2 hours and do a little exploring. Go back to the hostel and chat with people, look up info about your next destination etc. 2pm go to lunch. 3pm explore, ride bikes, see temples, etc. 8pm go to dinner. More chatting in the hostel or a bar. Shower. Go to bed. It's a much slower, more enjoyable and more manageable pace to live at.
About Malacca itself....it's a lovely city. It is known as the Historic State of Malaysia and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Like Singapore there is a vibrant Chinatown and Indian district. We spent our time walking up and down the river that weaves through town, visiting several markets and temples, chatting with the local firemen and expats, riding bikes by the sea and out in the 'burbs, and eating some DELICIOUS food. It was here that I discovered banana pancakes and even more importantly- coconut shakes.
We had been riding along the highway, which isn't as scary as you think. The drivers seem much more aware of what's going on around them here than back home and give you plenty of room. We had been riding for about 30 minutes when we passed a long line of parked cars. There didn't seem to be anything special happening or any monument or temple around so we backtracked to see what was going on. A coconut shake stand is what was going on. Freshly made and so delicious the locals line up and wait forever to get one. I almost ordered a second shake but the sun was beginning to set so we had to head home.
If you find yourself in Malaysia, definitely stop in Malacca!
