Entry Between Epic Adventures

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia=SO BEAUTIFUL

The night bus worked out fantastically well. Big, comfy seats that lay back really far and not too much air-con. There were only six of us on the bus and so at 4:30am our bus driver woke us up and told us to get on this other bus (same company, I think). In my groggy state I didn't really realize how sketchy it was that two buses just pulled over on the side of the highway in Malaysia and swapped passengers. But oh well. We (me and Karlijn [car-line] and Jo - my two travel partners) figured that our bus driver just wanted to get ride of us so he didn't have to drive the whole way and could have the morning off.

Our hostel was awesome and we shared a dorm room with two guys, one from Barcelona who is traveling around the world by bike (he had a sweet bike, Dad) and the other from New Zealand. We also met this 79 year old man who was born in America but lives in Spain for three months out of the year and then travels the other nine. I hope to be that badass when I'm 79.

Friday, we walked from one town to another and got caught in a really long, strong downpour and wandered into this merchandise/strawberry-selling place (CH is famous for their tea and strawberries) on the side of the road that took pity on us and gave us plastic bags for ponchos and really ugly strawberry umbrellas (they probably couldn't sell them, they're that ugly - I kept mine, though). We went to a Buddhist temple that was very beautiful, ate some lunch, took a nap, hung around and then went to dinner with our new friends. We got a steamboat which is this big pot of boiling broth and then tons of plates of raw chicken, beef, prawns, jellyfish, tofu, eggs, noodles, and veggies and you cook it in the broth and then eat it. No one explained to us what to do so we ended up overflowing it the first time and our waiter laughed at us. All in good fun, though. The hostel had a "Jungle Bar" and we sat around an outdoor fire and drank tea and talked. It was SO refreshing to get away from the heat. It felt like a late May-early June night in Oregon. I wore the only two sweaters I brought to Singapore and was still a bit on the chilly side.

Saturday, we did an all day tour (very touristy but totally worth it). It was us three girls, our friend from New Zealand, a couple from Norway, a couple from the Czech Republic and our guide, Spencer, all crammed into a land rover. We drove up this crazy road that shouldn't be considered a road and then trekked for an hour+ into the jungle with Spencer telling us all these things about the area and the plants, etc., until we reached a place where we saw the BIGGEST FLOWER IN THE WORLD. Here's the catch: it's actually a mushroom. BUT it looks and blooms like a flower, so everyone considers it one. In fact, I had this flower book when I was little that I LOVED and it was in it and I kept thinking about how cool it would be to see it someday and low-and-behold, I got to! My seven-year-old self was so very happy. It smelled rancid too, just like my book promised it would.
On the way back, we (well, some of us. The Norwegian couple turned out to be rich snobs who weren't adventurous at all) went swimming in this very cold, very nice waterfall pool thing. The water was clean enough to drink.

Stop number two was an aboriginal village where they taught us to shoot blow sticks (blow guns?). I got the dart thingy in the center of the target on my first try. Boom baby. I felt weird about the whole thing, though, because Spencer said we could walk around the village and we were totally just these white, western elitist tourists who were intruding on the daily life of this village. We played peek-a-boo with the kids, which they loved, and they waved us goodbye but I could tell that the women of the village were not pleased. Apparently, they get invaded by a tourist group everyday. That would piss me off too.

After lunch, we went to a tea farm and saw all these rolling hills of tea plants (this is what google images will show you when you search for CH). It was amazing. So green, so pretty, and the bushes were strong enough to hold you, so I totally stretched out on them for awhile before we went to the tea factory and cafe. I love tea.

At the Butterfly Farm we got to hold lots of crazy bugs, etc. such as butterflies (duh), turtles, frogs, and, wait for it...SCORPIONS. I told the guy handing them out that I would only hold it long enough for my picture to be taken and then he had to take it back, which he agreed to - right before it put one in my hand and then another one on my shoulder. My SHOULDER. By my FACE. Gah.

The strawberry farm was pretty uninteresting except for the fact that they sold all sorts of delicious strawberry things so we stuffed ourselves with waffles, scones with fresh jam, and strawberries covered in chocolate and whipped cream. My internal season clock was way thrown off though because it's winter back home so I should definitely not be eating strawberries. It's not the season for strawberries! Oh wait, I'm living in perpetual summer.

Saturday was pretty similar to Friday night and I had to get up Sunday morning to come back to Singapore because I had class Monday. My friends had breakfast with me and then we walked through the little farmer's market and bought some fruit and then I got on the bus. Four stops and nine hours later I was back in the heat. Whew.

I'm spending this week getting ready for the next two weeks of traveling (well, and I went climbing this morning - totally shredded my hands but that's what makes me so awesome)! I take off for Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Monday to meet up with my professor from home and then I go straight from there to Bangkok on Friday to meet up with Nathan from home and I come back a week later! The plan right now is to do awesome university stuff in Cambodia, fly to Bangkok and spend a couple days there (maybe we'll run into the dozens of other exchange students from NUS that will be there) and then head north in search of elephants (and tigers and rock climbing?...)! Expect numerous epic posts about those adventures upon my return!

LOVE,
M-"I want to see the world through tea"-addy