MALAYSIA

December 2010

KUALA LUMPUR AND THE CAMERON HIGHLANDS

Allison and I took a weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur and the Cameron Highlands since it's less than an hour flight from Singapore on Tiger Airways (the Easyjet of SE Asia). It's interesting how completely different Malaysia is to Singapore, considering they are part of the same island.

Malaysia still has a fusion of different southeast Asia races but is a very Muslim country which has a huge impact on the culture.

I booked a driver named Anuar (http://www.kualalumpurtravel.net/) who ended up taking us around on a 14 hour tour that was only supposed to be 8-9 (yay bonus!). Our first stop was the Cameron Highlands, home of some pretty gorgeous tea plantations and some other sights like a strawberry farm, bee farm, cactus farm, and a waterfall. We went to the BOH tea factory, the Lipton of Malaysia, (which I imagined to be the Chocolate World of tea, but it was much much smaller...I guess tea is a lot easier to make than Hershey's chocolate!), and sampled some fresh black tea afterward. I LOVED this! I bought some BOH Mango Black Tea and it is one of the best teas I've ever had.

Locals bathing at the base of the waterfall

At night...back to Kuala Lumpur...

Fresh watermelon juice in a bag--I know it was fresh because

I saw the guy go down the street to buy the watermelon.

The Petronas Towers

One of the many mosques around KL

BATU CAVES

On Sunday, we made a trip to the Batu Caves just outside Kuala Lumpur (you can get there by a train or a cheap taxi), which were absolutely stunning. One of the most popular Hindu temples outside of India, we climbed 272 steps to the actual caves which are said to be a few million years old.

Into the Batu Caves!

3D Hindu Mural

Our first encounter with wild monkeys, we were absolutely delighted that they were just hanging around the temple. Allison bought a batch of bananas and we fed them!