malaysia 3

from kuala lumpur i took a bus to tanah rata, the tourist center of the cameron highlands...the highlands are another hill station, cooler and less humid than the lowlands of the country...there are a bunch of tea estates in the highlands, the area produces most of the tea in the country...tanah rata itself is basically a village...not much there except travel agencies for tourists, a few convenient marts, and a bunch of yummy indian restaurants...i found a single room, and though it was small and very cozy, that was exactly what i needed...the first day there i didn't do much of anything...walking around a little (10 minutes of walking in tanah rata means you've seen the whole town) and playing with my camera...the whole area has beautiful wildflowers, the likes of which are NOT in indiana...the second day i booked myself a tour...it wasn't so much a tour, as them just driving us around to a number of different places...first up was a flower garden...pretty flowers, a great view over a valley from a particular viewpoint...i loved the sunflowers...the second stop was a strawberry farm...we didn't see much, just rows of where they were growing strawberries...we didn't even get to pick any...we did howeva, get to eat the strawberries...i had absolutely no problem eating two strawberry sundaes at 10:30 in the morning...is that a bad thing? you could also get a waffle, strawberries with cream, strawberries with honey, or a strawberry shake...they were ALL good:)...from the strawberry farm we went to a tea estate...i can't remember the name of the estate, but their brand name is boh, and it's the most common in malaysia...it was gorgeous...rows and rows and hills and hills of tea bushes...i learned that tea bushes grow into trees if they aren't trimmed, and i also learned they can be 150 yrs old!!! i bought a couple packets of tea, and have been making chai most mornings...YUM...then we went to a bee farm...not much there to see except the boxes/hives...that's where you could try to make your way through the world's largest indoor maze, but i don't think anyone in my group did so...from there, our last stop was a buddhist temple...perhaps the most interesting part of the temple were the walls...they were covered in images of buddha...something like 10,000 in all? i don't remember the exact number...think small bathroom tiles, covering the whole wall...nifty...on the way back from the temple we had a new driver, and i ended up with motion sickness about 30 seconds into the ride...i actually had to make him stop and get out early and walk back into town!! why is it that some drivers make me so sick, and others are fine?

from tanah rata i took buses to kota bahru...kota bahru is the state capital, ( i can't remember the name of that particular state, eeek) and it's the only state in malaysia where you can find blue rice...yes, i went all the way across the peninsula because i wanted to eat blue rice...it was fun, and though it didnt taste any different from white rice, i'm still glad i went...kota bahru itself doesn't have much to offer...a central market, in a building that allows you to look down on the ladies selling fresh produce...it gets busy down there!!

from kota bahru, i crossed the peninsula one more time, to the island of penang...off the western side of the peninsula...the main city on penang is called georgetown...this island is actually the oldest settled part of malaysia, older than singapore and melaka...it's another former trading port...howeva, the island is almost all chinese...it is the only malay state with a majority chinese population...but there is still plenty of indian food to be had...and since it was my last stop in malaysia, i indulged, big time...just outside georgetown, in a town called air itam, is a BIG buddhist temple...well, it's actually a buddhist temple complex...there are several temples there, each with different architectural influences...thai, chinese, etc...the best part of the complex is the 7 story pagoda, from the top of which you can look out over the city...awesome, even though it was raining while i was up there...

georgetown also has several mosques which i was able to explore...in one i felt quite welcome, and i enjoyed talking to one of the men after he finished his prayers...in the other one, i felt rather ambushed...one guy showed me around a bit, but kept trying to bait me as to why islam is better/truer/etc than christianity...it wasn't a debate i wanted to have...he kept trying to use specific bible verses to prove his points, and i've always hated when people do that...he said he'd read the bible, but for nearly every verse that looks at things one way, there is another verse that looks at them from the other side...you know, the old eye for an eye vs turn the other cheek debate...i don't know the bible well enough to think of specific verses, and i really felt uncomfortable around him...i'm not likely ever to convert to a religion when someone tells me what i already believe is wrong, and that what they believe is right/better...

the morning of 1 july, i bid a fond farewell to malaysia, and hopped on a ferry to medan, on the island of sumatra, in indonesia...