Mountains and Beaches

When you do things on a whim you often do things that make no sense. In my case I ended up traveling all through peninsular Malaysia on the longest route possible. My path didn't make any sense but I just made it up as I went. I started off in the Perhentian Islands located all the way back near the Thai border in the Gulf of Thailand. Its a laid back beach where relaxation is key. There really isn't much to do besides snorkeling, sunbathing, and eating. I had some delicious Malaysia fried king fish. Most people just chilled out on the beach or read a book on their bungalows overlooking the sea. So the next day I ended up doing some snorkeling with a Korean, Canadian, and another Brit. The snorkeling wasn't too bad and for $10 you couldn't beat the price which included a boat ride to 5 spots and equipment rental. Although I didn't see the big black tip reef shark that everyone else saw, I think I may have seen its baby daughter (well probably not). But the highlight of the day was at Turtle Bay where I got to swim beside another sea turtle. By that point I had figured out how to clear my snorkel so after entering the water I dove down two meters and swam with it for the whole 2 seconds that I can hold my breath. We ended up celebrating later on that night with a few cocktails overlooking the bay.

The easiest destination to make it to next was the Cameron Highlands simply because they offered direct transfer there from the Perhentians. The Cameron Highlands are located in a mountainous region in the middle of the peninsula. The high elevation gives the area a cool climate and is a welcome relief from the tropical and humid climates I've been in. One morning I woke up and the thermometer outside read 50. But that's not all the area had to offer. The mountains are home to the largest tea plantations I have ever seen. I toured some of the countryside and tasted some tea overlooking one of the plantations. Too bad I don't like tea. We then took a ride up the to the top of the tallest peak in the highlands but the clouds and fog (it rains constantly in Malaysia) prevented us from seeing the view. Before lunch we stopped at a butterfly farm. And although I have lots of pictures of butterflies, the coolest part was some of the monster insects and reptiles they had. These photos are not photoshopped and yes that is my hand. We ended the day visiting an Orang Asli village where I learned how to use a blow gun and steer clear of leeches.

I decided to try and spend a little time in Penang before heading back to Kuala Lumpur. Penang island is located up north again except on the west coast of Malaysia (you can see why my route didn't make sense). There really wasn't that much to the town that I wanted to see but a lot of locals seem to go there for their holidays so I gave it a shot. Well it rained about 80% of the time that I was there so I was lucky there wasn't much I wanted to do. The rain did give me a chance to ride in one of those rickshaws where your ride in the bucket seat in the front of a bicycle while someone pedals you through the driving rain. I made sure to tip the guy well. I did try and take the fusilier train up to the top of Penang Hill to check out the view but once again it started raining when I got on the train. It did clear up momentarily for me to take a couple shots from the top. By this time I was itching to get to Vietnam and so I headed back to KL for a quick pit stop before heading off to Singapore.