Malaysia

Ok, so I know it has been a little while but I have the excuse of less internet access (I have finally steered away from cities). Now where did I last leave off? Oh right, Singapore. From Singapore I took a bus from Kuala Lumpur. I knew I was in for a different experience from the past two cities I had been when the bus dropped me off on the curb of a city hub that did not even resemble a bus station. You see I had directions to my hostel from the bus station so I was quite lost in the sea of people I was swept away by when getting off the bus. Eventually I found my way and with the help of another treasure map of directions I arrived.
I instantly made friends with a girl from the Philippines in my dorm room. Her name is Shayne and when I introduced myself she said "Morgan is a boy's name!" and responded with "I've only met boy Shayne's in the US". So we hit it off and made our way to the Petronas towers. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) when I arrived in Malaysia, a Muslim country, it was the end of Ramadan so many things were closed including the Petronas towers meaning I wasn't able to go to the famous sky bridge, oh well.

Our next day in KL we walked all over the city: China Town, Little India, Lake Gardens Park, and the Malaysian National Mosque. It's hard to describe everything I saw but needless to say, walking is the best way to experience a city. Me and Shayne in Lake Gardens Park (also picture below)

Above is a picture of the train staiton in KL, beautiful!

From KL I went to the middle of Malaysia to an area called the Cameron Highlands. It is known for it's tea plantations, strawberry farms, and lush jungle trekking. I got off the bus and once again went on a hunt for my hostel and after climbing what felt like 10 flights of stairs I arrived and was greeted with a smile and personal tour of the grounds. I loved this place! It was very well organized and the staff was incredibly friendly. They offered different tours to come pick you up at the hostel so I decided to do it all in one full day tour.

Father's Guesthouse, where I stayed at the Cameron highlands

I was picked up promptly at 9am and after picking up other guests we had a van full of 3 Australians, 2 Indians, 2 couples from Holland, me representing the US, and our Malaysian tour guide Kumar. We started our tour going to the butterfly garden. Yes we did see butterflies and flowers but the best part were the giant bugs (see pictures below).

From there we went to the Boh tea plantations. Boh is Malaysia's main tea company (however it's owned by the Scott's). The tea plantations are beautiful! We also got to see the process of making the tea at the factory and followed that with a cup of tea and scones.


After lunch we got ready for our trek through the rain forest to find the largest flower in the world, the refflasia. Of course when we started the rain did as well (oh the irony) but I guess it makes a better story. The hike was beautiful and the flowers we found were as well. I just made it under the wire to see them. According to Kumar the end of their blooming season is October. On top of that when they do bloom it only lasts for 7 days.

You can do a lot of things with bamboo in the rain forest....

When we finally made it back to our hostel it was dark and cold (we're up in the mountains so no more humidity to keep us warm) but after a warm shower I met up with the tour group for dinner an beers. We all got along really well. The next day I went on another hike through the jungle with an Australian couple from the tour.


Over all the Cameron highlands have been my favorite stop followed very closely by Tokyo. I have made some really good friends here and have fallen in love with the accommodation. Next stop the beach!