Malaysia - Day 12

Day 12 - Thursday 27 September:

Being awake at 5am is not natural. Along with my cold, the early start didn't make me feel very well. Our hot water didn't work so the shower wasn't really a shower, and our 5.30am pickup arrived at 6.10am. There were 2 other tourists on our tour - a young couple from Holland. We stopped at a lookout on the side of the road (not the mountain peak as it was too cloudy) to watch the sunrise. There were even wedding photos (or a wedding dress shoot) happening! The sunrise was a bit disappointing as it was too cloudy or the mountains too high to get the full effect of an amazing sunrise.

From there we went to the Mossy Forest boardwalk. It was very foggy and damp and cold, and the boardwalk was quite slippery. We didn't spend too long there and I was the first one back in the van in an attempt to stay warm. 

Afterwards we went to a tea plantation and watched as people harvested the tea leaves.  They are paid by the kilogram - $0.28c per kg! Their normal hours are 7am - 2pm, but it it's raining they'll work until 5pm (the leaves are heavier). Most of the workers are from Bangladesh or Indonesia, so while approx RM1200/month isn't enough to live comfortably on in Malaysia, it's a lot back in their home countries. From there we went to the BOH tea factory, had a light breakfast and a look around at the information and the gift shop. At 9.30am we headed back to the Bungalow.

We packed our bags and the car and went into town for last minute shopping. I bought a strawberry pillow (RM23). It's quite soft and comfy.  Our trip back towards KL was going to be long as we stopped at 2 small Orang Asli villages. I missed the first one as I was trying to help Jesse release the pressure in his ears with drops and squirty spray - he had a very short temper as the pain was getting to him.  

At the second village I got out and we pinned smiley face badges on all of the kids. They sang us a song, and we sang to them Jesus Loves Me. After leaving pencils and a few other things for the kids with their teacher we had a group photo and hit the road again.

We made one final stop on our way.  We stopped at a natural hot spring.  The river itself was lovely and cool but on the edge of the river was a small inlet where the water was close to boiling - there was steam coming off of it, and we put an orange in it to see what would happen: it cooked.

We were all quite tired when we got back to the Luther Centre.  Most of us just went to Pizza Hut and had dinner, and then called it an early night.

Malaysia - Day 11

Day 11 - Wednesday 26 September:

Our day began with a breakfast of both sweet and savoury rolls before packing into our 'bus' (12 seater van) and car for the trip to the Cameron Highlands.  It was such a beautiful trip into the mountains. Ps Calvin said we were taking the longer route because it was less windy, but we think it's because that's the way he could make a 5km detour to buy banana and sweet potato fritters!

It was cold, wet and foggy when we arrived at our accommodation - the Lutheran Mission Bungalow.  We all had a quick light lunch (at 3pm) in the town before relaxing at the Bungalow, playing tennis, taking photos and chatting until it was 6.30pm and time for dinner.  

The Bungalow is a retreat for Pastors and missionaries when they need a break and time to recuperate, so it was beautiful and isolated.  Dinner, made by Auntie, was mushroom soup, pork schnitzels, potato, cauliflower, salad, and apple pie with icecream - dishes learned from previous guests. It was all amazing and delicious!

After dinner we all went back into town and most of us had massages. Jesse had an ear candling, which afterwards went a little wrong, and he suffered side effects for a couple of days.

But I had a foot massage and an upper body massage, for 75 minutes (all for just RM70!) and it was very relaxing. Feeling calm and happy we went back to the Bungalow and set our alarms for 5am to be ready for our sunrise tour pickup at 5.30am.  It was a cold night, and I did not sleep well.