The last day and a half we spent in the Cameron Highlands. Getting here was a battle for those of us who get motion sickness. It was about a 5 hour drive from Penang, half of which were curvy roads up the mountains into the highlands. Plus we stopped so many times, a hassle of group vs solo travel (and a manic tour guide). I've never been so glad to get out of a van in my life, and I know a few others would agree due to their upset stomachs.

The Cameron Highlands are set in green rolling hills that are lush and tranquil. I've never seen anything like it before. They consist of 3 towns and 8 villages known for farming of tea, strawberries, honey, etc. The temperature here is much much cooler than where I've been the past two weeks. As we drove up the mountain we could feel the temperature drop, it was rejuvenating. The town we were staying in was called Tanah Rata, which means "flat land" in Malay. Seems like an oxymoron to me because there was nothing flat about it. Our hotel was like an adorable cottage that was turned into a hotel. The rooms were small, no AC (which we didn't need because it was quite chilly), and nice common areas on each floors. The only set back is that the walls were paper thin so we could hear everything our neighbors were doing and saying. No big deal though because we were hardly in the rooms anyway.

The first thing I did upon arriving in my room was bust out my roommates straightener and took advantage of the cool temperatures for my wild hair. I know it seems silly, but it was nice to feel a little more put together for one night without a frizzy Afro coming out of my head. Backpackers typically are barely put together maybe wearing clean clothes, and probably sporting hippie lounge pants with elephant print and flip flops. This is widely accepted and totally liberating, although being put together was a nice change. I even threw on a maxi dress and a scarf to top off the put together feeling.

For dinner, Willie took us to a local restaurant that specializes in something called a steamboat meal (see photos). A steamboat is similar to the meal I had in Cambodia where you cook your own food on a hot plate. This time, however, all the food is cooked directly in the soup broth instead of on a hot plate. Four of us at my table ordered it and they brought out a massive amount of food to be cooked. Cuttle fish, fish balls, and jelly fish were among the weirdest of the meat selections. I tried all of them. The cuttle fish and fish balls were alright, but the jelly fish was disgusting! By the end of the meal, us four who participated were absolutely stuffed and could barely move.

Our guide books (something every backpacker has with them) told us about a unique bar called the Jungle Bar. A few of us took off to check it out and had a fun and relaxed evening. A lot of other travelers were there, there was a campfire in the back, and a pool table in the middle. After a beer, us girls hit the table for a round of probably the worst game of pool you've ever seen. It was hilarious because it seemed that all three of us played by different rules as well. After last call (bars close at midnight here), we headed back to bed since we had an early morning with a group tour scheduled for 8:45 am.

Our tour was an adventure tour throughout the highlands. It started with a 1.5 hour jungle trek. I don't think any of us realized how challenging it was going to be. At one point, there was an area that if you weren't paying attention or took a few wrong steps, your destination was tumbling down the jungle cliff towards a bunch of rocks at the end of a waterfall. Luckily, everyone survived and only slipped or fell a few times. Our destination for the trek was to look for one of the biggest species of flowers in the world, the Rafflesia arnoldii. When we got there, it was a medium sized one in its second day of bloom (see photo). I think most of us were expecting something a bit bigger, but it was cool enough. After the flower, and a bee sting casualty with one of the holland girls (the other holland girl sucked the venom out of her arm, craziest thing ever), we headed back to where we started the trek. It was exhausting and made me realize how out of shape I am. Having pneumonia before my trip definitely didn't help the cause.

When we got back to the starting point, we had a blow dart demonstration and each got to try. I surprisingly did really well on the target. The blow dart is definitely my new weapon of choice, better watch out!

We had lunch at an Indian restaurant which I find very intriguing. There aren't many Indian restaurants that I know of around where I live, and I'm not even certain I've ever had Indian food. It's a cuisine I definitely would like to get to know more about.

After lunch we headed off to the Boh Tea Plantation. The scenery was beautiful and lush green rolling hills. I could sit and stare at the scenery forever. It's so peaceful. I learned that in Malaysia, they don't export their tea, it's only for use in Malaysia and Singapore. This is such a shame because it's delicious. Most of the tea we drink comes from China and Sri Lanka. I learned that the leaves of a tea plant are picked every 3 weeks and the whole bush trimmed every 3 months. Because Malaysia doesn't have the man power that China and other countries have to pick the leafs by hand, they use a machine (see photo). It's a lot of work and makes me appreciate tea a lot more now!

At the plantation there was a store where we could purchase cups of tea and pastries. Of course we had to try some before we bought it from the store to take home. I positioned myself with the English experts and we all tried different flavors. They taught me all about scones and biscuits and the proper dipping techniques. I taught them about iced tea, which I'm sure they'll cherish and drink at home now ;)
After teaching each other our different cultural tea techniques, we bought our favorite flavors to bring home and left the plantation. We went to a strawberry and butterfly farm then finally ended up back at the hotel to clean up for dinner.

Traveling in a group is so much fun, you learn so much about different cultures and meet amazing people, but organizing a group like that is often challenging. We all tried to pick a dinner location together and no one was being decisive enough so we ended up at different restaurants. After dinner, and because we were exhausted from the long tour day, we went back and had a relaxed night hanging in our hotel common areas. I'm pretty sure it's the first night Rachel, Jodie, and I didn't go out. We discussed the recent Ebola breakout (news to us given to me by a friend from home since we've been living in a news-less bubble). Then the Holland girls tried to teach Rachel and I Dutch sayings and songs, which was hilarious, and after accidentally being too loud and waking up another hotel guest, we decided to go to bed and rest up for our next stop, Kuala Lumpur!

Only 3 more cities left on my journey.. Can't I be a backpacker forever?!