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hi to all hope everyone is good! these are catch up blogs, in the past tense as again we have been too busy/lazy to update! we had a very happy reunion with wendy and andy in big old KL. we went up the petronas towers to the sky bridge, great view but having to be subjected to the most awful film blathering on about how great petronas is and how great petrol is (seriously, i know their a petrol company but do they have to have such a lack of self awareness - petrol is not good!!) but we mocked it all the way through which kept us amused and the 3d glasses were extremely cool. after that we had to be xray,security passed for all in all 6 minutes on the bridge haha!! much much better was the excellent bird and butterfly parks, in the bird park there were so many beautiful peacocks who kindly displayed their feathers for us and various ridiculous birds from the monty python ministry of funny walks. another highlight was the museum of islamic art - with many ancient Qurans - some which were written on small pieces of wood in africa and continuously wiped off for the next verse so they memorised the whole thing! beautiful examples of traditional clothing, batik styles and traditional costume. it was a very serene space, really well executed i thought and had an amazing inverted domed roof. we passed the National mosque with its star shaped bright turquoise roof and as it was Ramadan and a friday only men were coming and going, it was very interesting to observe. Wendy and i haggled till we were exhausted in little india and chinatown - both have such good atmospheres and great bargains! found the best vegetarian restaurant in the world (so far)with 'mock' meat (a world away from dry tasteless linda mcartney sausages!!) a buddhist restaurant interestingly they dont serve ginger garlic or onion (buddists avoid these) so how they make there amazing tastes and flavours i have no idea (no msg either)!! weve been there over 5 times so far!! so any way this blog is supposed to be cameron highlans! we set off on what was to become the windiest, nauseating journey as the driver (who was a mentalist and first ignored me then screamed at me when i dared to confirm it was the cameron highlands bus!!) took the old road - beautiful mountainous scenery, but we were all too busy trying to keep an eye on the ever dissapearing horizon with hangdog expressions! we stayed at a lovely quaint really english feel place (thats the odd thing about he highlands - being old colonial outposts for the english, as KL was too sweaty for them, it reminded us so much of the lake district, or cornwall - my first real taste of homesickeness, yearing for old falmouth and the chill of winter, without a continual river of sweat down my face. Wendy assured me i wont feel that way when i return! (thanks for the reminder Sue!!) normally i am sceptical about day 'tours' but we took an excellent one with mr singh (he delighted in telling us he was a modern hindu as he didnt wear a turban!)around the stunning tea plantations, rose gardens, strawberry fields and a great chinese temple. he was a really informative guide, i think i could grow my own tea now! walked up a very steep hill to a lovely viewpoint of tana rata and the surrounding fields. Amazing straberry shakes and the rose gardens were bizzare, like golbys garden centre on mushrooms is the only was to describe it; crazy murals adorned the walls and ceramic figures of cartoon characters (what is it with giant ceramic creatures in asia? they love them!)which we took great delight in posing with! went on a lovely walk through the woodlands, its a pity there is so much rubbish in asia, waste management is not a priority here - its odd because if they dont sort it out no tourists will want to come but they make tourism a top priority so...figure that one out. celebrated chris birthday in style with a delicious chocolate cake which a localy bakery kindly made in record time and iced 'happy birthday pig' on it which made my day!!! i recommend the cameronian inn to anyone by the way! the staff are lovely, its like staying at your grannys house, all cosy and a bit damp!! ok read the next blog for taman negara jungle!!!!
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