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First Malaysian encounter is Penang. We don't really know what we do here, but we needed a stop on the way to the Cameron Highlands.
Pulau Penang, a small island connected to peninsular Malaysia by the 15 km bridge over the sea has been taken over awhile ago, by a british guy that intended to break Dutch Melakas monopoly of the spice trade. Also knwn as the " Betel Nut Island" was a bustling port that welcomed entrepreneurs of every imaginable ethnicity but now it' s just on a continous decline as a player on the international market. And we thought globalisation is a modern phenomenon!?!
Stepping out of the historical part, we walk through Little India, our favorite part of the city. We still didn't find anything special about Penang until the sun was almost going down and we thought of driving our rented motorbike up the hill to the Kek Lok Sii Temple. It was just another temple on a hill, with a nice view over the city until the clock turned 7:30 pm and they switched on all the temple's lights! Simply magical! We couldn't stop pressing the camera button....a colorful insanity of chinese lamps, golden-red buddhas and pineapple shaped candles.
Dreaming in colours gave the the right positive attitude to continue the adventure on the winding road to the Cameron Highlands, just high enough to mingle with the clouds. Pyramid shaped mountains up to 2600m high, altitude-loving tea plantation, strawberry fields, bee farms, undeveloped forests and well hidden Rafflessia- the biggest flower on earth( and the most stinky one aswell:)) are the ones that turn this boring little mountain village into a retreat from the tropical lowlands of Malaysia.we are more then ready to explore the network of steep trails that are criss-crossed by thick roots turning it into the nature's jungle gym, a walk into the woods being magically turned into an " all four crawl". :)
A hot afternoom tea, locally brewed, in this cool weather is refreshingly welcome!
Fact: the malaysian ringgit is exactly as strong a the romanian RON, so we are very comfortable knowing that everything is so cheap :)
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