Cameron Highlands 29.03.2013 - 30.03.2013

Happy Easter everyone-am craving Easter eggs so much at the minuet!! We had good Friday off so seemed like a good excuse for a little trip out to the Cameron Highlands. The Highlands are set in the valleys of Malaysia and are the site of lots of farms- basically if it grows, they grow it in the Cameron Highlands! The main farms are the Tea farms and Strawberry farms which cover most of the lands. One of the best bits was the weather- cloudy, chilly with a bit of rain- jeans and hoody weather- perfect for some Brits missing the UK weather!! We took the 4.5 hour bus journey from KL on Friday morning, the last 1.5 hours was along the very twisty and turny roads of the highlands- I felt so sick!! But we got through it! We drooped our stuff off at our apartment and set out to explore the town and get dinner. After 'family time' ( I was the big sister) back at the apartment we headed out for a night market! The market sold EVERYTHING strawberry related- it got a bit silly including the suggestion that we all bought matching strawberry PJ's!! Fried Wantons for tea followed by amazing strawberries and chocolate-yum yum!!! We all had an early night as we had a tour booked for 9 the next day... Oh and I got a RM100 note!!!

We were all up and out by 8:30 on Saturday morning! We had a very British breakfast of Eggs on Toast with a Cuppa!!! All 7 of us piled into the 4x4 sent to pick us up and so our tour of the highlands began. We visited the Rose Garden first-interesting decor but nice flowers. Next was the tea plantations-excellent photo opportunity! The plantations spread for miles! We saw the tea being made in the factory and had samples, but the best bit was the tea room at the back with Tea and Scones with jam and cream- a proper British treat!!! After the tea rooms came quick stops at the Honey Farm and then the Butterfly/Insect house. Next we drove to one of the strawberry farms and bought fresh strawberries (very rare in MY) and had fresh strawberry juice :)
The final stop on our tour was a Chinese temple which was really pretty and peaceful as always. The tour was fab considering it cost 5 pounds for all 4.5 hours!! We got dropped back in the main town and grabbed some dinner before stocking up for the drive home. This trip was really great- fab company as well as great sights and TEA!!! Felt like a little British getaway with the scones and strawberries!! Oh and I bought a strawberry cushion for my bed :P

I really enjoyed this trip-would defiantly recommend it to everyone especially tea and scones!!! Next up is a couple of weeks on campus working hard before a trip to the Perinthian Islands for snorkeling... Love to the UK :)

Broga 27.03.2013

Here at UNMC we live really close to a massive hill called Broga, its fairly famous I think and people climb it to see the sunrise or sunset over Kajang. We decided to climb it on Wednesday morning for the full moon and sunrise. After waking at 5am (!!!) and a breakfast of leftover pizza we headed to Broga. The climb was very steep and we worked up quite a sweat as we climbed to the first peak in the pitch black! We got to the peak with plenty of time to spare and settled to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately it was really cloudy so we didn't see the moon or sun- but the view was still really nice and we had a great time chatting and chilling together :) We spent some time at the top before the slippery climb down, 2nd breakfast at Maccy D's before getting back home for lectures at 11... We were very tired that evening!!

Langkawi!! 08.02.13-10.02.13

We went away again this weekend (not sure Ive spent a full weekend on campus yet...) to the island of Langkawi! After a very short and bumpy flight we checked into our hostel before changing into dresses for a girly evening of cocktails on the beach, we found a great bar called Babylon where everyone was really chilled and listening to music and drinking on the beach so close to the sea, it was such a lovely sight :) We had cocktails late into the night before the compulsory tipsy pizza-which was actually amazing!!

Saturday we were all up and ready by 9! We rented a car and Suzie drove us around the island. We took the cable car up a massive hill which gave us amazing views across the whole main island and out into the sea-Langkawi island is really beautiful! The Cable was very steep however and a tiny bit scary!! We then headed to a Buffalo Park to feed the buffalo and try some milk-was an odd sight but really enjoyed it! We also drove to the 'field of burnt rice' which was possibly the worst tourist attraction ever-it was just a small patch of grass with a fence round it! The story behind it was much better but there was nothing to see-was quite funny really! We then drove to then north point of the island where we sunbathed on a private beach-living the life :) We stopped off at the jetty to watch the sunset at the giant Langkawi eagle, it was the first sunset I'd seen properly in Malaysia and was gorgeous-took so many photos although apparantly we were also a popular tourist attraction ourselves... We ate at the night market which was very busy and had some good food :) We finished this busy day with more cocktails on the beach - luxury :)

 

 On sunday we were up again at 9 and ready for Island Hopping. We were driven to the boat in a little van that had a door that fell off and no horn so when someone was in our way the driver leaned aout the window and shouted 'beep-beep' at them-much to our amusement! The boat took us first to the Pregnant Maiden lake on a different island (Langkawi is made up of 90+ apparantly), This one had hills which looked like a pregnant lady and if you bathed in the lake it was supposed to cure infertility... so we're all set for kids now!! It was on this island that people got stuff stolen by monkeys! We kept all our things though and we met a couple from sheffield (!!!) who fended off the monkeys with a very Northern ' Nooooooooorr You cant av ma bag' - a very welcome sound!! Next our little boat took us to see the Langkawi eagles feeding-I hoped for some better pictures and that we would have fed them for longer but the brief sight was amazing as they are so fast and accurate and beautiful birds :) Next we went to another island for some beach time which was nice and then back to the main island. After freshening up at the hostel we headed out for mexican food-well recommended by the large group of students that also came to Langkawi,  and it was really nice-I miss Nachos!!! We finished our weekend with a quick bit of shopping (didnt get anything) and a final bit of sunbathing before the smoothest flight home ever

Overall Langkawi was amazing and I would so go again, wish I was still there now with another cocktail on the beach!! Everyone back home would have loved it too-especially the duty free Jack Daniels at 7 pounds for a big bottle!! Anyway we are staying here pretty much for the next 2 weeks, need to get some work done and save up a bit before the next trip!! Still got plans for singapore and new plans to visit Redang and the Perinthian Islands for a long weekend at the end of the month!! I will blog if anything interesting happens before then!! Love to the UK! :)

 

Weekend trip to Sg. Lembing, Kuantan, Pahang and My 20th Birthday!! 02/03-03/03

Last weekend was my 20th birthday! Felt a bit weird to be away from home and all the people I'm usually with but the guys here made it awesome and we took an amazing weekend trip away with the Nature society to the rainbow wtaerfalls and Teluk Cempedak Beach!

Saturday- We set off at 7am (after birthday skyping sessions of course) and drove for 5 hours to reach the Teluk Cempedak beach-This was a beautiful and very quiet beach where I guess the locals go more than tourists. After lunch came swimming, a bit of volleyball and sunbathing to dry off -the sea was warm, sun was shining, the waves were a little large for my liking but still was a lovely way to spend my birthday! Next came a brief stop at a museum and hanging bridge- seemed very dangerous when all 44 of us had a group photos on the bridge!! Saw some locals at work and got very wet in the afternoon rain! We stayed overnight in basically a large house with divided rooms, dinner was a huge barbecued feast of chicken, duck and squid amongst other things followed by some slightly odd team games! Back at the homestay the guys gave me my cake and sang before I distributed it-was quite good cake but not like in UK-was very light and covered in cream rather than the super chocolaty cakes I'm used to!! All-in-all the day was brilliant but we had to get to bed early as Sunday started at 5:15am.

Beach!!

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday started at 5:15 with a jeep ride to the local market for breakfast, it was surprisingly busy for that time in the morning!! After breakfast of rice noodles and pork came a 1 hour long jeep ride to the start of the waterfall-nothing like a bit of adventure and danger to start the day!! The jeep driver was great though sat in the back we got knocked around alot and the odd branch did try to decapitate us all!! It was so good though!! After wading across a small river came a 40minuet jungle walk up to the top of the waterfall. The sight on reaching the waterfall was amazing-It was so beautiful despite the lack of rainbow due to the lack of sun! We spent an hour or so at the top, swimming in the cold waters of the pool and sat under the falling waters was brilliant. They served us hot milo (hot chocolate) and noodles to warm us up after the cold waters! After the hike back down we drove to the 'hot spring'. Admittedly I was a little underwhelmed-we were expecting a large-ish pool in the middle of a pretty field etc - what we got was a very small tub of hot water! The people who own the land have stopped developing the spring so it was literally just a small hot tub basically but never mind the Brits stripped off and settled into the very warm, if a little smelly, water. On the drive back we spotted oil leaking out of our truck and we broke down, all 10 of us had to divide between the two remaining trucks resulting in there being 20 people all crammed into the top of our jeep!! This was a bit un-nerving but the Malaysians didn't seem to mind (as ever)! So after a very squished ride back came another cooked lunch which was really good too before the long drive back to UNMC (via MacDonald's for some quick food that wasn't rice based!!)

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall this weekend was amazing and I loved having my birthday out here in Malaysia-did miss home alot though. In other Malaysia news Ive started playing netball and the lady loves me as I am bigger than the little Malaysians so can defend them well-not sure how I feel about that but oh well! Also got Chinese cultural event this week before LANGKAWI this weekend-very excited!! Also booked on cooking course for next weekend! Thats about all for now but watch this space next week for Langkawi blog!! Love to the UK :)