KL to Singapore

oooookay sorry its been such a long time, i have heen too busy having fun!!
I apologize in advance as i realy cant remember allot of the exact details of whats been happening over the last few weeks just because i have done sooooooo much!

I do believe i left you on the edge of your seats with me on my way down to KL so i will start from there! It was a STUPIDLY long journey from Koh Pangnan to KL lasting a total of 25 hours including a ferry, 2 coaches, 8 minibuses and 2 scooters! but i did get there in then end so i cant complain too much. I arrived in the city a little out of it, not really sure of the timezone i was in or the part of the city i was in! i knew i had booked a hostel but after finding out i had arrived at 4 in the morning i didn't think my room would be ready yet but i thought it would be worth a try so i got a taxi to the place and asked anyway only to be told my suspicions were correct! not really sure what to do i umd and ared for a while before french girl (who had overheard my convocation with the receptionist) came out her room and offered me to share with her, an offer i very quickly accepted!

I ended up loving my hostel, even though it was a bit cramped and right in the middle of the craziest part of town (Chinatown). My favorite part about the hostel was the people I met - I met 4 nice English travelers and American called Taylor (who i ended spending allot of time with and an interesting Slovakian man, in addition to the (mostly) Malays who work there (they were lovely as well and incredibly helpful).

I spent the following day sightseeing in Kuala Lumpur. Three highlights of the day included the skybridge at the Petronas Towers (the highest twin towers in the world and a monument to the power of the Petronas oil company, as well as their headquarters), seeing an air-con movie in English at a mall (we really couldn't stand the heat and engine fumes a moment longer), and finding a Spanish-language Lonely Planet about Belgium in Chinatown at the night market.

The following day I took a bus up to the Cameron Highlands after being convinced by Taylor I should go with her, they are quite close to Kuala Lumpur but feel a world apart. Not only are they 5-10 degrees (C) cooler, the Highlands contain a number of small towns linked by a narrow, winding road that have a much slower pace of life (the main activities are taking walks and visiting tea and strawberry plantations).

Upon arrival in Tanah Rata (the biggest town in the Highlands) Taylor and I checked out our hostel (awesome deck, okay rooms) before wandering through the town. We quickly found the main strip, which includes lots of tour operators, a nearly-always-closed post office and two Indian restaurants in fierce competition (located right next door to one another). We were walking along when we realized someone was trying to take a picture and we had accidentally walked into it, so we ducked... and they followed us with the camera to take a picture of us. I don't think that has ever happened to me before... I mean, I know im good looking and rugged and Taylor is a Cute blonde, but really?

Booked a tour for the following morning to do a bit of trekking, our tour guide (driving a large, beat-up Defender with a giant set of horns on the front) turned off the highway and onto the "road" that would take us into the rainforest. Taylor and I had signed up to hike and hopefully see rafflesia, the largest flower in the world. This flower (which technically is a parasite) is hard to find because they only bloom for 4-7 days at a specific time of the year, in the middle of the rainforest, so I figured a tour was well worth it. It ended up being AMAZING... I had been excited to see (and smell) this flower since I first heard about it in biology class and must say it exceeded all my expectations. The smell was truly awful too - I don't recommend it if you can avoid it :).

The following day I did a whirlwind tour of nearly everything else in the Highlands (roses, strawberries, tea plantation, bee farm, etc) before having dinner with some new friends and packing my stuff (again) for my trip to Singapore, well Back to KL then the Train to Singapore.

Upon arrival in Singapore I was shocked, what an amazing place, it was so clean and nice! Even the airport was awesome, everything ran like clockwork and was easy, a nice change from the rest of South East Asia, Its a shame I didn’t get long to explore the city as my flight was the next afternoon but I saw enough to be impressed :D

so off to Bali for me next and I couldn’t wait!!!