so two weeks ago on thursday, tim and i departed from singapore on an overnight bus to the Cameron Highlands, in Malaysia (wiki). we figured we could use a slightly different little trip than the ones that we've been doing, which are normally either big cities, beaches, or a clever combination of both in some form. as can be seen from the wiki article above, it's a natural area with some low mountains and plenty of forest/jungle in the area. we thought that it would be nice to go to a place that would afford us some hiking/trekking, nice views, and most importantly, tea plantations. we certainly got what we went for, thats for sure.
thursday night was spent travelling, so we got there on friday morning, semi-rested from the not so comfortable bus ride. also annoying was the fact that we couldnt really fall asleep for quite a while since we had to wake up twice for customs, exiting singapore and then entering malaysia. either way, we got there around 8AM and went to our hostel (not to be confused with hotel heh). turns out we were too early to get the room we booked, so we left our stuff there and decided to go on a little hike on our own in the area, on what we were told would be fairly well marked trails. after about 45 minutes of hunting, we finally found the entrance to the trail and in the process got a good look at the little towny area we were in. we then entered the wilderness...
it was basically a jungle, theres no other way to say it really. at first, the path was lined with bricks, so it didnt feel too too much like a totally natural atmosphere, but after a couple hours of walking, the path progressively got less and less well defined and harder to travel. needless to say, i was a little freaked out at the prospects of being stuck in the woods with no idea where i am. tim was slightly comforting in that situation, which i suppose was all i needed. we saw a pretty cool waterfall on the way...but more impressive was the fact that we were completely surrounded by nature. this, mind you, is something that we havent experienced in quite a while, considering we're very close to some of the awesomest rainforests in the world in malaysia.
anyway, after being in the woods for a while, which by the end we wish we had a machete, we ended up on a farm. this, weird as it sounds, was certianly welcome haha. we found a road nearby that had a sign that pointed to a tea plantation visitors center, and we had some time, so we decided to make the walk. it said about 2km, which isnt bad at all. too bad it was all uphill. and, oh yeah, the sign lied..about 4 or 5km later, we ended up at this random tea plantation, but it was totally worth it. the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and we ended our hike with a couple cups of locally grown tea and some strawberry and apple pie :)
by the time we got back to the hostel, oli and thuy had made it to the highlands. they were traveling a different part of malaysia and planned to meet up with us here. we moved into the room we booked and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night with a group of 4 or 5 other random travelers that we met there at the hostel. cool bunch of people, from all over the world. thats the beauty of traveling internationally and staying at hostels wherever you go. theres always such a crazy mix of people from everywhere that you get to meet, it really becomes not only an experience of the culture you're in, but you get the chance to learn about so much more at the same time. we all went out to dinner that night and then got a few drinks at the bar behind the hostel, which also had a bonfire..the night ended well for sure.
the next day, we all signed up for a little tour around the area, which took us to another tea plantation, flower garden, butterfly garden, strawberry farm, honeybee farm, and perhaps a couple other places i dont remember, but it was a good way to see the area, even if most of the things that we saw really werent that amazing. the nice thing was the tour guide was a really cool guy, quite knowledgeable. his father had worked for the tea plantation that dominated this region for 30 years, and he had been born and raised in the cameron highlands...how awesome is that? we met a few other people that were the same, it must have been such a different life for them. completely out in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles from any big city, up in the mountains. i cant even being to imagine what his life must have been like, but surely it was quite different from anything else i've known.
that night, me and tim took a bus to Kuala Lumpur, saw the petronas towers (me for the second time, tim's first), then caught a night bus back to singapore. back by sunday morning, we got to get a little bit of work done during sunday, but mostly just to rest up for the week.
i dont know why the week went by so slow, really. i suppose nothing big really happened. i worked for mon-wed, went out wednesday to a bar then a club, and thursday and friday pretty much just went through the motions. went to class a little, worked a little. but on friday, my weekend started off wonderfully. in the evening, me and a rather large group of friends decided to go out to a place called Max Brenners. apparently, he's an australian guy that started this chocolate restaurant chain in this area, so theres one in singapore. it was absolutely delicious! everybody ordered something different, so we all got a taste of some good stuff. one example (probably the weirdest, and best one) would be the mexican hot chocolate, which literally was seasoned with red chili among other spices. it was sooooo good! couldnt believe it...i was definitely a skeptic at the beginning, but it was DAMN good. i'd order it if i ever saw it anywhere for sure. we then proceeded to just walk around singapore, which was fun. we hit some of the more popular areas within walking distance, didnt do anything in particular, but with the group of us there, we definitely had a blast. the night ended with a nice little skype chat with a few friends at home, which felt great. it was good to see and hear them again :)
saturday, me and oli decided to have a little adventure around singapore, again. we went out for the whole day, from the morning to late evening. in the process, we saw the Merlion (wiki), one of the more popular icons of Singapore,
we saw an independent film that was part of the Singapore international film festival, and visited an exhibit at the National Library (a beautiful place, btw) about India's influence on the development and culture of southeast asia, which is much more far reaching than i ever imagined! to finish it off, we had a fantastic dinner at one of the most famous hawker centers in Singapore, the La Pau Sat center, which has probably over 50 stalls of just food, as well as an entire section for all satay...goddamn delicious meal. needless to say, i would have slept like a baby that night, except i got around 6 hrs of sleep, because the next day...
FREE HUGS!! the singapore kindness movement (an organization in singapore) was having an event where volunteers banded together and walked down Orchard Rd, one of the busiest areas in singapore, with one goal in mind: to be nice. about 80 volunteers showed up, including myself, Oli, and two other friends, Kristina and Kiana, to go about this. they had balloons and pins to give out, tshirts for all the volunteers to wear..they even had a couple of mascots, little tigers that they had a young teen and someone even smaller get into to go out there and make people smile. it was the most good clean fun i've had in quite a while, we had an absolute blast. our personal goal was to hug as many people as we possibly could, aided by an 11x17 sheet of paper that had "FREE HUGS" printed out on it. the process was as follows:
1.) Yell "FREE HUGS" to all surrounding people.
2.) Show the "FREE HUGS" sign to people passing by
3.) Hold your arms wide open and anticipate the forthcoming love
I dont even remember how many people i hugged, it must have been in the 70s or 80s. it was real funny, because the singaporeans who volunteered were all real shy, but the four north americans (me and Kiana being american, Oli and Kristina canadian) were so much more outgoing and, well, i suppose rowdy about the whole thing, we stuck out like a sore thumb. we all had a multitude of people asking us who we were, where we were from, and if we'd join their next event for their organization because of our enthusiasm and fantastic participation. it was such a great day though, we put smiles on so many faces walking down Orchard Rd, and people of all kinds. Singaporeans and travellers, shoppers and tenders, children and adults, even old ice cream men that didnt know english ("yong pau" or something like it is chinese for "hug" haha). it was great to be able to have such a positive effect on SO many people, and still have a great time doing it :D
the rest of the day went to the asian civilizations museum, which was incredible i personally feel. it was basically a primer on all the cultures visible in singapore and the surrounding areas, with fantastic exhibits and artifacts from all over the region. a very educational experience overall.
and thus ends my weekend. today went by kinda fast, i guess. had only one class, did a little work otherwise. the rest of my year is pretty much done. i only have one class out of the four of my computer science lectures remaining that has any examinable material, i've got a presentation in both CS classes (one of which is already created), a little report writing for my final project in artificial intelligence, and an exam in my gen ed. all in all, nothing at all really. most of the work is either thought out or done already, i just have to worry about exams....but not until after i go to BALIIIII whaaaaat 4days/4nights in a surfing paradise. leaving next friday (18th April), back on the 22nd night. gonna have a BLAST. im travelling with all the boys from Waterloo in canada...i wanted to travel with them all year, and finally we found a way to go somewhere together...cost me a pretty penny though, $280USD for the round trip ticket :0 cheap by US standards, for an international round trip ticket, but thats the most i've paid for one ticket so far in all my travelling that i've done here. boo to that.
the mix of emotions among all the exchange students is getting more and more tangible as time goes on...people look a lot more somber than they did a week ago or so, and the topic of the end of the semester coming quickly and going home should almost be considered a taboo subject. its not to say that people arent excited about going home, they most definitely are, but the impending thoughts of leaving singapore and more importantly, all the amazing people we've met here is unsettling, to say the least. this trend will continue until the day we all actually leave, when we'll probably be an emotional puzzle, and perhaps you might even catch someone with half their face smiling, the other half frowning, despite the fact that its physically impossble. we'll see how things actually end up...i know i absolutely fall into this group of people...
a few points to the good though:
- i've regained all the weight that i had lost
- i've got a LOAD of food that i need to finish thats sitting in my room, which includes mexican food and microwavable indian food, which means i dont have to eat other asian food haha
- i got my ticket to china settled! i'll be leaving singapore on 8th May and going to Shanghai before i leave for home on the 15th May :D :D
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