Curry and Tears

Greetings from the land of cool! Aaah this is just perfect! Today I left Kuala Lumpur and headed to the next region called Perak to a place called Cameron Highlands. These highlands are at an altitude of about 1400km above sea level and let me just start by saying that the weather up here is PERFECT! Goodbye sticky,humid,3-oclock rains - Hello blue skies and warm sunny days. Just to give you an idea i've gone from our August rih-isfel iboss to a nice October warm day! Now you know why i'm loving it!!

I left the city this morning and took a 4 hour bus ride to my destination....the trip was ok except for the last hour when the bus was zig-zagging its way up the hills on this narrow curving road with one side of the bus missing the trees and bushes for an inch...and the other side of the bus missing other vehicles coming from the opposite direction by an inch! I was actually more car sick then afraid. I figured the driver could do this trip with his eyes closed. The view was absolutely incredile...just rows and rows of green hills everwhere! When we finally arrived i left my bag at the hostel and went in search of something to eat.

Now before i delve into the food story i just thought i'd give you a little background information on Malaysia and it's people. Malaysia's population is currently around 22 million. Malays(those actually born in malaysia) make up about 57%, 27% are Chinese, 8% are Indians and the remainder others. From these figures you can gather that Malaysia is a very multiracial society. Sometimes there are tensions between the groups, for the most part everyone gets along, mainly because they have to since they co-exist. As regards religion, Islam is the state religion of Malaysia, but freedom of religion is guaranteed.

Anyways, so now that i explained the diversity of cultures in Malaysia you can just imagine the diversity when it comes to food. You can basically find lots of different food, ranging from chinese style rice and noodles to rich Indian curries. You name it you'll find it! So the past few days i've been playing it safe and have been eating noodles and rice and things that i'm relatively used to. TOday i decided it was time to swicth to Indian so i had a chicken curry. Waaaaaaa no words can describe the pain. The more i ate the more i felt like i was burning my insides. Now besides not being very good with spicy food i also know nothing about Indian food so that doesnt help much when it comes to choosing something from the menu. I like to think that if i persist i will one day overcome my sensitivity to spicy food. For now ill have to suffer.

Well here in Cameron Highlands besides enjoying the fresh clean air and the green hills there are also a number of nature trails as well as several tea plantations, strawberry farms and butterfly gardens so i think ill keep myself busy for the next few days. Also there is a nice cafe where they serve a delicious home-made apple pie so you know where to find me when ill be taking a break from that damn curry!! ;-)