Cameron Highlands...Here We Come!!!

The outing we had planned for the third day of 2012 had great potential.  The only thing holding me back from being over the moon excited about it was that I would have to drive the three hours (one way) to get us to our ultimate destination - Boh Tea Factory.  Keep in mind, the furthest I had driven before this venture was the walkable distance to Curve.  Needless to say I was a little nervous.

We woke up early so we could get a good start on the day.  It was back to the four of us since Patric had to be at work.  I plugged our destination into the GPS and away we went.

For those of you that need proof...that is me driving!

I had been told about a waterfall that was on the way to the tea factory.  We kept our eyes open for it so we could stop and play in it for a while.  I'm glad this was part of our plan because it was amazing!

This is a video that I made.  I hope you enjoy it.

That's Jason way up there.  That's not the top of the waterfall but it was far from where we were hanging out.

The water was really cold and refreshing.  This was a great break...so much so that we spent over an hour here.  But, alas, we had to move on...

When we left the waterfall we were starving so we stopped at a place called The Lake House.  It is a hotel and restaurant.

This was our view while we ate.

Jason took this after we ordered our lunch.  It was very warm since we were in the sun...I even got sunburned.

Onward and upward (literally)...

So, I had no idea that Boh Tea was manufactured here in Malaysia until I did some research.  I had seen the Boh brand back home but never paid much attention to it since I didn't drink hot tea until I moved here (crazy, I know...).  There are actually three Boh Tea plantations here.  The one we were headed to was the most popular and it was set up for visitors.  Tours are offered daily and we were looking forward to seeing how a tea factory worked.

Don't you just hate it when you are looking forward to something and you get met with this???  It turned out to be ok.  We sat and enjoyed a good cup of tea and some munchies.  A bonus was that the temperatures were cooler here...I actually wished that I had on jeans instead of the shorts I was wearing.  And the scenery was breathtaking.

Please enjoy this video of the landscape.

Katt and I walked this to get to the view point.  I had no idea how far 174 meters was until I started climbing the steps up that length.  It was completely worth it!

When we finished our sight seeing we headed home.  I had never driven on windy mountain roads before in my life but we survived the adventure together.  And the car went relatively unscathed!

See you next post!!

First Outing of the New Year

I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.  - Anaïs Nin

After an amazing night of ringing in the New Year it was time to start thinking about the week that lay ahead.  We really only had a few days to cram a bunch of stuff into since my visitors would be leaving soon.  So what did we do the first day of the New Year?  What else...girl's day in!!!  Patric had to work (yes, on New Year's Day) and Jason decided he didn't want to just hang around the house all day so it was down to us girls.  And we made good work of the day: reading, watching movies and just generally doing nothing!  I have to say that it was the PERFECT way to spend the first day of 2012!

We weren't going to do that for long though.  The second day of 2012 found us at the Batu Caves - just us girls again.  Patric was, of course, working and Jason ventured into KLCC to try to find a dentist for a tooth that was killing him.  It turned out to be a really awesome day at a really beautiful location.  Kristine and Katt really enjoyed being in the caves.  Kristine even went so far as to say that the caves were here favorite outing so far.  There is definitely a peacefulness that comes over you when you are there.

Here we are getting ready to head out and attack the day!

My sisters in life at the entrance.

Gotta get your picture taken in front of the golden statue!  =)

Kristine and I were blessed by one of the Hindu Priests.  If you look closely you will see the ash on our foreheads.  We were blessed with luck on that day.  And in case you are wondering, she wouldn't let me smile...she wanted a "solemn" look to go with our blessings.  This made it all the more difficult to not smile...

Here I am praying before I threw my offering into the fire.  We each did two of them.  Really cool!!

I know I have already posted a bunch of pictures of the scenery in an earlier blog but I just LOVE this view!!!

I really enjoyed going to the Batu Caves when Patric and I went.  Going with my friends offered a whole new experience.  I really believe that this is the type of place that I will get something new from each time I visit it.  I can't wait to go back!

See you next post!!

New Year's Eve...Good Bye 2011!

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the Old Year leaves.  ~ Bill Vaughan

We all woke up Saturday morning excited for what the day would bring!  We had discussed a plan of attack for the day and knew exactly where we would be to ring in the New Year!

Our original plan was to head into town to see the KL aquarium and then visit the orchid sanctuary which was very close to the aquarium.  So we headed to town.  We finally got to the aquarium (which was no small feat) but had a change of heart about visiting it.  Instead of going into the aquarium we visited the gift shop and rethought our plans for the day.  Since we hadn't been able to check out all that China Town had to offer the day before and the visitors still had gifts to buy, we agreed to head back to China Town.  And what a great decision that turned out to be!

We wound up spending most of the day in China Town.  Kristine, Jason and I treated ourselves to the most amazing foot massages.  Jason took a picture of me enjoying mine but for some reason I can't get it to download so I can't share it with you.  Trust me...I look really relaxed in it!  When we finished with the foot massages we rejoined Patric and Katt and continued on with the exploration of the outdoor markets.  A few items were bought and a good time was had by all!

We left China Town with enough time to go home, relax a little and get ready for the night.  I was signed up to bring a cheese and cracker tray to the party so this was thrown together during our down time.  I'm so grateful for friends that are willing to step in and help out!!  It turned in to three trays and they all looked great!!

We piled into our little car and headed into town.  I was kind of surprised at the absence of traffic but certainly did not complain about it.  Our destination was Vicky and Marty's apartment which was in a building right across from the twin towers.  They lived on the 46th floor and we had been told that this was the perfect place to watch the fireworks.  We had not been lied to!  I had never seen fireworks at eye level before that night...AMAZING!!!!

I was on the balcony taking these...truly at eye level.

Jason and Katt with one of the towers behind them.

One of our new friends, Pauline, with Patric waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Here is some dance floor action after the fireworks.  Jason has his back to us, Sharon (new friend) is just in front of Jason and Vicky (new friend, hostess) is in the red shirt.  There was a small area dedicated to the dance floor but it definitely got good use!

Here is Pauline, Sharon, Rosie and Kristine enjoying a breather.

Here is my amazing husband just before he graciously exited the conga line.  =)

This is one of my favorite pictures of the evening!  Since none of us drink our awesome hosts gave us Sprite shots so we could be part of the New Year's toast.  How cool is that???

So out with the old and in with the new started in a grand and spectacular way!  This had to be the best way to spend New Year's Eve away from home.

See you next post!!

Final Friday

Yeah, I'm backing up a bit.  I figured there is still story to tell from when my friend's visited so bare with me while I fill in some blanks...

When last I left you my friends and I had visited the monkeys and the elephants.  What amazing adventures we went on!  All of this is leading up to New Year's Eve!  The Friday before we went exploring in KL...more specifically - China Town.  What visit to KL would be complete without seeing China Town???  We had a fabulous lunch at Peter Hoe's.  This is a great little shop that sells just about anything an expat could want.  There is a small eatery in the shop and they have some of the most amazing dishes!  We were all happy with our lunch decisions and even took the time to pose for pictures...

This is me next to a painting I really like in the shop.

And what trip to China Town is complete without a visit to Central Market???  While we were there we indulged in the fish spa...

These fish were bigger than the fish in the first spa I did a while back.  Jason got a really lucky candid shot here!

When we were finished wreaking havoc (actually, we ran out of time to wreak as much havoc as we had originally intended) in China Town we met Patric for dinner.  Patric and I wanted to be sure to take them to what has become one of our favorite restaurants here - Leonardo's.  They serve a little of everything and it's all been good so far.  One of the things I love most about this restaurant is that they serve pork!!!  We snapped a few pics as we were leaving...

Patric and I walking down the stairs to leave the restaurant.

Kristine, me, Patric and Katt at the door to the restaurant.  Jason took the picture.

This is how we spent the last Friday of 2011.  We had a lot of fun but we were looking forward to the last day of 2011 very much!!!

See you next post!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!  I'm still getting used to hearing (and saying) Happy New Year twice in one year.

Today is the third day in a 15 day celebration.  The CNY is a lunar new year and it's start is determined by the first full moon of the year.  I'm not exactly sure why it lasts 15 days but I do know that each day has a significance.  Most businesses are closed for the first two days as these are, obviously, the most important.

Yesterday Patric and I went to Curve (our closest mall) to watch some of the traditional festivities.  I am still in such awe as to how traditional all of the cultures that live here are.  Each of them have beautiful ways to celebrate the holidays that are specific to their culture.  I truly feel blessed to be able to live here in the midst of it all!!!

Here are some videos of the festivities...

This is the Acrobatic Lion  Dance.  This entire performance is done on individual stands that are strategically placed.  There are two people in the costume which just amazes me!  I'm sure they had to put in a million practice hours to get this perfect.

This is called 5 Emperor Drums.  The video is pretty self explanatory.

This is the Dragon Dance.  It was not what we expected but it turned out to be Patric's favorite and I enjoyed it immensely.  There isn't a lot to explain on this one either...

We are really enjoying being able to see all of the beautiful sights and hear all of the amazing sounds in our new home.  I hope you enjoyed seeing and hearing them with me!

See you next post!!

And You Thought There Wouldn't be Vidoes... =)

So, did you think that there would only be still pictures of the monkey and elephant visits?  Well, I did remember (with a lot of help from my amazing husband!) to take the video camera on both outings...woo hoo!!!

However, I had to learn our video editing software on my own so bare with the progression.  The monkey visit is still in three pieces but they are all extremely cool!

Ok, it is in three pieces but the last one is too long and Blogger won't let me load it...  =(  This is definitely a live and learn situation - limit the time of the videos.  Sorry friends!

I do have video of the elephant trip...

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them!

See you next post!!

Elephant Sanctuary

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have been an experimentation fool over the last three months!  I can tell you that the above statement is very true in my life.  The week after Christmas and just into the New Year only added more proof to this.

Elephants...can you believe it???  ELEPHANTS!!!  Just when I thought it couldn't get any better after the monkeys...we hung out with elephants!  Not just that but we had to take a journey to get to them which was amazing!

On the Thursday after Christmas, we left my house by 9:30 in the morning by taxi to get to the LRT station.  We took two different LRT lines to get to the other side of the city.  There we got on the bus and rode for an hour and a half to Lanchang Old Town.  This part of the journey was completely outside of the city so we were able to get great views of the "country".  The "town" we got off the bus in consisted of a few small shops on a short stretch of the road.  From here we took a private car to the sanctuary about 30 minutes away.  Here we are on the bus...

Have I mentioned that I love my friends and we had a blast while they were here?!?!  You know me, next to me is Jason, under me is Kristine and next to her is Katt.

Here's the deal with the sanctuary...they only allow 120 people to ride the elephants per day.  In order to have this privilege bestowed upon you, you need to get there in time to receive a yellow sticker.  Once they are out of the yellow ones you get a red one that indicates that you are not allowed to ride or bathe with the elephants.  There was only one of our group that was desperate to ride and bathe with the elephants but I was starting to lose faith that he would be able to since we didn't get there until around 2:00 in the afternoon.  This was two hours after they opened for the day.  However, it became obvious, very quickly, that the elephant gods were smiling on us!  There were two yellow stickers issued to us...amazing!  Needless to say, he got to ride...

...and bathe...

...with the elephants.  Does this say happy or what?!?!

Since I live here I will be able to go back any time and get my turn...I so cannot wait!  I did get to feed the elephants which was a really cool experience.  Here I am near the end of the visit with Katt...

I can't wait to go back with Patric!

When we left the sanctuary we had a little time to kill waiting for the bus.  The "town" we were to catch the bus in was literally one street but we managed to have fun exploring it.

It didn't seem to take as long to get back as it did to get there even though it was the same route.  This was really ok since we were pretty tired.  When we finally got home it took no time for us to chill and get settled in for the night.  What an AWESOME day!!!!!

See you next post!!