This is how they bake naan bread. They plaster the dough in a brick pot which serves as an oven. The consistency is of thick, chewy pizza dough.

An Indian restaurant I went to everyday in Tanah Rata. This dude is making roti and naan bread.

View from Father's Guesthouse at Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. The temperature was nice and cool up here. Father's Guesthouse is actually at the grounds of an old seminary. I was up here when the Pope died, which was kind of wierd.

Cool in the Cameron Highlands

I have been in the Cameron Highlands at a small town called Tanah Rata. It's in the middle of peninsular Malaysia, around 5000 ft in elevation, so I've been sleeping under a warm blanket and enjoyed a hot shower this morning. It's about 70 degrees F up here. This town is quite touristy, in that Asian sort of way. I'm surrounded by jungle-covered hills and tea and fruit plantations, but there are multi-storied apartment buildings or hotels in various states of construction...some look like they're on permanent standby. I'm not sure what makes this place one of the most touristed sights in Malaysia. I'm surprised at why I am even here, except that it is nice not sweating, and in a pretty quiet setting. I took a five-hour bus ride up here from KL. That was a big difference from travelling in Indonesia. The bus was air-conditioned and big. The roads were paved. We still passed reed and thatched huts on the way up here, I didn't get nauseated on the windy road either. That was a nice improvement.
I went on a hike through the jungle yesterday. It was hot, wet, and muddy. Good stuff. The jungle is pretty thick and wet from the morning and evening mists. It also rains a little everyday here. I had to hop over a lot of fallen tree trunks, but I didn't get any leeches on me. The floor of the jungle is springy from decomposing organic material. Wierd.
I've still been eating Indian food. It's fantastic, but strange to be eating lots of Indian food in Malaysia. Aside from a steaming bowl of laksa soup at a bus stop, I've only eaten Indian food since entering the country. I've found a place that I've been going to everyday while in Tanah Rata. Malaysia is a surprising mix of cultures much like Singapore was. The food and accommodations have been cheap and good. I've been spending about $10 a day here in all. The people are friendly, and I haven't been harassed. The few touts are quite polite and don't mob you when you get off a bus. How totally unexpected and pleasant after Indonesia. Also, most people speak English, as they did in Singapore, for the same reasons, but as it turns out, Malay is actually quite similar to Indonesian. Most backpacker travellers fly through Malaysia, which is a shame because it is easy to travel through, cheap, and safe. Tonight I'm taking an overnight bus to Kota Bharu, on the north part of the east coast, so I can catch a ferry to the Perhentian Islands. They're supposed to be some white-sanded, turquoise-colored water island paradise with some good diving. I'm hoping this overnight bus trip is not too bad. I've been forewarned to dress warmly as the bus drivers tend to keep the interiors frosty. I don't expect to have internet access there, and I'm not sure how long I will be there. If conditions are good, I will try to get my advanced open water diving certification.

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur

These are the twin 88-floor towers built by Japanese and Korean companies. They were formerly the tallest in the world. Inside is a huge multistory expensive mall with loads of pretty people and unaffordable goods.

Banana leaf vegetarian set meals in an Indian restaurant. The food just keeps coming and coming until you scream, "UNCLE!" When you're done, you fold the banana leaf to show you are stuffed. It costs about 80 cents.

Sun setting over a minaret in Melaka. The muezzin starts the call to prayer which is heard throughout the city -- a magical sound.

A another wierd sight in Melaka. What country am I in?

Christ Church near the town center in Melaka. Very wierd to see this type of stuff in Malaysia.

A Catholic church, leaning to one side, in Melaka.

A Chinese mosque in Melaka. Very different architecture from the traditional mosque.

View of Melaka from the hill where there was an old fort and now St. Paul's Church. This place was occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English, as well as local kingdoms.

Indian food in Malaysia

I took a nice air-conditioned bus from Singapore to Melaka, an old port on the west coast of Malaysia. Singapore is separated from Malaysia by a bridge, but once you go over it, you know you're not in Singapore anymore. Gone are the glass and steel structures. I'm back in jungle and rusty tin roofs. Okay, it's not that bad, but it's not Singapore. It's not Indonesia either. It's somewhere in between. Malaysia actually is quite modern.
Melaka is an old port, one of the wealthiest in the world a few hundred years ago. It was said that the Lord of Melaka had his hand on the throat of Venice, because it was the main trading port in southeast Asia. Melaka has an interesting mix of Portuguese, English, and Dutch architecture, reflecting the previous occupants. It also has a Chinatown and Little India.
On the bus to Melaka, I met up with a couple of backpackers from Canada and the UK. They had been eating Indian food since leaving Thailand a few days ago, so we went off in search of good Indian food. It's pretty wild to be eating curry and rice on a banana leaf with your fingers. That's how the past two days have been...one Indian meal after another.
We're in Kuala Lumpur now. It's the capital of Malaysia. It's big and modern, but not as clean and polished as Singapore. We went to the Petronas Towers, at 88-stories they were once the tallest buildings in the world until 1998.
Tomorrow I am headed to the Cameron Highlands to commune with nature. Well, it's supposed to be a lot cooler up in the mountains.
By the way, I haven't felt any of the earthquakes or seen an tsunamis.

Where did all the White people go?

Remember that old ditty from the early 80's? Neither do I... The best way I can describe this place is this: imagine the cleanest and most modern part of a metropolis in America, then replace all the White people with Asians. That's what this place is like. It's like no other Asian city I've visited. I am totally thrown off by Asians on Western-style advertisments. This has the feel of a Western city, but the people are Chinese. And they speak Mandarin and Fujianese, similar to Taiwanese. The local English dialect is a pidgin-English called Singlish. It is a mix of English with some Malay and Chinese. I find it difficult to understand, but it's neat to watch a Singaporean Chinese and Singaporean Indian speak to one another in Singlish. But if you come here, don't worry, they also speak English.
Singapore is a pretty amazing city. I have been here a week, making it the longest I've been anywhere at one time since leaving Taiwan. It is a strange mix of different cultures, mostly Chinese, Indians, and some Malays, as a result of the British establishing this place as a trading port 200 years ago. Before then, this was just a small muddy village. It was briefly part of Malaysia in the middle of the last century but then parted ways because the Singaporeans did not want to allow "apartheid-like" preferential treatment toward Malays like the rest of Malaysia. And Malaysia didn't feel comfortable having a huge Chinese population (almost half penisular Malaysia's population) within their borders. Singapore has since impressively developed into an immaculate modern city.
Before coming here, all I knew was that this city-state was known for its fascist rules (no chewing gum, no jay-walking, no rated-R movies...), and it had the reputation for being boring. Reality has proven to be quite different. There is chewing gum, just none smashed on the ground (and none sold in stores, but it's not illegal to chew). I've been jay-walking around. And there are rated R movies. But all these rules have created quite an orderly society. The metro is the most shiny and cleanest one I have ever seen. It gives Taipei's metro a run for its money. The downtown are has been renovated into a beautiful tourist area with riverside restaurants and bars. There are some enclaves of different cultures like Chinatown, Little India, and the Arab district where you can get some great food. The food courts have taken over in a culture that used to have food carts and hawker stalls. You can get a fantastic meal for $3-$5 (Singaporean dollars, which is about $1.80-$3 US Dollars). This is a shoppers paradise. There are malls everywhere, some of which are connected by underground air-conditioned mall passageways, so you never have to go outside. It's a great way to take a walk in the evenings. There are lots of electronics gear for sale, but it's also a little dodgey. I ended up not buying a videocamera, but there are great deals to be had just the same.
There is an awesome Asian Civilizations Museum which covers all the different religions and cultures in Southeast Asia. It gives a fascinating and open-minded overview of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Singapore is definitely worth a few days if you're ever flying out this way.
I got my visa business taken care of over the Easter weekend. I am headed north into Malaysia tomorrow.