The largest flower in the world!

Batu caves
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We arrived in kuala lumpur and it was hot, sticky and very busy. We booked into the backpackers inn which had tiny cell like rooms but great staff and a laundry service - our small supply of clothes were releived! We went to the batu caves, the Huge budda was a sight to behold and the monkeys were running all over the place - it was a bit of a frenzy when a guy got some bannana's out!

The rain followed us and we found ourselves in the middle of a storm on bus on the way back. The lightening came down right by us, we were nearly deafened it was so loud. The night market was good although some people were a little too pushy and it was funny watching the taxi drivers standing around drinking cans of tiger beer. The most infuriating thing was crossing the road, pedestrians seem to come second and it can take 5 mins to cross a road, so it takes ages to get around. To be honest the place was quite dirty and were happy to get out of there.

The huge Budda was a sight to behold

The Raffleasia flower
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The cameron Highlands were comletely different, it was cooler (relief!) and very clean - the hills were covered in tea and strawberry plantations with English tudor-style houses dotted around - how bizzare! We went for a walk but got lost and the had to give up as it was about to get dark so we booked a trek for the next day.

We were picked up at 9 and went to the BOH Tea factory to sample the local stuff - v nice. Then we were taken to an aboriginal village where we started our  6 hour trek in the jungle to find the worlds largest flower (Raffleasia), there was only one there as they are very rare. They grow for 14 months and only flower for 7 days so we were really lucky to see it. We stopped off to swim in at a waterfall and cool off on the way.

Monkeys at the Batu caves
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When we finished the Aboriginals taught us how to use a blow pipe with poison darts - check the picture of Scarly :) The guide then took us to a hot spring (smelled of sulpur), we were expecting warm but the water was scalding, far too hot to swim in but good for aching feet! The guide pointed out panther foot prints whilst on the trek and picked up some rocks later telling us the were to throw at elephants eyes if one charged us!?!?

The bugs were big as ever, we finally saw where all the noises come from in the jungle in the form of a 5 inch cicada - These things are so loud and look like bats when they fly : S The guide cut down a big piece of bamboo and we drank the water from each segment which was quite sweet and check the pics of our jungle hats :) All in all a long day but really enjoyed it.

Petronas towers in KL
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We have moved on to Pennang now, staying at batu ferringgi but thats another story..