hatimalaya-blog

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What better way to start off our #IG gallery than with a guide to #Malaysian kuih-muih (#desserts)! Helo semua (all)!😊 #firstpost #instagram #malaysia #eat #food #delish

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WANDERING WALRUS · PRESENTS ·  BALA’S HOLIDAY CHALET, CAMERON HIGHLANDS, MY

So, who is Bala? Not a very nice guy if you ask me! But setting aside his grumpy personality, the space he’s keeping is pretty gorgeous. Every facade of the dwelling quarters have been somewhat painted with vegetation - vines, leaves, flowers, twigs, moss; you’ll see natural greens with little pops of bright yellow, purple and red! 

The perfect spot to relax and read a book, huh? Unfortunately for us, we were there to get busy. Almost every corner of the place played a perfect set for our pre-wedding photoshoot. We swung on swings at the many garden areas, sat on stairs, benches, propped against walls, walked along paths, got scolded by Bala and went back to our room to play Romeo and Juliet by resting on our balcony window sill. 

Spent 2 nights in a comfy Family Suite with our photographer friends but before that, we had to endure an 8-hour ride up the highlands (it took us less than 3 hours to get back home!). We reached on a Friday (Labour Day 2015) after a painstakingly slow car ride, reaching pathetic speeds of around 10km per hour. The traffic was so bad, and the R&R stops along the highway were filled to the brim! Took us a whole hour to simply pee! 

It was at 9pm that we finally set foot into our room, and at least it was worth it! However, I assume there is a mosque located nearby because at about 5am, the Azan was blasting through the windows.

After managing to fall back to sleep and wake at a much reasonable hour, we were on full photoshoot mode on Saturday. Attempted to drive up to Mossy Forest but failed. Had to push the car uphill to flatter grounds and parked cause it had no power. Managed to hitch a ride with a van and although it all worked out, boy was it stressful! I was panicky and it showed during the first few frames of the shoot! Haha.

Still, I really thank God for the wonderful people He has blessed us with - from our photographers who doubled up as vehicle pushers to my cousins who doubled up as our porters! Everything was somewhat taken care of. Even the van driver was a blessing, he wouldn’t accept our money! 

And after getting some really awesome shots at Mossy, it started to drizzle and it all went downhill from there. Ok, not really.. we simply walked downhill for a while and it was really a miracle that my cousin’s MyVi made the drive up so we rode in his car to our parked car and off we went for lunch. 

Back to Bala’s for another round of photography. This time, I wore a saree! God placed another special person on scene - an Indian lady who was kind enough to tie my saree for me! Posed for the camera the whole evening and then we got to fill our cold tummies with some steaming steamboat for dinner.

Checked out really early on Sunday because we were traumatised by the jam. Wish we could have stayed a little longer to rest and enjoy the sceneries but I guess the place served us quite well considering the rather steep price we paid.

Will I be back? Maybe not. But hey, I have a whole bunch of pictures of the place to keep me satisfied so no worries.

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The other side of Kuala Lumpur in Panorama on Flickr.

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Orange Bellied Leafbird by RichardLim

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Kuala Lumpur by aQ~imanggis http://flic.kr/p/sopK9A

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Headache! Perverted! by Tuah Roslan on Flickr.

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Johor, Malaysia by Justin Guariglia Mangroves fringe the tip of Peninsular Malaysia, in Johor, the southernmost reach of mainland Asia. Separated from its globalized island neighbor by a mere half-mile causeway, Johor is the second largest and most varied of the 11 states that make up Peninsular Malaysia, a crossroads realm crammed with both ecological and ethnic diversity.

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Love taxis in Melaka, Malaysia #travel #melaka #malaysia

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No more bacon for me, at least for a while. 🐗 #wildboar #beardedpig #bakonationalpark #sarawak #borneo #malaysia

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Highlands

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In the course of this journey we’ve travelled to several countries that are downright cheap. And when you are spending peanuts who can complain about cold water bucket showers, frequent brown outs, and horrendous roads. In a sense, you get what you pay for.

This is not the case here in Malaysia. So far it’s in the top three cheapest countries we have visited, yet in some ways as modern as the USA. Just to put it in perspective, we are spending $5 less a day here than in India!

Here’s a perk for traveling in Malaysia: You can flush your TP down the toilet! While this may not sound like a novel concept, we haven’t been able to do this since leaving Austria.

Other Malaysia positives:

Public transport in some cities is free, long distance transport costs only a few bucks, roads are amazing, buses are super nice, and motorist seem to know how to safely operate a motor vehicle. Electrical lines are neat and tidy, not the cluster of wires found everywhere else in SE Asia. Malaysia has functioning sidewalks, minimal litter, and a lack of stray dogs (a personal favorite). Modern shopping malls are everywhere, with any fancy brand name you could think of. Petrol prices are rock bottom; it cost us less than $2 to fill up our motorbike. Airline tickets are a steal of a deal, we are flying tomorrow to the opposite coast of Malaysia for $12/person. Lastly, the tourist info centers are stocked to the hilt with endless information, yet sadly some towns hardly see a tourist.

Malaysia; over prepared and under utilized. Basically, it is a bargain here and who doesn’t like bargains?

Update: We spent the last three nights in Malaysia’s biggest city/capital, Kuala Lumpur. While it wasn’t our favorite big city in SE Asia, we were able to enjoy a few top notch museums, get some shopping done, and treat ourselves to a sunset drink at a make shift bar on a helipad thirty-three stories up.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

#architecture #archilovers #instagood #asia #kl #malaysia

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Mount Kinabalu by happy.apple on Flickr.

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Sama-Sama: A Series of Images That Resonate to Malaysians