Easter in Malaysia- Cameron Highlands...a highlight!

After the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur, we head to the lush hills of the Cameron Highlands. As a person getting more and more into tea as she gets older I was very excited to visit this area of Malaysia. In addition to the tea plantations, we were also given a glimpse into the local peoples' daily lives and activities. Some tribal people still live up in the Cameron Highlands and use the land to survive.

Our first stop was a basket making shop

The workers make about 1 Ringgit (about $.30 USD) for each basket

Next stop along the beautiful drive were some hot springs. Here you can see a colony of black & turquoise butterflies.

We even saw a guy hard boil an egg in the hot spring water. I wasn't too sure how sanitary that was, but whatever works.

Some of the craft shops along the drive. These are used to cover food so flies don't get to it.

Along the road we stop at a local village. Our driver was kind enough to buy some candy for the local kids.

They were a little shy at first, but then ran and told their friends and everyone came running. They sold items from the land like honey, fruit, etc to make a small income.

Now this is where it got National Geographic. Here is a local tribesman and he was demonstrating how he still hunts today. He had small poison dipped arrows that he would use to hunt animals.

He has been doing this for years and it seemed so effortless. He hit the target dead center every time

Look at that form

You don't see this everyday. He was super sweet and really enjoyed showing us his skills and we enjoyed watching them.

It should be noted that Justin did hit the target. The arrow in the target's left hand was his shot. Way to go Justin!

Now onto the tea plantation

We visited the most famous and oldest of the Cameron Highland teas, BOH (Best of Highland)

We got the full tour of the factory, amazing views of the plantations and...

...a cup of tea. Good stuff! I even bought some for myself and my mom.

From there we went to a Scottish tea plantation owner's unfinished castle called Kellies Castle. It was actually quite a shame that no conservation had been done as it looked like a really nice place.

William Kellie Smith was the castle owner and because he was so loved and because he brought so much work into the area the local people honor him by putting a figurine of him on their temple.

Continuing on we visited a Buddhist temple in the side of a mountain built like a cave. I will let the pictures do the talking

The cave had some amazing well preserved (or restored) wall paintings. 

Now this one is for Justin, our driver pointed these out and I have to admit they were pretty cool. They are called shy plants. I hope you can see it from the picture, but the leaves are open and as soon as you touch them they close and will stay closed for a few minutes. So opened...

...closed. Cool, right?

The weather in the Cameron Highlands must have been 10 degrees cooler and a lot less humid. I honestly could have stayed a few days as there were some beautiful hiking trails. We stayed at a lovely hotel, Cameron Highland Resort, and would recommend it to anyone. I love recharging out of the main cities and seeing the natural beauty in a country. It was kind of sad seeing the development they are trying to add to the area and I do hope it doesn't take away from the beauty and wonder of the Cameron Highlands.

--Marisa

Homebrew Part 2: First Batch Release Party

     Approximately five weeks after conception of our first batch of home brew it was time for the first "release party".  Now this can be a tricky thing because on the one hand you want it to be a big event with lots of people having a great time; but on the other hand much of that fun is dependent on your FIRST batch of home brew to A) not get anyone sick, and B) taste good enough for people to want to drink it.  Much like the first three days of fermentation, there was plenty of pressure surrounding the event!

We had a decent turnout with about a dozen guests - some even brought "back-up", just in case the home brew wasn't up to par.  These gestures of "support" weren't necessary, however, as we went through at least 20 bottles x 750mL = 15 liters. 

The brew crew: Jonny, Vlada and myself.  We just try to follow the instructions, so you could say we're still brewing with training wheels.

Marisa:  "Oh wow, it actually tastes like beer - and it's drinkable!"  With a faithful supporter like that, the possibilities are endless.

The release party was also an excellent opportunity to partake in some Mong Kok street food.  This time I went with roasted pork (siu yook) and it was a hit.  We went through about 5 pounds of that stuff and it was delicious.  It's got a crispy skin that gives it a nice salty taste and it definitely wasn't dry.

The guests of honor.  Our first batch went in these 750 mL bottles and with the reusable flip top, we hope to store many a future batches of home brew in them.

     All in all it was a rewarding experience to make something that other people were able to enjoy.  I suppose you could say that about a batch of cookies too, but they don't take five weeks to make and people usually don't have get-togethers centered around them.  Now I'm not claiming that it was an amazing beer that people would pay money for, but it was the first step in what I hope will turn out to be a long-term hobby.  The process is definitely fun and there are a lot of recipes out there to try.  My brewing partner and I have been talking about our summer plans to gather ingredients in our respective home countries and figuring out a brewing line-up for the Fall.  You can do that when each batch takes a month to make.  At any rate, you can expect to see more posts in the future about new recipes that we try.

     We already have a Cooper's European Lager (w/extra hops) in bottles that must condition for another 10 weeks and we're bottling an IPA that will be ready by the end of May.  Stay tuned...

--Justin

Easter in Malaysia - Melaka and Kuala Lumpur

     After ditching Singapore we crossed over a bridge to the peninsular portion of Malaysia.  Just fyi, Malaysia is a country that is split between two areas:  the southern peninsula of southeast Asia, below Thailand, and another portion on the island of Borneo to the east.  At any rate, all I will say is that we had one of the longest, most frustrating border crossings that we've ever experienced.  We had a driver take us across, but we had to get out with our bags to go through customs both leaving Singapore and entering Malaysia.  Leaving Singapore was busy, but it was nothing compared to entering Malaysia.  Thousands of people were coming by bus, private transport and even by foot for the holiday weekend and I would never choose to do it the same way again.  There were dozens of immigration counters open, but they were clearly getting paid by the hour rather than by the number of processed papers and of course we chose the one line that was twice as slow as the rest!  It literally took an hour and a half of standing in line to get processed before jumping back into the car in traffic.  All-in-all we were about 4 hours behind schedule by the time we arrive in Johor Bahru.

Upon entering Malaysia we were able to stop by and tour a traditional Malay house.  One of the big features of these is that they are built without the use of nails.

     After a long day of traveling we spent our first night exploring the town of Melaka, which is known for its local "Nonya" food (a mix of Chinese and Malay food - not both, but a true mixture) as well as the Jonker Street walk and night market.

In Melaka you could walk or be driven in style.

View of the Melaka River with a few bars along the banks.

The highlight of Melaka would have to be the Jonker Street walk that takes you past tons of food and craft/cheap crap vendors.

These were some sort of mini omelets or pancakes (can't remember which) that looked and smelled amazing.

local celebrity Datuk Wira Gan Boon Leong was once Mr. Universe

     After leaving Melaka we continued north to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.  We stayed a couple of nights and saw a few of the sights, including: the national museum, the old and new royal palaces, the national monument and of course.....the Petronas Towers. 

Malaysia's national flower - the Hibiscus rosa sinensis or "Bunga Raya" as it's locally known.  I think we took this outside of the old royal palace.

Marisa and Jessica kept our facts straight since our first tour guide was a let-down.

Nice view of some government building and the Petronas Towers in the background taken from one of the central parks.

This may be (definitely is) a stereotype, but Asian tourists tend to:  A. take too many photos of seemingly irrelevant things and B. take pictures with absolutely ridiculous poses, sometimes trying to imitate modeling poses or "Glamour Shots".  Here we have Exhibit A, a woman who is taking a wonderful portrait on the slightly wet lawn of this park, resting on her belly, legs raised and the signature double-peace sign.  It is customary now for her traveling partner to try and top this pose at the next sight.  Good luck!

One interesting thing you find while traveling in Muslim countries is that the hotel rooms will typically include a kiblat (Qibla) which points the patron towards Mecca from their location for their prayers.  It's just a subtle arrow affixed to some place in the room like the ceiling in this case or in the closet in another case.

Since Marisa's favorite animals are monkeys, we were excited to visit a nearby Hindu temple which was covered with monkeys.

necessary mom-and-baby shot

These were "naughty" monkeys to be sure.  They weren't intimidated by tourists at all and would hang out near tourists and snag hats and bags from them as they ascended the stairs.  This guy is seeing if there's anything worth eating in the bag he just snagged.

The temple is situated inside a cave that opens up beautifully inside.

This girl was either braver or dumber than me (or both) because she was obsessed with being as close as possible to these critters, feeding them and messing with them.  While they look cute from a distance, these guys wouldn't hesitate to bare their teeth and growl/hiss at you.  I'm just playing scenes from Outbreak in my mind over and over, keeping a safe distance.

Then there's the cute ones that snag cans of juice and turn it up with two hands just like a little child.  She liked it so much that it's literally dripping off of her face.

We stopped by a traditional Batik shop where they make these garments that can be worn in several different ways.  Marisa served as the model for the demonstration.

The designs are unique and each one is hand-painted on silk like this one that is drying.

After the Batik shop we had a quick tour of a pewter factory, that used to be a major industry in Malaysia due their large deposits of tin.  The museum was interesting, showing early uses of tin as money.  Here we have a "money tree" where people could simply twist off the amount of coins that they needed.

A scaled model of the Petronas Towers made from pewter cups.

We were able to try our hand at making a hammered finish on these cylinders.  It's very difficult to keep lines straight and there are people that knock these out for a living.

Royal Selangor is the pewter company and this is apparently a Guinness world record holder for the largest pewter beer mug.  Not sure how much it can hold though, but it would be several batches of home brew.

Petronas Towers by day - once the world's tallest two towers (452 m) from 1998 until beaten by Taipei 101 in 2004.  They are currently the 7th and 8th tallest buildings in the world, just behind the ICC building in Hong Kong.

Malaysia's national monument, commemorating those who died during Malaysia's struggle for freedom during WWII and the Malayan Emergency.

Petronas Towers by night.  They are quite impressive.

     Melaka and KL were a nice introduction to Malaysia.  We found that K.L. felt pretty modern, but more in a commercial mall type of way.  With the climate as hot and humid as it is, I don't think that we'd want to live there.  However, it is a major Asian city that should be seen.  After this we headed up into the cooler climate of the Cameron Highlands to see some tea plantations.

--Justin