After a brief North American hiatus that included San Francisco, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, San Diego, and Baja California, I’m back on the trail. I flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong with plans to take the metro from the airport into the city and spend my 14-hour layover hanging out at a trendy Hong Kong bar. Unfortunately, Cathay Pacific had other plans, and when we arrived at Hong Kong International over three hours late, I bagged the trip into the city and decided to crash at the airport. Fortunately the airport had free Wi-Fi (but no power outlets), a special room with recliners for napping, and a McDonald’s that took credit cards. The layover was a breeze. After all, after sleeping in $3/night guest houses in India, a clean airport doesn’t look so bad to me anymore.
The following morning I flew to Kuala Lumpur and, deciding that I’d seen plenty of KL on my previous visits, took a bus from the airport directly to the central bus station, where I bought a ticket to Tanah Rata, in town in what’s known as the Cameron Highlands. Besides, Kuala Lumpur was as hot as I’d left it, and the Cameron Highlands were supposed to be cool, green, and relaxed—just the way I wanted to start the next leg of my journey.
The bus ride to Tanah Rata was a breeze—as I would find out, travel in Malaysia is easy. Perhaps too easy. A van from Father’s Guest House was waiting at the bus station, and, given that it was raining quite hard at this point, I decided to bypass the search for accommodations and jumped into the van. Father’s Guest House turned out to be quite nice, and cheap—I got a dorm bed for RM 10 (~$3).
I had slept most of the day on the flight and on the bus, so I didn’t expect much when I lay down in bed that night. But snuggled under the blankets surrounded by cool mountain air, I actually managed to sleep quite well. Unlike the 2007 leg of my trip, the 2008 leg would start with my cool and well-rested. Surely it won’t last for long.
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