Hello everybody,

Faith in travelling is redeemed! After an awful journey on an overcrowded knacker of a public bus for 5 hours we arrived (thanks to the gods!) in the Cameron Highlands. A magnificent mountainous area which is the food basket and tea growing region for the whole of Malaysia. It is considerably cooler than the lowlands but incredibly lush and verdant. After settling in a somewhat 'down-market' hotel we explored the local town and bought some wine to help recover from the journey and to help decide how we spend the following day. Over a Chinese steamboat dinner (where everyone cooks what food they want -chaotic to say the least!), 5 of us decided to book a whole day tour which included (1) a climb to the summit of the highest point of the Cameron Highlands (6,650 feet above sea-level) -thank God the land rover took us most of the way! (2) a trek along a ridge in thick (mossy) jungle, (3) A tour of a huge tea plantation and factory (really interesting), (4) A visit to a butterfly farm (including scorpions, snakes and other fascinating (David) / scary (Doreen) creatures, (5) a trek up through the jungle to a secluded waterfall and pool to swim in icy cold water and (6) a visit to an aboringinal village where hunting with blowpipe and poison darts is still practiced. A brilliant day rounded off with the best Indian food we've eaten in a long time! We move on to Kuala Lumpar tomorrow and will hopefully upload the photos we've taken today.

Keep the messages coming -we love to hear your news (everybody!)