Change of scenery

I had fun in KL, but it's time to move out. Unlike the shiny new bus they had a picture of at the Chinese ticket stalls, the actual bus was a dirty piece of shit with no AC. I was so hot I was covered with sweat in minutes. To compensate the driver left the door open. Luckily there were no sudden stops or the girls in the front seat would have been thrown out. The way up to the highlands was a twisting, narrow road, which the drive took as fast as he could. He would honk the horn before going around a corner to warn cars that he was coming, and to get out of the way.

This place is actually a big Malaysian getaway, and is full of Chinese people on holiday. It's like the other places I have been here: lots of ugly, dirty concrete buildings, traffic, and construction everywhere. It's nice and cool, though, since it's at 4500 ft. I used the Lonely Planet restaurant guide to select a South Indian place, which was excellent and a veritable feast served on a banana leaf. Of course none of the actual Indian people there were eating that.

I was going to spend Christmas in Penang, Malaysia, but a Canadian guy in the dorm said "it's kind of a hole." I'm inclined to believe him, since all of Malaysia is kind of a hole. I think I'll go to Thailand instead. Ko Tau is an island that is supposed to be less touristy, and a great place for diving. It may be hard to find a place to stay, since it's the holidays. I guess I'll just go and see what happens.