Monday morning we took a day tour to Coral Island, a deserted Eco-Park designated for snorkeling and diving. We had a nice picnic lunch, did a bit of snorkeling, and then it was time for the shark feeding. Between 5 and 10 sharks, ranging in size from 3 feet to 6 feet long, came to the shores to be fed by our tour guides. The crowd went wild when the sharks splashed water at them with their tales. About 30 minutes later and they were gone again, and we continued snorkeling. The coral reef was quite thick so we saw all sorts of colors below the water! We got back in time for dinner and then it was off to bed.
Tuesday morning we packed our stuff and headed for the ferry terminal. Here was our schedule that day:
8:30am- depart for the mainland.
The sea was so rough and our boat kept swaying to the right so it was not a pleasant ride.
10am - arrived at Kuala Kedah, on the mainland
We hooked up with 2 Swedish folks and shared a 30 min. cab ride to the bus terminal.
11am- our bus departed for Ipoh (we were told it was a 3 hour ride)
4:10pm- FINALLY arrived in Ipoh, to learn that we were an hour late for our next bus.
6pm- our bus for the Cameron Highlands departed.
The road to the highlands was so windy that, to go 45 kilometers, took 2.5 hours!!!
8:30pm- arrived in the highlands, walked to our hostel, and crashed for the night.
Our hostel was very cheap, about $8 total, but the rooms were musty and cold. We awoke early, had a quick breakfast, and ran into a Korean man there. When asked where he was from, we were shocked when he said Wonju (our city!!) He even knows some teachers at H's school! Small world! We then headed to the jungle for some independent trekking. We started on an easy trail, and ran into a guide who wanted us to hire his services. When we refused, he followed us anyway giving helpful tips. After an hour, the easy trail ended and we decided to try the next in line (of course our guide friend was not in sight). We ended up on a 3 hour intense trek through the jungle, complete with mountains and streams, monkeys and bugs! H did manage a few knee scuffs when a tree "grabbed" her leg, but otherwise we came out in one piece! We didn't get back into town until after 2pm, where we found a tasty Indian restaurant to dine at.
After lunch we checked out of our hostel and into a small hotel that charges about $10, and it started to downpour! It poured for over an hour, and we were so thankful to have been in our room and not in the jungle! Tomorrow we plan on doing an extensive tour complete with a bit of jungle trekking, visits to a tea plantation, honey farm, strawberry farm, and the viewing of the world's largest flower (in bloom this week only!!!). As soon as we find wireless again, we'll have pics up!!
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