Malaysia : from the islands to the highlands

We have arrived in Malaysia, land of the Protons ( an emotional thought for my little car that I had to get rid of before setting off on this trip...), and after a few days spent on the islands of Langkawi and Penang off the West coast of the country we have reached Tana Ratah, a hill station in the "Cameron Highlands". We are surrounded by tea plantations, and strawberry, vegetable, flower and honey farms. Here seems to be the horn of plenty of Malaysia, with its cool climate, and plentiful rain and sunshine.
Since we have entered Malaysia we have had rain almost everyday (in the heavy thundery tropical downpour style), even though we chose this part of the country because it was meant to be the dry season... (the East coast is meant to be more beautiful and wilder, but the monsoon there is October to March) However it rains mainly at night, so it isn't a real problem, and gives the air a pleasant coolness.
The island of Penang is dominated by the tentacular city of Georgetown, with its high rises, colonial buildings and building sites, so we took the local bus as far as we could and ended up in a small fishing town, where there was only one guesthouse, with only one room! It was quite expensive, as the shower was a piece of hose giving out cold water, but there wasn't any choice, and we experienced the local lifestyle, being woken up by the cockerel in the morning. As we were wandering we found a small National Park, where we met some more bespectacled langurs and macaques (they crowded above the path as we arrived, and we turned back, slightly worried... a ranger later told us that they were interested in the plastic bag full of food that we were carrying...), as well as a very big monitor lizard swimming in the sea.
The next day we took a series of buses up to Tana Ratah, where we are now. The Cameron highland were developped under British Colonialism (it wasn't ONLY the French), and the surrounding hills are covered in green corduroy : tea plantations. The clouds here seem to have a life of their own, they take the shape of strange creatures, hug the peaks and sometimes have electric storms inside them when the rest of the sky is blue.
Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, many shops are closed and you can hear the sound of fireworks in the streets. Malaysia is a model of integration, its population is made up of ethnic Malays, Chinese and Indians, as well as other aboriginal ethnic groups, and the religions are many, mainly Islam but also Buddhism, Christianity and animist beliefs. On the bus in Georgetown were women wearing the Muslim headscarf, Indian ladies in colourful saris, and Chinese people in shorts and t-shirts, and no one gives it a second thought. Maybe we should all learn from it!
This afternoon we are off on a bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, where the Chinese New Year celebrations should be at their height.
We shall try and post a message before we reach Australia, until then take care all of you!