M-whY

I was up before noon, but only by an hour. This was a bit inconvenient, as the best time to do things is in the morning. Rain is guaranteed to fall in the afternoon.

"I saw some a pretty nice waterfall on my way up here three days ago," I told James. "Do you know how far is it from here?"

"Lata Iskandar? It's pretty far, about 35kms from Tanah Rata."

Definately too far to walk. "Do you know where I might be able to rent a car or motorbike around here?"

"One of the guesthouses up the hill rents motorbikes I think." He showed me the location on a map.

I found the place and rented a motorbike for the day without too much trouble. It was a semiautomatic, meaning gears but no clutch. The gear pedals were a bit different too. There were two of them instead of just one. One for upshift, another for downshift. This threw me off at first. I found myself reaching for the clutch when it wasn't there, and kicking the wrong pedal to shift, but eventually I got the hang of it.

Getting to Lata Iskandar was downhill going. I passed Ringlet, another highland town very similar to Tanah Rata, and entered some major twisties. There were a couple hair-raising moments, going around blind corners and meeting an incoming truck that straddled the center line. They always moved back into their own lane in time to avoid an accident. That's just the way traffic works up here.

Keeping an eye on the road and another on the surroundings was impossible, so I made plenty of stops along the way. It took me about an hour to reach the falls, and it was well worth the trip. As I mentioned, it was a holiday weekend, and a sizable crowd of Malaysians were here to enjoy their vacations. Stairs led to the second tier, where more people immersed themselves in the pools. I wasn't in the mood to get wet today, as I still had at least an hour's ride back, and contented myself with just sitting around.

On the way back, I kept an eye on the clouds, which had begun to threaten rain, and an eye on the gas gauge, which was threatening empty. I got caught behind a convoy of cars, probably held up by some truck up ahead. Passing someone on these roads is a dangerous proposition, and I'd rather be late than dead.

I stopped at Ringlet to get some gas. I was pretty sure the gas tank was under the seat, but how do I get to it??

"Where is the tank?" I asked the attendant on hand.

He motioned for the keys, which I gave him, and inserted it somewhere. With a click, the seat popped open. I felt like a fool.

Papillon is a small guesthouse, with only eight rooms. Being new, it hasn't made it into the Lonely Planet or any other guidebook. The place is rarely busy, and over the course of my stay, I had become good friends with my hosts. That evening, James and Yvonne approached me, asking a favour.

"Do you plan on going out tonight?"

"Nope. I'm probably just going to hang out here."

"Our neighbor won RM1200 in the lotto, and wants to treat us to dinner. We can't go unless we find someone to watch over the guesthouse. Would you mind doing that for us, for a couple hours?"

"Sure, no problem."

"I'll leave you our cell phone numbers, just give us a call if anyone arrive. Make yourself at home, help yourself to any drinks or food you want in the kitchen."

So for a couple hours, I was in charge of Papillon guesthouse. It was easy work. All I did was watch some VCDs and keep an eye out for new guests, of which there weren't any.

They returned with a bagful of beers. "Come join us," invited James. And so for the third night in a row, I drank with a bunch of locals. Joe (from last night) stopped by with a friend, and it became quite a party. Everyone spoke english, not just for my sake, but because it's their preferred language of conversation.

I paced myself, working up a slight buzz but not going overboard like the night before. Hanging out with my new friends, up in the mountains... man, leaving here is going to be really hard!

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!