TRAVEL:
A Best Friend for a Day in
Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
BY E. DESOUZA
I
n my travels I’ve been fortunate enough to meet
some really interesting people with some interesting
stories. More than likely, you won’t ever hear about
these people in the media to know they exist. In
traveling alone, especially in hostels, you often meet
fellow travelers. Since you all are in the same boat, it
becomes much easier to spend a day or two traveling
together. When you meet these fellow travelers, you
typically don’t have to be concerned about someone
trying to con, get over or sell you something. The
parties simply reach a tacit agreement to hang, see
the sights and become “best friends” for a day. We
talk about our lives back home, what led us to travel
and our plans for the future. Since we know we will
probably never see each other again, most people feel
they can be open and revealing when talking about
their life stories.
Thus, I wanted to talk a little about my “best friend
for a day” in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. After
the almost 4 hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur to
Cameron Highlands and another 20 minutes taxi ride
to my hotel, I found myself with two free hours until
my tour of the various strawberry and butterfly farms.
During this time, I walked down to a local restaurant
to get some food. I happen to have noticed that there
was a fellow traveler sitting alone not too far from my
table. Her hair was corn rolled and her clothing was
mismatched. She wore the typical “almost” parachutelike pants worn by
backpackers. The
one thing I found
most interesting was
that she was a Black
woman traveling
alone. When I
heard her talking
to the waiter, I was
almost shocked
that I “thought” I heard an American accent. In all
my travels, I’ve never met an American Black woman
56
Fall/Winter 2016 | NURAMagazine.com
backpacker traveli