Islands to Highlands

Guest writer Fran here – Hello all! Rich and I were reluctant to take the ‘tourist’ bus to the Cameron Highlands as it would have meant checking out of our amazing Penang hotel at the ungodly hour of 5am. No way were we doing that - we fully intended to stay right up to the check-out time of 12 and max ourselves out on the luxury. That meant we had to make our own way to the Cameron Highlands on local transport instead. We caught the ferry from Penang to Butterworth on the mainland which cost a bargain zero pounds! We arrived at Butterworth bus station and were sold two tickets to the Cameron Highlands by a slightly dodgy looking bloke in a cap. Inevitably, the 2.30pm departure became a 3.30pm departure but we couldn’t complain too much as the bus was actually really comfortable – we even had pop up leg rests! As the bus climbed up the mountains the scenery gradually changed from fields to forest as we were engulfed by the jungle. The journey took quite a while as the bus had to crawl its way along the steep, windy roads. We eventually arrived in the dark after a bizarre half hour traffic jam in a hillside village due to the weekly night market - not what we were expecting in this remote part of Malaysia! 

View of the Cameron Highlands and one of the many farms

The main town for tourist treks, etc in the Highlands was called Tanah Rata. Our research had revealed that accommodation was either dirt cheap (and dirty) hostels or very expensive luxury resorts (meaning clean but out of our budget). The trusty TripAdvisor had surprisingly few reviews so we opted for the place named after my brother – Daniel’s lodge. Sorry Dan but it was a bit of a disappointment! The cleanliness of the bed sheets left a lot to be desired. Luckily it is a lot colder in the Cameron Highlands than most of Malaysia, especially at night, so we were able to use the sleeping bags we’d carried half way around the world!

Daniel’s Lodge – not as clean as my brother

The next morning we had a good breakfast at a nice local cafe and spent the morning checking out Tanah Rata before going on an organised tour in the afternoon. The main road through the town was fairly unremarkable. A row of Indian, Chinese and Malay cafes represented the culinary delights (and racial mix) of Malaysia. These restaurants/cafes all had their kitchens at the front of the buildings and plastic chairs and tables spilled out onto the pavement where waiters stood vying for your custom. A very smart glass fronted Starbucks sat somewhat uncomfortably amongst them (but we sat very comfortably in it making use of the free wifi and of course getting the all important caffeine fix!). At one end of the village was the SK Convent (apparently SK stands for school) which sat rather grandly on a grassy hill. We climbed up and wandered around the building that definitely had a British influence if it wasn’t a British design. It appeared that a ‘bring and buy’ type sale was going on as parents and children were milling around outside in the warm sunshine. The road behind the Convent led us to a pretty little park which the plaque told us was to commemorate the discovery of the Cameron Highlands in 1881 by some bloke called – guess what – Cameron (William Cameron; wonder if he is a relation of our PM David)!

 

The not so attractive main street of Tanah Rata

The SK Convent

After lunch, we embarked on our “Adventure” tour. We were driven in a cool beaten up old Land Rover (Rich was impressed when the driver told him there were over 5000 Land Rovers in the Cameron Highlands!) with two massive bull horns on the the front. Our tour guide looked like an Indiana Jones extra wannabe but was very knowledgeable about the Cameron Highlands having grown up there. He drove us and two Dutch guys up to the highest peak in Highlands, Gunung Brinchang. The road was single track most of the way with lay bys for cars to pass each other. A small altercation with a Chinese driver shattered our illusion that the different racial groups in Malaysia lived together in harmony. After neither our (Indian origin) tour guide or the Chinese saloon car driver would pull over to let the other pass, our driver leant over to his glove compartment and took out a steel wheel brace. He took this with him to have a “chat” to the saloon driver. After a few minutes the Chinese driver miraculously had a change of heart and reversed so we could pass! Our tour guide told us that this was the way to get the Chinese to co-operate! As you can imagine, after this we became the friendliest and most grateful tour group the guy had probably ever had!

Rich with the beast

Rich comparing beards with our tour guide

Our guide’s negotiation tactics

At the summit of Gunung Brinchang we climbed a small look out tower to take in the breathtaking views. All around were lush green hills with clouds rolling and washing over the peaks. It was pretty impressive. A short drive down the hill and we commenced the trekking part of the tour. The first section of walking was along a raised wooden boardwalk. Our guide pointed out all the moss covered trees and interesting plants. The curious-looking Pitcher Plant (or Monkey Cup) was becoming a rare sight as local tourists kept plucking the plants and taking them home. The plant is shaped like a horn of plenty ice cream and grows from a stem which protrudes from the bottom of a leaf. It captures rain and although it looks like a fly trap, it doesn’t close in on flies but waits for them to drown in the water inside its cup and then it drinks the nutrient rich water. Clever and far less effort than snapping shut!

Looking out over the Cameron Highlands (and bracing my face against the wind)

The invading clouds

Strange creature in the mossy forest

The Monkey Cup Plant (or Pitcher Plant)

The boardwalk ended after a couple of hundred metres and we proceeded on a very wet and muddy path. Despite the dirt, the trek was great fun climbing over vines and hauling ourselves up rocks.

Clambering my way across the vines….

and stepping in the wrong place

Intrepid trekkers (we wish!)

Next stop was the ‘BOH’ (Best of the Highlands) tea plantation. Vast areas of the Cameron Highlands were covered in tea bushes. Tea doesn’t need much water so the steep hillsides were an ideal location for the plants to grow. The weather in Cameron Highlands is the same all year round – there are no seasons - so they grow all varieties of fruit and veg including the good old British favourite - strawberries! We learnt that the tea is harvested every 21 days when they remove only the young shoots. Our guide advised that this used to be done by hand but they now use bush trimmer style machines. The quality isn’t as good as inevitably older tea leaves get caught by the machines. He advised that only Ceylon tea is still picked by hand so it the best quality (a bit of shopping advice for you!). We had a short gander around the factory then sampled some tea, Malaysian style (Teh Tarik – made with condensed milk so sweet enough for Rich!), in the glass walled cafe looking out over the plantation.

‘We need tea and cake’ – quote from Withnail and I

Lionel enjoying his smooth cuppa

Views of the tea plantation from the cafe

Our final stop was the compact but cool Butterfly Farm where we saw snakes, rabbits, lizards and many, many butterflies. There were a few different varieties of butterflies and they were all pretty large flying around a net covered garden. After this we stopped briefly at the Strawberry Farm and ate fresh delicious strawberries – yum! The return to Tanah Rata was slightly delayed as the Land Rover’s battery conked out but our guide managed to get a tow to the top of the hill (from another Land Rover of course) and then start the beast as he free-rolled down the hill – brave but effective!

  

A gorgeous scruffy looking rabbit

Pretty flower

A large tame butterfly

More pretty butterflies

Again, we had a long and laborious journey to our next stop, the Perhentian Islands but boy was it worth it. Rich will fill you in on this beautiful place in the next blog. Ciao for now. Fran x