Cameron Highlands - Malaysia

For those of you that like things in chronological order and have been disappointed by gaps in the blog, here's a closer look at the time we spent in the Cameron Highlands before we arrived in Kuala Lumpur and the jungle but after leaving Penang.



The Cameron Highlands were a much appreciated break from the heat. After a long winding drive which seemed to get endlessly higher, we alighted the bus in a town called Tanah Rata in the highlands and actually felt chilled! Is this possible? We're in Malaysia after all, it's near the equator. In any case it was nice to breathe some cool, fresh air, very reminiscent of the Rockies back home. With similar vegetation to boot. Lots of evergreen type trees. What are those called? Coniferous, right (it's been a long time since grade 7).


Ok, so one of the main things to do is go hiking. And me (Scott) being too cheap to hire a guide thought we'd do a trail that our guidebook said would be a nice easy walk. And it was once we found the trail 1 hour and 2 km later than expected. Oh well. We found a lot of cool little things growing and scurrying about in the forest. Here are some of the highlights:

millipede

mushrooms on an old tree

acorn...I thought ones that look like this only existed in Disney cartoons

what are these called? for some reason I have fiddleheads in my mind.

Once we completed our little forest walk we decided to hike up another hill 5km(again I'm too cheap to hire some form of transport) to check out the local "Boh Tea" plantation. It was pretty hot and we were both dripping with sweat by the time we made it up but it was worth the visit. The views of the plantation were great.

We had time to grab a cup of tea and a snack at the plantation before we headed on our 5 km walk back down the hill where we could catch the bus to town. To our delight, as we started out down the hill, a worker from the plantation stopped next to us with his truck and offered us a ride. We. Were. Thrilled. Once at the bottom we thanked him profusely for the ride and hopped out where we would catch our bus. However, we did not know where the bus would come, and thought, "Hey, nine kilometres uphill to town can't be that bad?" Wrong. It is that bad. Especially when your feet, knees, and hips, are already aching from the 13 previous kilometres of walking. The next two hours were kind of a blur. I do remember moaning a lot, and getting many weird looks from locals zooming by in their vehicles. It's kind of like someone choosing to walk from Edmonton to Spruce Grove on a scenic Hwy 16, you just DON'T DO IT. But just when we were entering the stages of complete despair we saw it: the Tanah Rata sign.

We made it. Yes. 22 km and 6 hours of walking. It was well worth it. And we celebrated by eating chicken tandoori in town, which was excellent by the way, kind of like coming home to a good home cooked meal of meat and potatoes. And that was the Cameron Highlands.