just us and a couple of rucksacks: Cameron Highlands

This was a bit of an accident really, we had got up nice and early to get the ferry back from our Perhentian Island paradise with the intention of taking a bus over to the colonial splendor that is Penang Island / Georgetown. Sadly, due to some duff info we found we were a little over an hour late for the only departure of the day. After overcoming our last travel crisis we felt a little more confident flexing the plan and quickly plumped for a different destination, and what a choice!

Tana Rata in the Cameron Highlands is a verdant part of Malaysia famed for it's tea estates, the most prestigious having been founded by a Scot over 70 years ago. It also has a perfect climate for growing strawberries, roses, orchids and many other lovely goodies. It has a very colonial feel with the tea and strawberries presenting the opportunity to take afternoon tea (complete with scones, cream and jam) in most cafes in the town.

Another feature of the Cameron Highlands are the numerous walking trails ranging from a gentle half hour stroll to full on whole day hikes that snake in out and out of the jungle. On our first whole day there we decided to try and start to get back to our pre-beach trimness gained from climbing endless temple steps with a 2hr jungle walk. Given my navigation skills I wasn't heartened to hear the story of Jim Thompson who went missing back in the day and hasn't been seen or heard from since link here...I didn't want to tell them that he's opened a chain of rather successful if un-authentic Thai restaurants in the UK!!

We set off at a pace and were soon snapping flowers, bugs and each other as you can see below. A couple of hours later we came to the end of our particular trail on a little road that in one direction had a bus stop back to get back to our hostel and in the other a giant signpost pointing towards a tea plantation. After a short discussion about whether either of us could remember how far the tea place was we decided it was either 3km or 45mins walk or perhaps further. This proved to be almost correct, Cath's 45min walk was first at which point we found the extra 3km that took us up to the gate and a smiling security guard who gleefully told us that it was only another 1km to the shop and factory. All of this with the anticipation of a soaking given that regular as clockwork the skies open up at 1pm for a half hour dousing of the countryside. At last we reached the summit (did I not mention that this part of the walk was all up a bloomin steep hill / mountain) and excitedly approached the cafe where we ended up having ice tea as we were so hot. The tea factory had also stopped production for the day so on that visit we didn't end up seeing much at all.

Halfway up

Arty fern shot

After some further refreshments it dawned on us that we were a long way from where we needed to be and no real idea how we were going to get back...so we asked the Boh Tea ladies (the Malaysian version of the Tetley tea folk.) They weren't too hopeful of a taxi passing by their particular peak but did know that the school bus would be passing in a while, so we trotted out to the road and patiently waited...and by gum it was great!! It was an old bone shaker that did no more than 20kph back through the windy roads, much to the delight of Cath's travel sickness.

Looking quite pleased with our transport - before we got to the bendy bit!

We were staying at a great backpackers place called Fathers, which had advice galore and showed dvd's through the afternoon and evening, a godsend when all of the dodgy weather came around. In keeping with the colonial nature of the area the accomodation was all in old army huts, not great at keeing things warm / dry but great fun. Having a large communal area meant that we met numerous other travellers and swapped stories about who had been in the dodgiest situations and which the best beaches in Thailand were, some large sofas also meant that it felt quite homely. Cath also found a kindred spirit in Canadain Kate who helped her shop further along our journey in KL and generally mucked about with us for a few days.

Fathers - old school accomodation British Army style

On our third day we took a trip around with a local guide to look at the most amazing mossy forest (it was a forest dominated by moss, they're quite a descriptive bunch) and a hike up the mobile telecom tower allowing us to see most of the highlands in one go. The highlight however was the Boh Tea estate - a much more impressive factory than the one we head previously visited and much more leisurely approached (back seat of a minivan!!) Not only did we get a tour of the factory, incidentally seeing the machine that sorts the grades of tea...that's right a Boh Selector..., but we also got to sup a cup on the veranda overlooking the entire plantation - magical!!