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Hello from the mainly cloudy and wet Cameron Highlands!
Our bus from KL arrived at lunchtime in the small town of Tanah Rata. When we were off the bus we only had a short walk of 500m to get to our hostel "Twin Pines". We were met by a very eager chap who showed us straight to our room. On the way he kept repeating that we could change rooms tommorrow if we wanted. This made me slightly suspicious. We went down a corridor which gradually worsened in decor and smell and got to a door at the end. When he opened it the smell of damp hit us. Looking round the room it was small and had a hole in the ceiling covered by plastic. Again the guy reminded us we could change the next day if we wanted to. Unfortunately, generally David and I are quite polite and so looked at each other in silence and I told the guy "ok we'll see". Walking with him back to pay I quickly noted all of the other rooms had much nicer doors - something was funny here. We sat in the room for 5 minutes and I told David that I wasn't sure I could stand it and that the guy was too eager to tell us we could change - it was likely we had the duff room. David went to investigate and saw other rooms that were much nicer. So we went back and asked to upgrade and ended up in an ensuite room for only £2 more a night. We felt happier compared to the tiny duff room but this room still smelt, the bathroom floor was wet and the sheets although appearing clean were very stained. We agreed to stay put and just use our sleeping bags instead.
We went for a walk and covered the entire town in about 10 minutes. It all looked rather drab in the grey clouds and drizzle - so far not a great impression! However we met a pleasant guy at an Indian restaurant and had a tasty dinner before attempting to sleep in our room.
After a bad night's sleep we were up and ready to explore. There was nothing here until the 1920s when the British came and made a small hill station. Soon after they realised the potential of the land and developed a tea planation called BOH (best of highlands). This is now the most successful tea company in Malaysia with four sites alone across the Cameron Highlands. Given the cooler climate the Cameron Highlands later became a popular escape for ex-pats and so many resorts were built around the area. In addition to tea there are also vegetable farms, honey farms and strawberry farms all competing for the passing tourist trade. In Tanah Rata every other building has a tour operator trying to sell expensive ways of getting around the sites. Unfortunately this was Monday and because no one picks tea on Sundays the factories close on Monday and so this was out for the day. Instead we decided to ignore the tours and see if we could do it alone. In theory there was a local bus running up and down the Cameron Highlands. The night before we had been to the bus station and found out the times. We therefore rocked up at 10.15am to get our bus. We waited and waited but no one seemed to be there. Eventually I found someone to ask and they said it had not turned up all day and so was likely to be broken. Doh - foiled at the first attempt. Instead we found a taxi driver and agreed he would take us to the furthest point of the farms and then we could walk back along the road stopping as we please until the town of Brinchang. This is approximately 4km and that is what we did. The taxi cost Rm15 (£3) and dropped us at a honey farm which was free to enter. Initially it was a mad house of souvenirs in all kinds of bee/honey descriptions but by battling through we found our way out to the farm itself. This held many hives which we walked through but also enormous plastic bees (the tackiness continues).
After the bee farm the next stop was through some vegetable markets and then we came across a butterfly garden and farm next to each other. Both charged and we couldn't see any difference so we opted for the farm paying £1 each for entry for what turned out to be a very strange place. There was a house of butterflies but most seemed dead on the floor or just stuck in leaves. On leaving there were multiple pools and glass cages in which we saw various snakes, scorpions, frogs, weird bugs and a massive gecko. All in miserable conditions. We promptly left.
We continued along the road now in the rain and agreed to stop at a strawberry farm. At the back of the building under sheeting were row after row of strawberries but what we found interesting were the mushrooms they were selling. They had a plastic bag filled with earth and out of the top mushrooms were growing which were pink, yellow and grey (see the photos). We tried to stop for a strawberry tea and scone but got fed up being pushed out of the way by a massive Chinese tour group and so left. Our next stop was the Time Tunnel. This was advertised as the only memorabilia museum in Malaysia ie rooms full of everyone's junk now classed as historic. However picking through we did find some interesting photos and info about the history of the Cameron Highlands. This was our final stop before arriving in Brinchang 3 hours later. On the way we had waded through cuddly strawberries, plastic strawberries, strawberry ear muffs, dried strawberries, strawberry concentrate, strawberry lollies, the list of tacky souveniers was endless.
Brinchang seemed much less tourist-orientated than Tanah Rata and we certainly got many looks walking through the square in search of food before getting a taxi back to Tanah Rata for RM8 (£1.50). So we had seen everything offered on the tour ourselves (except the tea plantation) for a total of RM23 or about £5 (since the butterfly farm entry fee was not included in the tour price) versus £10 by a tour in our own time and alone - it clearly can be done!
The next day we wanted to see a tea plantation. The only way to get to this is by taxi or a tour. The easy way would be to take a taxi ask it to wait and then go straight back but that would be boring and then what would we do for the rest of the day? Clearly we had other plans. We had done some investigating the day before about Gunung Brinchang the local mountain which stands at 2200m. We got the taxi to the tea plantation at 9am and were amazed to see blue sky and sunshine which lit up the green of the tea plants beautifully. We took many photos and then went round the factory to see how tea is made. First the leaves are picked and laid out to dry. Then they get rolled, dried, allowed to ferment and then heated to 100 degrees to dry them again and stop the fermentation process. At this point the leaves are sifted into size for quality and then shipped south for packing. Before leaving we stopped to try their premium tea which was really good.
From here we had a pleasant 2km gentle climb through the plantation back to the main road. We then turned off onto a road up to Gunung Brichang which was about 5km away. On the map there was only one road but we soon came across two and had no idea which to take. We took one and we passed a house with a women in the drive. David called to her and she looked terrified trying jump into her car as quickly as she could whilst he continued calling at her. She told us that we were going the wrong way so around we went. Once back at the junction we realised someone had handwritten the way on another signpost. So we started again this time more slowly on the steep road. We were passed by numerous tour buses but we carried on. Eventually after 2 hours we reached the top and climbed the viewing platform to see - nothing but cloud and some trees.
The aim was to now take "path 1" a jungle track through the forest down the mountain to pop out at Brinchang rather than walk the same route again as the day before along the road. David went off to see if he could actually find the path and after a while came back stating he could see people walking up. They arrived soon after and we asked them how it was. They were all sweaty and muddy and it had taken them 3 hours rather than the advertised 1.5 hours. They said it was fine but slippy in places from the recent rain. David and I agreed to look at it a bit closer. When we got to the start it was through a hole in the bushes and dropped steeply into mud. At this point I had very cold feet and really didn't want to try it given all the creatures in the forest as well as us! For David that just wasn't an option and so we reluctantly began. It become clear very quickly that this was not going to be easy as we clambered over large tree roots landing in mud up to our ankles. We plodded on like this closely checking mud depth with a stick each time for hours! Eventually not a moment too soon we heard cars and could see a clearing. The path came out to a steam (which we had to climb over) and ended up in a sewage works. Muddy and hungry we walked the final kilometre into Brinchang saying hello to the numerous children popping out from behind cars and buildings along the way. We found a taxi and were desperate for a shower. Only problem was the water was freezing cold and really not what we needed right then. There was nothing else to do but put on clean clothes and head to a cafe for an early dinner and pancakes with honey.
Overall the Cameron Highlands turned out to be cold, grey and drab except when the sun comes out and you are standing in a tea plantation. We are certainly not in a hurry to come back. However we are excited about our next stop - Penang. We will let you know how it goes.
Lots of Love
David and Brenda xxx
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