I booked my bus for the afternoon so I could have a bit of a lie in this morning. I grab some of the free breakfast before saying bye to SJ, who is off to Melaka, which is where I'll be heading after the Cameron Highlands. Breakfast done and it's the walk to the travel agents to get my bus. I'm not excited about the walking in the mid day sun with all my gear. Mental note, this is why you travel first thing in the morning! I get there in good time, though the girl tells me I only have 15mins to et food, then I need to be back. Not really too sure why she is stressing out, but I grab my supplies and then get back, where, of course I sit for about 20mins before getting the bus.
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What a bus it was, big touring bus, with 27 seats in it. When I say seats, they were like arm chairs, ample leg room and exceptionally comfortable. Some change from the buses that I have been used to. I would have to say that this is the most comfortable bus I have ever been on and you know the other great thing, we don't need to wait until the bus is full for the journey to start. I think there was about 10 people in this bus and off it goes. Fantastic. Now where the bus had the comfort, what it didn't have was the build quality. The bus looked fairly old and by the noises that it made as we shuffled along the road I'm surprised it didn't fall apart. It clearly had no bushes left, or perhaps no suspension at all, the noises were so loud and only got worse under heavy braking. The best solution, sleep. I wake up as we are passing Ipoh and I see the lovely limestone cliffs and karst mountains I have come to this part of Malaysia for. From this point we start heading in land and the bus takes us up some fairly steep gradients along a winding road, but as we climb the views are spine tingling. I admire my surrounding while listening to some music and then I cast my thoughts to my arrival. I am so ill prepared for my trip it is laughable. I can't even remember the name of the town I am going to. Cameron Highlands is the name I the area, but within that area there are many towns, but I can't remember then name of the one I want to be getting off at. Not to worry, a quick check of the raid signs and I see the name I'm after. Next problem, accommodation. Due to the rural aspect it might be harder than I think, and I really have no idea what mg plan is. I scope out the bus and spot a couple of white people. I have a plan. I will ask them if they have somewhere booked, if they say yes I'll ask where and then tell them that's where I'm going, if they say no, we can look together. The perfect plan, I'll wait until we are getting our bags before executing my plan. Ha ha
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After snaking through many a town, and been treated to epic views of tea plantations and mountains we eventually arrive. It's dark outside when we are getting our bags. Unbelievably there are a couple of guys here handing out leaflets about places to stay! What a result! I speak to one of the white guys who is on his own and we end up sharing a twin room, and we got a free lift from the bus. Michael a German/Swiss has good English and I ask him if he fancies a hike tomorrow as that is my plan. He is up for it. So I have somewhere to stay and a buddy for hiking, it has been a good day. We head down the town for some food and to grab a map of the trails the it's a few beers and bed, early rise tomorrow.