Short Trip to Cameron Highlands

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It was a short but a much needed break from the monotonous routine of office and home. My husband Siam and I wanted to get out of the regular surrounding of friends and family and spend some lazy time together. I wanted to attend to no phone calls and no socializing for 5 days and wanted to spend the entire time with my husband alone- lazing, eating and shopping with a bit of sightseeing to refresh our minds. Malaysia was an ideal choice this time as the short travel time was an added benefit.

We arrived in Kuala Lampur on 27^th April morning. Though was already in an euphoric mode since 26^th April evening after office hours, I was very tired by the time we got into the bus that would take us to Cameron Highlands. The seats were very comfortable and the roads were smooth with barely any sound of horns (which we are so used to in Dhaka)- an ideal condition for me to fall asleep. I had been awake for 24 hours and could not keep my eyes open during the 4 and a half hour ride. I did wake up in the last half an hour because the last part of the road to Cameron Highlands had unbelievable number of turns. The bus was swaying continuously for at least 1 and a half hours and towards the end I was feeling dizzy and sick. I was happy that I did not have any breakfast in the airport – if I had a full stomach, I probably would have thrown up.

We reached Cameron Highlands at lunch time. Cameron Highlands is a beautiful hilly region. The hills are not very high, but high enough that the air was kind of cool without the need of fan. The sun was hot at midday but once we were in shade, I actually enjoyed the breeze that was coming through the beautiful greenery surrounding us. We went to the resort we had booked ourselves in- Bala’s Chalet. This was about 10 minutes drive away from the town Tanah Rata- where the bus had stopped.

Bala’s Chalet was a convent school about a century back. Now it is modified and resembles a British Cottage from Shakespear’s time. The rough white walls, the wooden beams on the ceiling, the fireplaces, the wooden stairs, the wall paintings and fairy lights- all these things create a very ancient Europe ambience which I absolutely loved. The rooms are comfortable too with a blend of ancient structure and modern facilities. The place is very quiet and has lots of plants all around and inside the chalet. On every side, there is rolling hills and greenery- every bit of the surrounding sight soothed my eyes and ears (which were very tired from watching and hearing everyday hustle bustle of city life).

We spent the afternoon exploring the town. We walked down the hill to Tanah Rata. We did not take the straight road but took a detour. We went sideways to see a fall- the Parit Falls. It’s a small waterfall inside a wood. The place was very quiet with barely a couple of tourists who were walking through the woods like us. The wood was not very thick nut the trees were big- obscuring most of the sunlight. The ground was mossy and uneven with roots spread all over the place like spider webs. The whole place was a bit eerie- the kinds of place where haunted movies are filmed or murdered bodies are hidden.

There was a bridge inside the wood which led very close to the falls. But unfortunately the bridge was broken which meant we had to go much deeper into the wood to go to the falls from a different route. But the fall was not exactly worth all this trouble as there are nicer falls in Cameron Highland with much easier access. So we changed path and went to Tanah Rata by taking a small bypass through the woods. This bypass was a lovely, very narrow walkway. There was the hill at one side and a hilly river on the other side of the road. The road was barely 3 feet wide and pretty slippery and completely covered overhead with looming trees. Though the slippery walk was a bit scary, but the whole experience was very different and worthwhile to both of us.

We spent the remaining part of the afternoon in Starbucks with Cookie Crumble Mocha Frappucchino in hand and our eyes on the surrounding pine trees which was visible through the glass windows. The atmosphere inside was warm and welcoming with smell of brewing coffee where else the outside it was cool – the combination was awesome. It was a lovely afternoon with very less said but a lot more felt. We had an early dinner at the Hill Station Café- steak and grilled fish- the food was ordinary but the entire open surrounding was so relaxing that we loved the hour long lazy dinner. We were tired and retired very early, at least I did- I fell asleep at 7:30 pm: fully dressed and without even untying my hair!

As a result of early retirement, our morning started very early. We had booked a package tour of Cameron Highlands the night before. After an early breakfast at Balas Chalet, we were picked up by our tour guide cum driver. We had taken our luggage with us as we would be dropped off straight at the bus stop after the tour. The tour consisted of visiting Boh Tea Estate, Brinchang-the highest point of Cameron Highlands, Butterfly firm, Strawberry firm and a mossy jungle walk for about a half an hour.

Boh Tea Estate is the largest tea estate of Malaysia. This is about a century old estate which is very well maintained. Acres and acres of rolling green hills under the calm blue sky is indeed a refreshing sight to our damaged eyes from looking at concrete jungle all the time. The weather was nice- there was sunlight, no cloud, and the breeze was pretty soothing. We got down in a hilly bend where the guide told us a lot about “tea”. He also gave us a tour of the tea factory (a small part of it) and there was a beautiful souvenir shop over there where fresh tea leaves were sold. We bought some fragrant tea as gift for relatives back home.

Then we went to the highest point of Cameron Highlands. It’s not very special, as its not particularly high, still the view was nice all around. The mossy jungle walk started from there and that was the highlight of the entire trip to the Highlands. Mossy means MOSSY. Extremely slippery moss covered the entire jungle- which was by the way on a hill so there was chance of not just slipping, but falling down by quite a few feet at least before one might be saved by a tree brunch or root. The place was dark as no sunlight could come in because of overgrown trees, we were walking over the moss covered tree roots and below that was hollow. The guide showed by jumping on it- the ground was completely spongy. There were no birds, but there were lots of pitcher plants inside that jungle. All our clothes were spoilt with moss and mud as we had to take support of tree brunches to move every step and those brunches were not dry!

Though the 30 minutes of walk was crucial and I was cursing my hubby for bringing me here without proper rubber made boots (yes, we didn’t know we would be doing this and we were in sponges!!), this was indeed one good experience of my life. Felt like I passed the survival test when I came out.

After this very interesting experience, no one was bothered about visiting the butterfly park and strawberry firms thoroughly- those seemed too timid and boring comparatively. So we spent very little time in those firms and were dropped off at the station from where we took bus to Kuala Lampur. Our feet were dirty (even though we had tried rinsing it in station washroom), our dresses had slight patches of moss and mud and after half a day of climbing and walking our appearances were not our best! I at least felt like a less civilized person who lives in a jungle boarding the bus without sense of proper dress up. But my hubby laughed it off and we were off to Kuala Lampur and left behind our love for Cameron Highlands.

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Photos

Bala's Chalet
Garden View

The bypass
From Parit Falls to Tanah Rata

Pitcher Plant
These are quite common inside mossy forest

Mossy Forest Walk
This is an example of what the "walk" actually meant!