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Published: February 24th 2016
Saturday 20th February 2016 Leaving one area famous for hiking we were heading straight for another in the Cameron Highlands. The Cameron Highlands is actually the size of Singapore and is situated in the north of Malaysia covering an area of 712 sq KM (gotta love Wikipedia!) and has a population of 38,417 (Gemma counted!) and was discovered by Sir William Cameron in 1885 and is at an elevation of 1,600 metres, and as a result is a little bit chillier than the rest of the country. We were heading here as we'd read about some hiking trails that could be managed alone all with varying levels of difficulty and as well as these, the area is famous for producing tea and has two very large tea plantations which look amazing.
We caught the mini bus about 500m from our hotel and with just one other couple we headed off on a 2 hour drive to the jetty that brought us to Taman Negara only a few days previously. We had a 45 minute wait when we arrived and during this time Gemma made friends with some cats before we boarded another mini bus, this time with 8 passengers
and drove for 3 hours to the Cameron Highlands. We had booked into a hotel called 'D'Native', something we must have done in our sleep or whilst drunk because neither of us can remember doing so and when we got there we were a little shocked that we voluntarily booked in here. The name of the hotel is quite apt as the place was very basic. We met a French guy who was wandering around in his underpants and who told us that he is a volunteer, and that no management are around. We paid the money for our room, which worked out at a total of £8 per night, and were shown to our wooden bungalow. He didn't enter the room to show us around as if more than 2 people entered we're sure that the building would've collapsed, as was the quality of this place. There was no bed, just a mattress on the floor right next to the door, which itself had a good 3 inch gap at the bottom which would no doubt allow all sorts of creepy crawlies to enter as we slept. The bed had on it the dirtiest looking sheets we've ever seen.
We guessed that they were white, as you really couldn't tell. One of the pillows had a suspicious brown stain on it and the duvet was thankfully a maroon colour so any stains on there weren't visible. The en-suite was a concrete floor with corrugated iron walls and tarpaulin ceiling. The bed though did have a mosquito net which we set up immediately and covered the bed from bugs. We got out our first aid kit and spent 20 minutes using the micropore tape to cover up the holes in the net. Thankfully we invested in some sleeping bag liners before we left home that comes with an anti bed bug layer in them, which we fully intended to use tonight when it came to sleeping.
We were based a 10 minute walk outside of the main town up a hill, which always seems to be the case and I don't know how we constantly manage to book places up bloody hills. We walked into the small town of Tanah Rata which had a 'high street' approx 200 metres long with restaurants, shops and a few phone shops. We decided to grab a coffee and research what we should
do in the next 2 days. Later in the evening we ate at a Japanese restaurant before heading back to our room in the dark and try to get some sleep. We certainly noticed the cold once the sun went down and this meant that unfortunately we were going to have to use the duvet :-(. The night was cold and we didn't move out of our sleeping bags as we didn't want to put any body part on the bed or duvet. I was woken up in the middle of the night by some animal outside the wooden hut going through the bins. It sounded like a pig, but given where we were on the edge of a forest it was probably a boar. At 5am we heard the call for prayer from the nearby mosque, which was a new way to be woken up. We eventually fell back to sleep.
Sunday 21st February 2016 We dressed quickly as we woke, not wanting to spend too long in the room. We headed to the nearby town for breakfast, booked a bus ticket which would take us to our next destination in a couple of days time and
decided which trail we would take today. There are a total of 14 trails with varying levels of difficulty rated easy, moderate, tough, very tough. Trail 10 which we opted for was rated as moderate - tough and we thought this would be a good introduction for us. We stupidly though headed out of the town in the wrong direction and met a local man who told us we were going the wrong way. Being very friendly, as most Malaysian's seem to be, he told us he would walk us back to town and point out the starting point. We walked with him for 10 minutes and learnt that he was an Arsenal fan and knew lots about Victoria Beckham.... He owns a tea shop and told us to pop in later for some spicy tea.
We were now on the right track and found the entrance to the trail which seemed to take us through someone's back garden. The trail was quite secluded and we didn't see anyone else for a while. This was a different hike to that in Taman Negara, the terrain was different resembling more of a forest than a jungle. There was lots of
green foliage and dusty, muddy floor scattered with leaves and twigs. The start of the hike took us up a hill which seemed to last for about 1.5 hours. The climb was fun and not too tricky, taking us over and under lots of fallen trees and narrow walkways with nothing but steep falls on either side. We made our way to the top of the hill and was greeted by a huge electricity pylon. We strategically took some photos with the pylon behind us and after resting and drinking some water we continued on the hike which would take us back down the hill but in a different direction.
After another hour walk again over some rough terrain we made it out of the woods and found ourselves next to a power station. I'm not sure we chose the most scenic trail out of the 14 available! After leaving the woods we were now on a concrete road, that if followed would take us 3km back to town. We headed straight to the hotel to drop off our bags before heading out for some food. We ate at a Japanese restaurant called KouGen which although it had a
small menu of food, what we ate tasted good. Later that evening we headed back to our not so comfy room to sleep.
Monday 22nd February 2016 At 5am we were woken again by the Mosque and the call the prayer. It didn't really bother us as we were soon able to drift back to sleep, that was until the resident dogs decided to howl at the noise. They wouldn't stop and it made for a stop-start sleep. When we did eventually awake we popped into the small town to get some breakfast and decide what to do today.
We had agreed that we would venture on foot 3km down the road to a tea plantation. The Cameron Highlands has 2 big tea plantations, Boh Tea, which is their most famous and Bharat Tea which is said to be less full of tourists and has a great viewing platform from their cafe. We were happily walking beside a busy mountain road, moving from one side of the road to another because of the sharp turns in the road and we wanted the best view possible of any potential oncoming traffic. We had walked for roughly 30 mins
and were only around the corner from the tea plantation when I heard a whimper from behind me. Gemma's weak ankle, which we haven't really given enough time to heal since her fall in Myanmar, had given way and as a result she had fallen over and banged into a metal fence. We manged to hobble to the tea plantation and they were kind enough to give us a bag of ice which then froze Gemma's ankle, and she sat there with a cup of tea and a bag of ice for an hour.
We had amazing views of the lush, green tea bushes below us which also snaked off into the distance up and down the hills. There weren't many people around given it was one of the highest recommendations on trip advisor so when Gemma had rested her ankle enough and the bag of ice had turned into a bag of water we hobbled down some steps and into the tea plantation itself. You are allowed to walk among the bushes and given that the place was humongous, we were able to find a spot to take the perfect picture. We stayed among the tea for a
good hour or so and had fun playing with some puppies that were running around and probably belonged to the owner of the plantation. We had some biscuits with us and they were happy to sit obediently whilst the biscuits were fed to them.
We popped back into the cafe for another cuppa and a piece of cake before sharing a taxi with a Scottish couple we'd met beside the road and headed into town. When we arrived I insisted that we visit the hospital to get Gemma's ankle looked at. When we arrived at one of the smallest hospitals in the world, we were told that the doctor had gone home for the day, as it was 5pm on the dot. Luckily though A&E was open and unlike any A&E I've seen before, this one had absolutely no patients in whatsoever. A doctor took a look at Gemma's swollen ankle and advised her to rest it as best she can and keep it wrapped up in a bandage. We weren't charged for anything and so after this advice we headed back to town for some dinner. We once again ate at the Japanese restaurant and then headed back
to the room to pack ready for leaving early the next day.
Overall, the Cameron Highlands has been a good place to visit. If we'd had longer and if Gemma's ankle was up to it, we would have definitely done some of the other walking trails, but we have 2 months left of our travels and Indonesia awaits with its volcanoes and mountains, so there will be plenty of climbing then.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
I'm pleased that you made it to the Cameron Highlands...
and that you enjoyed your stay other than the accommodations. I always enjoyed eating chapatis with either chicken curry or sweet milk at the Indian restaurant on the high street when I went to school there from 1966-68.