Blogs from Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia, Asia - page 12

On the 10th of October we finally managed to leave Kuala Lumpur to see other regions of Malaysia. At 10am we started our trip to the Cameron Highlands where we arrived a couple of hours later, luckily without any accidents. During the drive we have been quite concerned because the bus driver seemed very drunk! He loudly sang songs during the drive while the bus scarily rolled from one side to the other of the road. At Tanah Rata we were welcomed by a feeling which I had almost forgotten already… chilliness. Instead of the usual 30 degrees there were only 20 degrees which gave me goose bumps all over my body! It is crazy how used the body gets to the heat and how all of the sudden you freeze during the night even using ... read more

The Brinchang Night Market is worth a visit if you are in Cameron Highlands! We noticed that it was visited mostly by the local Malaysian tourists from other states with an insignificant number of foreign tourists. But I think that if you'd like to have the true local experience, going to the night market is fantastic. Here you see what the locals eat. There are some touristy stalls that sell the typical 'Cameron Highlands' t-shirts for keepsakes! But by and large, the Brinchang Night Market is a good representation of local favourites, especially in terms of food. See http://patnessa.travellerspoint.com/14/ for more details and pictures! :)... read more

Avid readers of this blog might have realised by now that I quite like a cup of tea. So when the opportunity to visit a tea plantation presented itself, I would quite literally get an overnight bus then sit for 7 hours in a bus station starting from 3am to get there. Fun times folks, real fun times. The things I do for a brew. Suffice to say, I was pretty shattered when I got to Tanah Rata, the main tourist town in the Cameron Highlands, and spent the remainder of the day napping. I awoke just long enough to have a bit of a natter with a few of my fellow inmates at the hostel I'd chosen, and found some folks that also wanted to bit of a hike to a tea plantation the next ... read more

First we went up to the highest peak in the Cameron Highlands which was 6666feet high, but it was so misty we couldn’t see anything. On the way down we went for our “jungle trek” which was very short as it started to rain too much and the tour guide promptly guided us back to the jeep. We were then driven to the biggest tea processing factory and gift shop. The company is called Boh and owned most of the tea plantations in the area. I didn’t buy any tea here as it was actually cheaper at the local shop. Then we visited strawberry farm where we could pick our own strawberries. I ate so many while walking around I felt guilty and bought a box of there over-priced strawberries: the smallest box possible was still ... read more

After a long 4 1/2 hour bus ride, twisting and turning around the interior of Malaysia at 140km/h we arrived in Tanah Ratah, one of three small towns, which collectively are known as the Cameron Highlands. We settled into Twin Pines Hostel at a whopping RM25 a night for both of us. At this point we really considered ourselves backpacking. That afternoon we grabbed some local Indian food and planned out what we were going to see. We ended up booking a full day tour (RM60 each), which promised us a jam packed day of jungle trekking, a tea plantation visit, plus strawberry farm, butterfly farm, reptile and insect sanctuary, and a local Aboriginal tribe visit etc. With not much nightlife in Tanah Ratah, Sarah and I read and got a good night sleep. Fortunately, our ... read more