Jude and the Giant Sweetcorn

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Today we travelled to the second of our destinations in Malaysia: Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. I was really excited about this leg of the trip as my step-dad, Edmond, went to school here way back in 1959.

We took the bus from the long-distance bus station at 9.00 am but the bus left 45 minutes late. For 25 MYR each, we discovered to our surprise that we were on a VIP bus like the ones in Thailand - big comfy seats and good air-con :-) The journey took about 4 hours, the majority of which was spent winding our way around hairpin bends and up into the jungle-clad mountains. The roads were excellent although the traffic on them was prone to speeding, making for some hairy moments on the way. All credit goes to our bus driver though who drove slowly and sensibly, so the journey was enjoyable rather than terrifying.

On arrival, there were a few hotel touts waiting to show us to their hostels. We had booked in to the Cameronian Inn and there was someone there to meet us so we didn't have to deal with the touts (they weren't anywhere near as pushy as in some places we've been). The hostel is only around the corner from the bus stop and we could easily have walked it but the minibus ride was free, so why not? We had a choice of rooms when we arrived - the smaller room was 58 MYR per night and the larger one, with tv, was 70 MYR. We opted for the smaller one as it was already more expensive than we had anticipated. The hostel is nice enough but we were miffed to find out that you have to pay extra for almost everything including toilet paper, towels and the supposedly free guided jungle treks.

We took a walk into the town which is little more than a main street with shops and restaurants on either side. We were hungry so we stopped at an Indian restaurant for a late lunch of naan bread, dhal and claypot rice. All very, very good and great value too. We then located a place called the T Cafe at the end of the road, that had been recommended for its cheesecake. We didn't need much persuading and we were soon tucking in to some delicious creamy strawberry and lemon cheesecakes.

I wanted to find out more about my dad's old school so we popped into the local police station to get some advice. We'd heard that the school was now a military base and the last thing we wanted was to be arrested for taking illegal photos! The guys there were really helpful and showed us on the map where we would need to go. They said it shouldn't be a problem to go up to the base but it was unlikely we would be allowed inside, which is fair enough. Across the road from the police station is a small park with a big pink clocktower, a huge children's pay area and a giant fibreglass vegetable patch of all things. I had a climb on some oversized corn on the cob and had fun trying to pick the jumbo strawberries. The reason this bizarre sight is here is because the Cameron Highlands has a cooler climate than the rest of Malaysia and they grow traditional fruit and veg here. All very exciting!

Later, we hunted around for an internet cafe and found several options that were cheaper than the hostel. The place we chose was called Evo and it was mega modern inside with nice big, soft computer chairs and even games you can play. While I was busy blogging and skyping, Glynn was in his element playing a game called FEAR. It was a cool place and I'm sure we'll be back again, if only for Glynn to get his next gaming fix!

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