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Published: December 6th 2011
Malaysia – The Cameron Highlands – An extreme never ending jungle trek and a new addition to the family travelling group for a couple of days.
I’m sure you’ve all been eager to read the next blog after I left you in suspense from the previous blog, yeah right! Well as you can see from the photos the bus was thankfully a VIP bus and Dad is still talking to me. I’m sure if he’s being honest I think it’s fair to say he actually found it quite comfortable and seemed to be able to sleep for most of the journey, result!
After reassuring my parents that there would be no need to book accommodation in advance and that it would simply be a case of just turn up and find something, I was a little worried when we tried several hotels and got the response, we’re full! I was starting to think oh sh*t, this is not quite what I had in mind when I said we would rough it for a few days, park benches and tents wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. After trying several places that were quite frankly awful I was really getting
nervous and wondering how I would explain this one to mum and dad, I don’t think “well it’s normally ok” would cut it in this situation. After ten minutes of additional searching we found two rooms in the Hill View Hotel, it was basic but adequate but unfortunately they only had two nights so we still needed to find another hotel for our final night, that meant we had a challenge for day one.
As you will see in the photos the gardens and the building itself at the hotel looked lovely but the view in front of an unfinished construction project along with the very simple and basic rooms took the edge off a little, but it was a roof over our heads and a good introduction to travelling life for the folks. Onwards and downwards I feel, time to find the final nights accommodation and have a look around town.
Well the town was explored in about five minutes and we had found a hotel or as my so nicely termed it a prison for our final night. As you can tell I felt things were going extremely well and Mum and Dad must be having
the time of their lives! In all seriousness everyone seemed to be laughing at the situation and taking it in good spirits which was a relief to the tour leader, me!
In the Highlands there are a couple of long treks and several shorter treks within the area, because Sammi was coming out last minute to join us we decided to kindly leave the long trek until she arrived, sometimes even I’m staggered at how thoughtful we can be. Therefore on the first day we headed out on two of the smaller walks to the two waterfalls, one of the many strawberry farms and a tea planation. Things were going well from the off when I got us lost within ten minutes, after a small one hour detour of the surrounding housing blocks we were back on the path again, my sense of direction has never been great I’m still shocked I even made in out of England for this trip.
The waterfalls were a little disappointing because at one of them the bridge was closed and the other was a construction site, but the paths to them made for some interesting walking and were very challenging in
places. As it turned out this would be a gentle lead in for what was to come. The highlight of the day without doubt was the strawberry farm, the Cameron Highlands is renowned for its tea plantations and it’s strawberry farms along with its trekking of course. We sat down in the café at the farm and indulged in the most amazing strawberry buns and local tea. It’s fair to say we all got a taste for the local produce and continued to eat PYO strawberries, strawberry ice-cream, strawberry lolly’s, dried strawberries and purchased strawberry jam, all in all I think that’s a big tick in the strawberry box, we all absolutely loved it and had to physically drag ourselves away. The final stop for the day was a tea plantation, it was a bit of an anti-climax but a nice enough way to pass the final part of the day, sadly we were out of season and most touristy stuff was closed so it was a bit dull. The best way to explore the tea plantations is to simply wander around the many fantastic fields and farms everywhere you walk, it’s impossible to miss them and they are in
their natural surroundings and not on a tourist designed complex.
Day one complete and we would continue to play cards until Sammi arrived (I’ve taught my parents to play that well know travellers game sh*t head and they are hooked!) As it turned out we played cards until well after midnight as Sammi had the journey from hell to get to us.
After a quick hello and welcome drink and pringles with Sammi we hit our beds ready for the long jungle trek the following day. None of us were aware of what the trek would be like and there were no warnings in the guide books for what was about to come!
We got a taxi to the start point and joined the path, it was also having construction works completed on it. So within five minutes I needed to pass a digger, I went two steps to the left and to the amusement of everyone apart from me I was up to my calf’s in mud, not the best start! Well this set the standard for the rest of the trek, it was basically a muddy bog the whole way. It was incredibly challenging and
steep with basically slippery tree roots and moss covered rocks to climb the whole way. I have to say if I can still do this type of trek as well as my parents managed when I’m their age I will be very happy. The photos show the conditions far better than I can explain.
After a very demanding four hours we had completed the trek and were all very tired, muddy and dirty, we enjoyed the stunning views from a rusty lookout tower before heading to a tea planation for a much needed cuppa, sadly for Sammi there were no strawberry buns that she had been so desperate to try, maybe next time!
That completed our final day in the Highlands, we finished with a lovely meal in the evening and departed our separate ways the following morning on yet another bus ride, family Plunkett to Penang and Sammi back to Hong Kong. Great to see you again Sammi and I hope you managed to get the mud out of all your clothes! A brilliant two days trekking and I’m fairly sure Mum and Dad never want to do a trek like that again, but well done for
Cameron Highlands - The team!
Well done guys that was a very tough trek!completing it I was very impressed!
Next stop sun, sea, island hoping and relaxation and I felt we all needed it after the past two days. And Dad took over hotel booking duties for this one and we were heading to a 4* resort that looked beautiful, I couldn’t wait to have a comfortable bed and a swimming pool for a few days!!!!!
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Wonderful Cameron Highlands
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