Cameron Highlands

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We were desperate to get to Tanah Rata, located at 1500m altitude in the Cameron Highlands, to escape the draining tropical heat of the lowlands cities. We stepped off the bus into a cool breeze and some English drizzle and pretty much broke into spontaneous grins. After a few days, it became apparent that the pleasant climate was just the icing on the cake for this beautiful corner of the world - it may just be my favorite place of the trip so far.

The highlight of our visit was a morning minibus tour which whipped us round some of the region's premier attractions. This included one each of one of the area's numerous strawberry farms, honey bee farms and beautiful tea plantations (with delicious fresh tea that even I could enjoy). Two stops on the tour really stood out. The first was a visit to the Rose Centre, which to me didn't sound too promising but was actually fantastic. Winding paths led up a steep hillside through beautiful flower displays, passing some bizarre and rather kitch objects, including a giant shoe house, a multicoloured tunnel and the seven dwarfs. The second was a butterfly house. The butterfly enclosure was filled with beating wings and dazzling colours, but the stars of the show were a freakish mob of extraordinary creepy crawlies - a gargantaun rhinocerous beetle, a hungry praying mantis, a toad which looked like a dead leaf, a bug which looked exactly like the leaf it was standing on and plenty of spiders, snakes, scorpions and the like. Marvellous, and the whole tour cost barely a fiver!

The same afternoon, I asked our lovely and ever-helpful hostel staff (the Jurina Guest House, thoroughly reccommended) where I might find some pitcher plants (Nepenthes). For anyone who doesn't know me, I used to have a slightly unhealthy interest in these macabre plants, which possibly hasn't quite left me. I was directed to a 'secret' and 'unofficial' trail which required bypassing a security fence, wading through overgrown vegetation and clambering through a rather creepy moss-filled forrest. The reward at the end was a mosquito-infested hillock of spagnum moss covered with those elusive pitcher plants. There was a nice range of different species, and the largest pitchers were around 20 cm long, and probably around a pint in capacity.

There was one unfortunate side to our visit to the highlands. One of my companions was suffering from the dreaded travellers' lurgee, an almost inevitable part of many Western visitors' stay in South East Asia. Nevertheless, I for one was certainly sad to be leaving.

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Photos

Pitcher Plants
Before arriving in the Highlands, it never ocurred to me that it might be a home of my favorite plant genus.

Praying Mantis
This mantis was busily guzzling one of the beautiful butterfly specimens found in the butterfly house. Macro converter used (poor optical quality around edges).

Rose Centre
This hillside garden was full of surprises, and beautiful views such as this were common.

Bharat Tea Plantation
Tea plantations seem to grow only on beautiful rolling hills.

Butterfly
In the butterfly house.

Parit Waterfall
A pleasant walk along the river led to this small waterfall near Tanah Rata.

Rose Centre View
The views from the top of the gardens were very nice indeed.