The Land of Rain

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The route to Cameron Highlands is not an easy one, there are 653 corners traversed by the rickety buses in order to get there, and many find this too much for the stomach to take. Luckily I had a semi-decent bus, and the seven hour journey from KL had caused me to stop caring about the corners and the fear or travel sickness that they are usually accompanied by. The first thing that you notice in the Cameron Highlands is the temperature, a cool 24 Celsius - heaven. Then you notice the rain - every day at 2 'o' clock in the afternoon for three hours. The rain is so heavy it stops just about everything - at least for the tourists and backpackers anyway.
The first morning I was there I took a tour of a few of the major tourist attractions. This was worthwhile and meant that distant places I had planned to visit were covered easily, and allowed me to meet other visitors. Being the adventurous and intrepid young chap that I am - this was not enough for me. The next morning I woke early to catch the bus to Brinchang so as to trek to the top of the mountain there. ( Sadly a second cup of coffee caused me to miss my bus and have to wait an hour for the next one. Still, the intention of an early start was there). FRrom Brinchang I took the trek to the top of Gunung Brinchang, 200 metres above sea level, and the highest point in Peninsular Malaysia. It was quite a tough trek -as the day before it had rained torrentially causing mud and fallen trees - yet the view that was seen at the summit when the clouds and fog would clear was breathtaking.
The beauty of the Cameron Highlands was that you could go trekking for hours in the morning, take a hot shower, then spend the afternoon drinking coffee, eating chocolate cake and chatting to fellow travellers about their experiences of travelling, home, life and in the case of a Hungarian guy I met, performing miracles such as helping a lame man to walk. Thankfully, after he spent a day in the jungle searching for plants that would cause him to be high for a fortnight just from one seed pod, he left - one guy said a magic carpet came and he just jumped right on it.
AFter watching a victorius England rugby team knock France out of the world cup, a group from the hostel went to sample a local speciality - the Chinese Steamboat. This meal takes self service to another level, you cook the food yourself in a large bowl of soup on a small gas stove. All around, local families were happily enjoying a quiet meal, while less than a metre from them four British guys and one girl, and a Canadian were piling unrecognisable lumps of meat, tofu, fish and god knows what into the steamboat. Had anyone bothered to take note of what was put in when and for how long this would have been fine - yet no one did. Luckily, next morning there were no casualties - a triumph for all the bowels involved!!

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