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Day 312: Wednesday 6th May - A change in temperature
The journey from Taman Negara to the Cameron Highlands takes 8 hours, even though they are next to each other on the map. There is no direct road between the two places therefore a long journey. At least the scenery is good on the way as you pass tropical jungle, rolling hills and then vegetable and flower farms as you get into the highlands. The dominant feature of the journey though are the palm tree plantations, which seem to occupy a good proportion of the land in peninsula Malaysia. The minibus terminates at Father’s Guesthouse, which is good as I’ve had a tip off that this is a good place to stay. The hostel is at the top of a hill and surrounded by vegetable gardens. It has a sociable feel to it and the dorm rooms are interesting. One way to describe them is as being like a large tin-can, cut in half! They’re not too dissimilar from barracks style accommodation either. The hostel also serves food and shows movies every night at 7pm, the home-comforts a traveller needs.
The Cameron Highlands is a hill station, and during
the colonial era it was a haven for the British who were stationed in Malaya. It provided relief from the hot and humid tropical climate. With its temperate climate, a number of them decided to make it their retirement home, setting up bungalows and mansions. The Cameron Highlands was first stumbled upon by one William Cameron, a government surveyor while on a mapping expedition in 1885. He discovered a plateau at an elevation of 1370-1700 meters above sea level and was so enamored by the wide area of gentle slopes and plateau land that he gave an endearing report. It created quite a stir of excitement that Sir Hugh Low wanted to develop the area as a health resort and open farmland. Cameron’s name was thus bestowed upon the highland area. But it would take another twenty years before the first pioneers settle in the area. With the cool climate, it became the perfect place to grow tea and vegetables. Today, it provides Malaysia with the majority of tea and vegetables it consumes.
The cool climate means evenings are chilly. Iced Milo gives way to Hot Milo (Milo is one of my favourite food & drink discoveries during my
time in Malaysia) and cups of tea. Shorts and a t-shirt are exchanged for a jumper and jeans, and during the night you need blankets or a sleeping bag. I may have got used to cold showers in the heat and humidity of lowland Southeast Malaysia, but it’s not right in the cool highlands. For the second successive night I get up in the middle of the night to watch the football. It’s an absorbing match, which Chelsea are unlucky to lose to the first shot Barcelona have on target in injury time. Three weeks today I’ll be doing this again to watch the final - hopefully a Manchester United win. Fingers crossed.
Day 313: Thursday 7th May - Walking trail 10
After getting up in the middle of the night for two consecutive nights, I am determined to have a lie in this morning. Also, a lazy day is on the cards. By a lazy day, I mean by Cameron Highland standards. The area is geared up for walking, but today my intention is to do one of the shorter trails. Approaching midday I walk down to Tanah Rata, a cute town and centre of Cameron Highlands
tourist industry. I follow the main road up to Brinchang, the other major town in the highlands. I walk 3 of the 5 kilometres uphill to Brinchang passing many colonial buildings on the way and also the golf course. Opposite the golf course I turn off the main road a walk through the Orang Asli village, which is where the indigenous people live. I’m struggling to locate the walking trail but thankfully many of the friendly villagers are on hand to point the way. The trail leaves the village and cuts through the forest. It’s uphill until I reach Gunung Jasar, where the trail peaks and offers a view down to Tanah Rata. From here, it’s an hour’s walk downhill through the forest until I reach Tanah Rata again. The trail was okay, but I’ve had my fill of walking through forest’s and jungle’s I’m afraid. Three hours after I left Tanah Rata I’m back in the charming town again.
I wanted to finish the day’s walk off with afternoon tea and scones at Bala’s restaurant which is a upmarket colonial hotel but it’s a mile walk uphill out of Tanah Rata and I can’t be bothered. That will
have to wait for another day. My evening is spent lazily watching the movie that is on and tucking into some food from the hostel’s restaurant. That suits me fine, I can’t be bothered to walk into town, even though it is only 5 minutes away!
Day 314: Friday 8th May - Walking to Boh’s tea estate
After baked beans and toast - that’s a proper breakfast, other hostels take note! - I set off for my day’s walk. Today I’m going to follow trail 9 and then walk on to Boh’s Tea Estate. I choose to take trail 9A down from Tanah Rata to the junction for the tea estate. It takes an hour to reach this point, the trail passes Robinson waterfall and is a nicer walk through the forest than yesterday’s trail. Near the junction, which is surrounded by vegetable farms, an Indian man offers me a ride (which I will have to pay for) to the Tea estate. I get the impression he must do this every day, but I decline his offer and walk instead. He tells me it is another 7 kilometres uphill and that it will take an hour and 20
minutes to reach the tea estate. The road is flanked by fantastic scenery, and many vegetable farms line the road to the tea estate. The walk is more like 5 kilometres and it takes me only an hour to get to Boh’s. The last two kilometres, the vegetable farms give way to the tea plantation but the quality of the scenery higher in the valley is just as good as lower down.
As a reward for reaching the tea plantation I have some chocolate cake and some passion fruit flavoured tea. After two and a half hours exercise that is a fair return. I watch a video on tea and then get a tour of the factory. The tour lasts five minutes at the most and is disappointing. The video is better, and through watching this I learn how tea is processed and manufactured, the history of Boh’s, how to make a perfect cuppa, and the different varieties of tea. As a reward for my 5 minute tour and sitting on my backside for 20 minutes watching the video I have a strawberry pie and a mango flavoured tea……a fair return! The cake and the pie weren’t a patch
on yours Mum, looking forward to them on my return…..x.
Boh’s was established in the Cameron Highlands in 1929. The area was chosen to start growing tea because of its abundant rainfall, long hours of sunshine, altitude over 5000 feet and well drained acidic soils, which encourage tea flavours, and make the area ideal for tea cultivation. At Boh’s black tea or English tea is grown, which I learnt is one of three types of tea. The others are green tea and black dragon tea, which are popular in China and Japan. Tea leaves are picked every 15 days from the plants and taken to the factory for processing. The first stage is withering, where the leaves are dried to reduce the moisture content in them. This helps to stimulate natural chemical reactions in the tea leaves. The leaves are then rolled using machinery which expose the juices for fermentation. During the fermentation stage the broken leaf is spread on to conveyor belts for 2-3 hours to expose the enzymes to oxidation. The leaves change from green to brown colour, and the flavour and aroma develops. The next stage is the drying stage. The moisture in the leaves is
reduced to 3% to halt the fermentation process and the leaves turn crisp and black. The leaves are then sorted to extract stalks and fibres and according to particle size. The final stages are the tasting and then the packing. It’s a good job I had a video to tell me this, otherwise I would be none the wiser after visiting the factory.
Following my tea education, and of course not forgetting my cuppa and pie, I walk back down the valley, passing the tea plantations and the vegetable farms and then walk up the steep trail 9 and back in to Tanah Rata. I must have walked around 20km today, but the climate is ideal for walking. Sunny, but not too hot and there isn’t the humidity of the lowlands either. Having not eaten a proper lunch, I eat early. The Cameron Highlands have a large Indian community so I decide to go Indian. The strawberry pie may have been disappointing earlier but the strawberry roti I have is delicious…..roti rules!! I then return to the hostel and settle in the comfy sofas to watch the evening film.
Day 315: Saturday 9th May - Taking afternoon tea
after a long walk
I’ve been building up the distance of the walks up day by day, Thursday was around 10km, yesterday 20km and today I’ve a 25km hike planned. I start from Tanah Rata, taking trail 4 to the golf course just south of Brinchang. A French girl is walking in the same direction as me at the same time, so we walk together until we get to Brinchang. The trail is easy and takes only half an hour to reach the golf course. We continue to Brinchang and visit the Hindu temple and Sam Poh temple, which is a Buddhist temple. There are religious festivals happening at both temples, so both are full of life. Me and Delphine part company and I continue into the centre of Brinchang, one of the three main towns in the Cameron Highlands. There is a parade for the Hindu festival passing through the town centre as I walk though. It is intriguing to watch as three men carry floats above their heads. Each ‘float’ is colourfully decorated and is surrounded by worshippers and men playing drums. The men carrying the floats have hooks from the float attached to the flesh of
their backs. It looks painful, and those carrying the floats seem to be having a tough time. I’m not sure of its (the hooks) religious significance, but I guess it has some?
After watching the parade go by, I continue through Brinchang and pick up trail 1 which leads to the top of Gunung Brinchang, which is 2000 metres high. The trail is steep and through a forest, and I’m not so sure my choice of footwear (sandals) is wholly appropriate, but it’s too late to worry about it now as I climb the muddy trail. It takes an hour to cover the 3.5km trail. The view from the top of the mountain is somewhat disappointing for the effort. There is a power station at the top of the mountain and a pylon is obstructing the view. I walk down the road - which is Malaysia’s highest - towards the Sungai Palas tea plantation, which is 6 kilometres away. I choose not to go in and look around the plantation having been to Boh’s yesterday. Eventually I come out on the main road and I continue down it to Brinchang. I stop at a few strawberry farms to enquire
about picking some, but in both instances the minimum amount they will let you pick is half a kilo , which costs 20RM (£4). Instead, when I reach Brinchang I stop at the market and pick up a punnet for 4RM (80 pence). That can be my dessert after dinner tonight!
I leave Brinchang and walk back to Tanah Rata, 5 kilometres away. I’m tiring quickly now, but at the start of the walk I promised myself a stop at Bala’s Hotel and restaurant for afternoon tea. After walking for over 6 hours, I deserve the extravagance of treating myself. I wonder if I’m suitably attired as this historic location is a bit posh. After walking through the forest I’m caked in mud and I stink of sweat after 6 hours walking. Nevertheless, they allow me into the garden to take afternoon tea. It’s relatively expensive at 22RM (£4) for a pot of tea and two scones, and terribly British but that’s what I love about it. The Cameron Highlands are in a suspended state of British colonial calm. That, and its welcoming climate and the opportunities to walk in the relaxed and beautiful surroundings makes this one of
the best places I’ve visited in Malaysia. I will be sorry to leave this place but equally I am looking forward to some beach action. Over the course of the last month I’ve done a fair bit of walking and probably got myself into the best shape for a while........nothing that a week or so lounging on a beach and drinking beer won’t sort out!
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Sophie
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Enjoy the remaining of your trip in Malaysia
Hi Andrew, I have read your travel blog with interest, in particular about Malaysia as this is my home country. I come from Ipoh. I am not sure whether you would be stopping by for some pomelo or white coffee. In any case, I hope you enjoy the remaining days in Malaysia.