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Published: March 17th 2008
Day 10-March 15th: It rained through the night and was nice and cool and pleasant for sleeping. I got up early (8 AM) for my half-day tour of the area. We started at 8:45 AM and me and a Dutch couple were taken to a butterfly farm. This is code for butterfly zoo. The butterflies are caught in the hillside and brought in by a guy who unloads them from a box and releases them into the canopy-covered flower garden. Ugh! But I have to say, the butterflies were quite beautiful! There was also a flower garden, separate from the butterfly farm. And there was an insect/creature exhibit area too. More critters caught in the wild and put into small cages. Again, they were cool - and some quite creepy! - but it was a bit too zoo-like in there!
Next stop was the top of Gunung Brinchang, the tallest peak in Cameron Highlands at 6,666 feet. It was misty and cool and windy at the top, and there was limited visibility. The sun was trying hard to peak out. Once we got down the hill there was some sun, and more as the day wore on. We stopped part of the way down to walk through the mossy forest area. It was very spongy and damp and muddy and green walking through there!
Next up was a tour of Boh Tea Plantation and Factory. We had seen the rolling fields of the tea plantations all around us all day, up the mountain roads and back. The factory tour took about 5-10 minutes, it's more of a chance for Boh to get you to try their tea and buy some to take with you. I did try the tea - it's black tea, pretty good - and bought some for a souvenir. Finally, our last stop for the tour was a strawberry farm. We have lots of strawberries in the US so it wasn't very interesting. But I did treat myself to a yummy strawberry milkshake!
I joined the Dutch couple for lunch, we went to the Indian restaurant in Tanah Rata that our guide recommended to us. More delicious curry, I could eat it every day! They were off to finish their tour - they paid for a full day. I decided to go for a walk on one of the many trails in the area. I wanted to walk to Robinson Falls, which was about 2 hours round-trip. The weather was holding out and the sky looked favorable so off I went.
As I was heading towards the start of the trail, I met a nice, older, local man named Kali along the road. He has been a tour guide around Cameron Highlands for 10 years, and was just out for an afternoon stroll himself. I don't think my walk would have been nearly as pleasant or interesting had I not met Kali. I was careful at first to be cautious/wary of this strange man. I am quite guarded when travelling on my own, and don't trust anyone further than I can throw them. After talking with Kali for a little while before we hit the start of the path, my gut instinct was that he could be trusted. He said everyone in town knew him and the way he chatted with everyone we came across on our way, I believe it!
Well, I have to say that this man was a most legendary chief! He told me about the other tourists, mostly Europeans, that he has given tours to. He led me to paths 9 and 9A, the way to Robinson Waterfall and back. He fashioned himself a walking stick shortly after we started walking simply by cutting a branch from a bamboo tree that was near the path. He led me to the Robinson Waterfall and also another waterfall just downstream. The path was steep in parts and he took my hand when I needed a lift up or down. The path was a bit slippery/mossy/wet from all the recent rains, but he made sure I was okay the whole way.
He pointed out many, many things along the way that I would have missed entirely had I been walking on my own, and was helpful in many ways as we walked. When I was stung by what I thought was a plant, and quickly developed a red raised rash, he said in fact it looked like I had brushed against a certain caterpillar whose defense mechanism is to shoot this stuff at you. It felt like I had brushed against burning nettle. I put on some cream I had with me, but he pulled out some tiger balm oil and put it on my rash. By the end of our walk 2 hours later, the sting had gone away and there was just some redness on my arm. The swelling had gone way down. I don't know if it was more from my cream or his tiger balm or a combination of the two, but I'm glad he was there to help! I gotta buy some of that tiger balm, the Chinese and other Asians are crazy about it, and now I can understand why!
He showed me a poinsetta tree - yes, in the tropics this traditional Christmas plant is a TREE. He pulled out a machete (!) at one point and hacked away at a dead log to show me a beetle larva living in the log. He pointed out wild ginger growing, first it's a beautiful red-orange blossom, then it becomes the plant whose roots people use for cooking and herbal medicine. He rubbed a leaf in my hand which made a red stain. He had his hand marked too from a previous walk in the woods. This is a Hindu ritual, similar to mendi (henna), but this is symbolic of engagement or marriage, and both men and women do it when they find this leaf. It lasted on my hand til the next day. I'll keep you posted on my impending nuptials - hah!
He showed me some wild bananas which are smaller than regular bananas and have a sticky juice in them. He said nobody eats them, not people and not animals. They just grow and fall and decay. He fashioned me a fern crown at one point (and had me pose with his machete for a "jungle photo"). He cut some rattan and peeled away the bark and proceeded to weave for me 2 rattan bracelets and a rattan crown to wear. I think he gave me his regular tour that he gives to tourists but for free! When the clouds were gathering and it started to sprinkle, he led me through a vegetable farm on the hill, which was a shortcut back to the other path to get back to where we started. He chatted with the farmers tending the hillside crop.
Like I said, he was a most legendary chief! He was very cool and helpful, very fatherly. I'm not a religious person, but there was some spirituality happening in our chance meeting. I felt a little like he was a guardian angel watching over me on my jungle journey. I hope to meet more folks like him on my solo sojourn!
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mom
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Tour Guide
WOW! What a wonderful happening. This will definitely have to be a special highlight of your travels. Would that everyone that you meet is so wonderful.