So glad Santa flies, not drives in Malaysia!!

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After a pleasant and enjoyable stay in Kuala Lumpur, and after carefully avoiding the hordes of street sellers selling everything from massages, to knock off trainers, and wallets, we handed in our room key and dropped our bags in the back of our minivan for our long day of travelling to the Cameron Highlands towards the east of the country. We began to love the minivan experience. Each day you would alter your position in the van so that everyone would get a chance to have the best seats. It was something none of the group ever spoke of, but something I feel we all appreciated. Sadly Gavin, travelling on his own in the group, was left in the worst seats, finding himself adorned with various items of baggage. He’d wear backpacks as if they were earrings they were so close to his head!!

We stopped at the Kings Palace on the way out of the city. Well we stopped at the gates should I say, to take some photos. The sentries sit on horseback, and both sit/stand so still that they look like little lead soldiers. I look on as families stand either side of the sentry and get their photo taken. Not going to be a typical tourist, I think to myself. Sadly, the temptation overcomes me and soon I end up being the victim of two photos next to the sentry. It is that usual justification of “well, I won’t be here again for a while”. The palace or residence of the King is rotated around between the Sultans of the provinces in Malaysia. Though the post of King in Malaysia is essentially a ceremonial one, it does carry some perks as can be seen from the grandeur of the main entrance. I admired the fact that there is no fighting over who gets to be king, as each Sultan gets a few years in the position. It is a noble agreement.

We scoot back into the minivan and drive for another hour or so, and surrounded by bricks and mortar of the suburbs of KL, we turn off toward the Hindu temple of the Batu Caves. The intensity and feverishness of the place hits you as you descend from the minivan. It is essentially a zoo, temple, shopping centre, gym, and wonder of nature all rolled into one incredible location. It is not long before you realise just how majestic and special this place is. On this day, there seems to be a festival or feast day of some sort, and worshippers are decked out in fine, colourful clothes, and are all heading towards the giant Gold coloured statue of a deity marking the entrance to the gym, temple, wonder of nature, zoo!! This really was my first feeling of being in another country, the cultural differences experienced here, lit my senses, and I found my eyes, gazing, staring, darting in every direction, as my mouth lay open, and words failed to evaporate off my tongue. My ears were full of the alluring and frenetic music being played and sung by musicians beside us.

With great excitement we started the walk up the stairs. Each step is quite steep, but we had plenty to entertain us as we walked. On the way up Macaque Monkeys grab your attention, as well as grab any plastic bag, or open backpack you may have. They steal from worshippers, and will cheekily take something from your hand if you don’t grasp it tightly. Young Macaques can be seen clinging to the underside of their parents. The agility and mischievousness of these animals seems to know no bounds.

Upon reaching the top, we enter vast natural cathedrals, with massive rock walls, and hanging stalactites, hanging like chandeliers, from the ceiling. We walk through huge open caves, and eventually arrive at a perfect chamber circular in shape, sunlight drifting in from above and lighting the centre of the cavern. We look up and the forest is looking back down at us from about 40 metres above us. Incense burns and lights our senses shrines are busy guiding worshippers, and carrying out Hindu rituals.

It is an awe inspiring place, and we all turn to each other as we get back to the van and say “Now, this is what we came to Asia for”.

Driving on up the motorway, we realise just how far from Christmas day we are. We were far removed from Christmas trees, turkey dinners, family, and excessive drinking, it is Malaysia after all!! We have our Christmas dinner at a roadhouse off the main motorway. It consists of a chocolate bar, crisps and a coke!! I know not very cultured or Christmassy, but sorry, can’t help it!! The coke can was a very Christmassy red if that’s any consolation. But then again, didn’t Santa wear green before Coke made him wear red in their adverts? I’m confused!!

Further on, we turned off the main motorway, and started to wind up through thicker and thicker jungle, on bendier and windier roads, winding and winding, bending and bending. Eventually we were convinced we were going to die. We overtook cars on the outside on blind corners, with only jungle below and to the right of us. Each overtaking manoeuvre instinctively woke the group up. Collectively breaths would be held; collectively we would sigh, relieved, and start casting nervous and knowing glances at each other. Collectively we’d cover our eyes in anticipation of the next Formula 1’esque manoeuvre. Gladly for us the driver didn’t seem at all worried or frightened, even at the sight of a big dumper truck moving extremely fast in our direction. A little smile would be glanced in to the rear view mirror to indicate, that he was having fun. We stopped for photos again at an Aboriginal settlement some way up the mountains. The houses sat on stilts, and hens huddled protectively over their young, as young children ran after dogs, and anything that moved. It looked very peaceful to me, but sadly the Aboriginals in Malaysia are struggling. They want to live away from the main settlements, and struggle with fighting the illnesses that foreigners have brought to them. Vendors line the road with their offerings of fruits, vegetables, and liquid concoctions as we travel onward.

Eventually we arrived at the Heritage Hotel in Tanah Rata, the second town of the Cameron Highlands. Expecting it to be a tiny village nestled in amongst crowded jungle, I was deeply disappointed. It is a sprawling town, with not very much to offer. We went on a “guided rainforest walk”, but found that essentially it was a walk along a maintained path, along a rainforest to the left, but with sight of the road, and buildings on the right. I’ve had more of a rainforest experience in Stephens Green in Dublin. You can hear traffic and the noise of people going about their business, as you try to imagine what It really must be like in a true jungle!! I suppose you need more time to get to more remote parts of the Cameron Highlands to fully experience what it has to offer, this is not really in the scope of our tour. It really is only to provide a taste of what is out there. So we must be patient and understand this limitation.

Next day we were up early to continue our travels toward Penang on the west coast, our last stop in Malaysia. We had 2 stops along the way. The first was at a Butterfly Farm. The Butterfly Farm wasn’t properly named in my opinion as apart from some massive butterflies, I soon found myself covered in Huge Rhinoceros Beetles, Long skinny Stick Insects, Massive Leaf Insects, a selection of Grass Hoppers, and of course the odd Scorpion. Yes, a scorpion. The rather eccentric tour guide for the Butterfly Farm, used me as his blank canvas, and would just place these insects on me at will. As he pretty much threw the scorpion on to the front of my tee shirt, he exclaimed “No Bite, no bite”. I’m not sure I believed him, but didn’t really have a choice with a six inch scary looking insect staring at me from my chest!!

After our nerves were rattled to the bone, we needed something to relax us, and just on time we arrived at the BOH (Best of Highlands) Tea Plantation, for some tea tasting. Of course we complemented our tea with a nice big slice of cake. A very colonial experience I must say!! The plantation itself, is made up of a museum, factory, and a shop all surrounded by hills full of tea plants, some being cultivated. The museum is interesting enough. It is nice to learn how your tea arrives in your cup, and also to learn about the early settlers from Europe in this part of the world. It wasn’t long before we were zooming along on the motorway dodging cars, trucks and motorbikes in the kind of reckless fashion that you employ in games such as Grand Theft Auto! I almost thought we were being awarded bonus points for the more difficult overtaking manoeuvres. Penang here we come…. We hope!

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Photos

Sultans Palace Guard
Guess who moved first, yep me!

Entrance to Batu Caves
What an entrance, the statue is there to distract you from the 272 steps behind!!!

Monkey Business
You can't turn your back on these cheeky little monkeys!!!

Hindu Deitys
Beautifully ornate statues, marking the bottom of the steps up to the Batu Caves

Aboriginal Settlement
En route to Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands. Small village settlement

Typical House in Cameron Highlands!!!
A colonial house, looking very much the norm, yet very much out of place in the centre of Malaysia

Stick Insect
One of the many creatures, that ended up stuck to me!!

Tea Plantation
Apparently this plantation is helping the rainforest that surrounds it. Pity it had to be cleared in the first place. But i do love my tea!!