Five days in Kuala Lumpur flew by and what a great introduction to Malaysia it was! I'd had the chance to try some of the famous food, sample the night life, see the sights and met some great people.
The next Stop in Malaysia was the famous tea land, known as the Cameron Highlands. North east of Kuala Lumpur and at an altitude of 1000-1600 metres, the Cameron Highlands is a popular place to visit the famous tea plantations, strawberry farms and to do some walking.
Faye and I took one of the regular buses that leave from the TBS bus terminal in Kuala Lumpur to Tanah Rata, the main town in the centre of the highlands. The bus took about four hours, the last two of which were very windy roads. When we had initially boarded the coach in Kuala Lumpur we wondered why there were lots of little plastic bags tucked into the front of each seat. An hour into the winding roads we quickly realised as the three men behind us took it in turns to very casually vomit into these little bags, hanging said bag on the back of the chair until the next succession of bends in the road caused them to reach for it again. Gross. Apparently this is a common occurrence on SE Asian bus journeys! I guess we are more seasoned to bumpy bus journeys or have stronger stomachs. When we pulled into Tanah Ratah we quickly dismounted the bus. We hadn't booked any accommodation but with numerous guest houses all in the main little complex in town it was very easy to find a cheap guesthouse in TJ's. Mas, the girl at reception was really friendly and showed us all the different hiking routes we could do ourselves. It didn't long for us to find a 'food court' type set up of little eateries where I had some local food of Nami (fried rice) and paprika chicken before the torrential rain came and didn't stop all evening.
The next morning, thankfully the rain had stopped. We got up early and opted to not take a standard bus tour that brings you to the tea plantations, strawberry and butterfly farms. Instead we hitched (after Mas advised us it was safe to do so) to Brinchang, the next town about 8km from Tanah Ratah, from here we started a trail (which turned out to be a road) up to mossy forest! It was a nice uphill walk all the same, passing tea plantations, strawberry and vegetable farms as well as the local tea farmers small blue cabins where they lived. It took us about two hours up. Unfortunately as we made it to the top so did all the tourist vans who were also entering the mossy forest. The mossy forest was essentially, well, a very mossy forest. It grows in high elevations, such as in the Cameron highlands, the clouds are at low levels bringing lots of rain and shade to the forest. We walked the 2km boardwalk through the forest getting glimpses of the view through the trees. After the forest we walked (and then accepted a lift from a lovely couple who stopped and offered us one) down to Sungei Palas 'boh' tea factory. It was full of tourists but the rolling tea plantations and tea pickers village we walked through to get there was beautiful. We got back to Tanah Rata for a lunch of local dish; chicken rice ball in local restaurant which didn't exactly live up to its reputation.
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| Boh Tea plantation |
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| Local Indian food |
Later that night however we went for a 'snack' at a small Indian stall just around the corner from the guesthouse. I had chapatti and two small scoops of curry for 1.50R which was delish! The Indian lady there and her family were really friendly and we chatted to some other travellers and the family there.
The next day we hitched back to Brinchang (expert hitchers by this stage). An Indian man who owned a ranch nearby and a Pakistani vet picked us up, before we had even sat down in the truck the Indian man was asking us if we wanted to ride his horse! We politely declined and instead he dropped us off at Big red strawberry farm. When we got into the farm, Faye was very disappointed that her wish of picking strawberries couldn't be fulfilled as it wasn't 'strawberry season'.
On the way back we hitched (again) to Tanah Rata. Two cars stopped for us with an extended Indian family occupying them. They seemed very friendly so I jumped in the back of one with two elderly Indian women and Faye got in the other car. The Indian women, who did not speak a word of English were very interested in me. One the women's daughters was in the front seat with her husband who was driving. The daughter translated for the Indian women, they asked my why I was travelling and where I was from. The inevitable question then came up of how old I was and was I married! Shock horror when I told them I was 27 but not married...'but why'? One of them asked. I joked saying I didn't want that stress. She the offered me up a Malaysian man to marry, she said I was too blonde and slim not to be married. I'll take that one as a compliment I guess. We had a good laugh and when they dropped us off we got a group picture with them. You don't meet people like that on the bus at home anyway.
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| Some of our lovely hitch-hiking family |
Next Stop: Penang, Malaysia
Stayed: TJ's guesthouse, 25RN per night
Food and drink: night market in golden hills, brinchang, try everything. Especially the sweet potatoe balls, strawberries and thin peanut and corn coated pancakes. Really good Indian curry, chicken and rice in a local Indian stall in Tanah Rata. The tea plantations at Boh plantations.
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