The Highlands are approximately 1500 metres above sea level and so we began the long and windy ascent to Tanah Rata, our base for 2 nights. Driving up the mountain was an experience: firstly our lovely Proton struggled at the first sign of anything uphill, while Malay drivers struggled at driving full stop! Cutting corners and overtaking in blind spots were too common an occurrence. Still we made it safely to the top, where we were greeted by refreshing northern European temperatures of 15-25 degrees - a welcome change from the 35-plus humid conditions on Penang.
The Cameron Highlands were established by the British Colonial Administration as a weekend retreat. This is very obvious in the building style which resembles traditional English Tudor cottages and the availability of English food such as pub lunches and roast dinners! Now the Highlands are more popular with the Malay - especially as it is only 200km from Kuala Lumpur - which has led to a building frenzy resulting in some awful brightly coloured apartment buildings. Fortunately there is plenty of green left, mainly jungle, vegetable gardens and vast areas of tea plantations. Our time in the Highlands was mainly spent exploring these.
The jungle was the first on our list. We set off early in the morning to climb two of the nearby peaks, which rise to an altitude of 1800 metres. The climb was long and steep but the resulting views were fantastic - we even saw an eagle circling below us. The way down led us through a traditional village of Orang Asli (Malay for 'wild people').
After a quick roti for lunch (yum yum yum) we set out to have a look at a tea plantation. We weren't the only ones and we experienced our first Malay traffic jam - albeit surrounded by beautiful scenery and people handpicking tea - better than the M1 or A2! On our way back - after sampling a cup of tea (we declined the soggy looking English sandwiches) - we stopped off at a butterfly farm (surprisingly the main attractions turned out to be some spiders and other horrible looking big creepy crawlies - all of which were native but luckily for Nicola behind glass), a honey farm and some fruit and vegetable stalls, where we bought some delicious strawberries for which the Highlands are known. To top off the day in more than one sense, we drove up to the highest paved peak in Malaysia. No need to say that our poor Proton was pushed to its limits trying to deal with the steep inclines and deep potholes. We were rewarded with a peak that was partly covered by mobile phone masts and a view that was significantly obscured by cloud! Slightly disappointed we made our way back (a lot easier down than up) to settle for a heart warming traditional Chinese meal - a Steam Boat. Basically a soup based fondue with meat, fish and vegetables.
Worn out after our busy day we went back to our hotel only to be greeted by the biggest moth we had ever seen, which wasn't too happy about being in an enclosed hallway. It wouldn't have been out of place in the butterfly farm with its 15cm wing span. No need to say it was up to JP to secure the route back to the room! Once this hurdle had been overcome we settled in for the night in preparation for an early start to Kuala Lumpur....
No comments:
Post a Comment