CAMERON HIGHLANDS – ANYONE FOR TEA??

STOPPING OFF AT IPOH

Before heading to the Cameron Highlands we decided to break up the journey from Pangkor Island, with a night in the city of Ipoh, as getting there direct was a bit of a nightmare.

We took the boat back from Pangkor Island to the Lumut ferry terminal and walked over to the bus station to buy tickets to Ipoh.

The bus station was quite basic and the window where we needed to buy tickets from was unattended, so we stopped for a bite to eat first.

After lunch, I managed to find someone to buy tickets from and then tried to identify our bus.

There were a lot of top-notch buses at the station, but the one we had to jump on was the most dilapidated one I’ve seen in all of my travels.

I remember thinking I’d be surprised if this thing could even get on the road.

There weren’t many other passengers willing to trust in it, either.

On the road it did get though and, after a couple of uncomfortable hours, we arrived in Ipoh.

After disembarking from the bus, we walked to our hotel – the M Boutique Hotel. This place was incredible, the most beautifully decorated and comfortable place I’ve stayed on my trip. Shame it was only for one night.

It was quite far away from the main sites of Ipoh town though, so we just chilled at the hotel for the night, before heading off to Cameron Highlands the next day.

ARRIVING IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS

After checking out from the hotel in Ipoh, we took a taxi to the bus station, arriving only a couple of minutes before the bus was due to depart. We promptly bought a couple of tickets and hopped on. Fortunately, this bus was far more comfortable than the one we’d got to Ipoh.

The views on the way were amazing, as we meandered up into the hills. A two and a half hour winding ride and we arrived in Cameron Highlands.

Our hotel, was right across from where the bus dropped us. A place called Hotel Golden Wings. Not really a hotel. More like a bunch of tiny apartments, which were pretty basic, but it did the job.

The hotel was based in Brinchang, which was the Northern-most town in the Cameron Highlands. Not having done much research, we didn’t really know the difference, but it turned out the more touristy spot was the town of Tanah Rata a few miles South of here.

Here’s a couple of pics from Brinchang:

STEAMBOATING

On the first night, we went to a local restaurant to try out a steamboat. Holly had found the place on Google and heard good things, so we thought we’d check it out. A place called Cactus View.

It does look a treat.

I was understandably put off, but we went anyway.

The waiters sorted us out with a steamboat, where you get a load of meat, some vegetables, some noodles, some eggs, some broth, some shrimps, some other things I couldn’t determine if they were food or not and no further instruction.

I wasn’t really sure how to go about cooking on this thing, but after a few minutes Holly was all over it.

Worth a try if you’re in town. You can’t really go wrong to be honest. Whack the meat on the top, the broth in the base and everything else in the broth.

Wash it down with a couple of Tigers and all is well with the world.

JUNGLE TREKKING

While we were staying in Brinchang, we booked a day’s trekking through the jungle, to a tea plantation. We booked this through Father’s Guesthouse, which was located at the Southern town on Tanah Rata and got a cab there in the morning for the trek, which was due to leave at 8:30.

We were immediately fond of the guesthouse and of the town, so while we there we enquired about booking a couple of nights there. Fortunately they had space, so we’d be moving over to there the following day, for two nights.

The trek itself was led by a guy named Jason, who was based at the guesthouse under the company name Cameron Secrets. Jason is a very knowledgable guy, who was extremely passionate about the environment and nature and who made the journey a really insightful and enlightening experience. I’d thoroughly recommend booking with him!

The trek itself, set off from Father’s guesthouse, through the town of Tanah Rata initially, before entering the forest.

As the Cameron Highlands is situated over 1,000m above sea-level, it was a lot cooler than the rest of Malaysia that we’d experienced, which made it ideal for trekking.

 

THE CLIMB

The trek itself took us through a climb for a couple of hours through the forest, where we encountered a variety of flora and fauna.

The climb was quite steep and, at times difficult, as we had to clamber over tree roots, jutting out from the soil. A carefully placed step was required.

After a couple of hours, we reached the top of the climb, where there were some great views over the highlands.

 

THE DESCENT

We paused at the top for a quick snack, before starting the two hour decline, towards the tea plantation.

The descent was harder than the climb. It was really cumbersome, navigating a foothold between the tree roots, while negotiating some of the, sometimes dense, forestry.

Towards the end of the descent I did start to get a bit sick of it, to be honest and was dying to reach the end of the jungle.

Looking back, it was ace, but having expected a relatively easy trek, I wasn’t mentally prepared for it. It’s not an easy trek, by any means.

 

EXITING THE JUNGLE

We finally made it out of the jungle and I was happy to see some open space.

There was still a bit of a hike down to the tea plantation, but the views on the way there were awesome.

There was a lot of agriculture on show here and plantations of a variety of vegetables.

 

THE TEA PLANTATION

Soon we arrived at the area of the tea plantation.

First we were greeted to views of a small settlement, within the plantation, where the local villagers that worked on the site lived.

Just around the corner from here, the plantation stretched on for miles in every direction. What a sight!

We walked through the plantation and up a hill towards the tea room where you can sample the local produce, while overlooking the fields.

So many varieties of tea were available here.

Including the most prestigious type of tea, for all you connoisseurs out there. White tea!

I grabbed a pot of ‘Gold’ Cameron Highlands tea, a scone and sat out admiring the view.

Although at some points the jungle trek did get a little frustrating, overall it was a great experience and I’d thoroughly recommend getting in touch with Cameron Secrets to go on one of their hikes.

 

I know what you’re thinking. Is there a video of this experience?

Of course there is! Watch below:

 

CAMERON HIGHLANDS TREK VIDEO

 

ROBINSON FALLS

While we were staying at Father’s Guesthouse, we took the opportunity to visit the nearby site of Robinson Falls.

We walked to the Southeast of Tanah Rata, towards the site of the waterfall and hiked through the jungle for a short way.

After around 20 minutes of hiking we arrived at the top of the falls, pausing to take a few shots.

A further trek downhill, for around ten minutes and we got a view of the base of the falls.

Certainly worth a quick trek to see this wonderful site, if you’re in Tanah Rata.

 

TIME FOR A QUICK SCONE

After leaving Robinson falls, we took a walk back through Tanah Rata town and headed to a place called ‘The Lord’s Scone’, for a good old British scone, with jam and cream and a pot of tea.

When in Rome.

Here’s a few more snaps from around Tanah Rata.

The Cameron Highlands did have a very Twin Peaks feel to the place and this was highlighted by this hotel, which was definitely Twin Peaks inspired.

 

The Cameron Highlands was a beautiful place to visit. An amazing mix of temperate climate, history, culture, friendly locals and nature.

 

LEAVING MALAYSIA

After a couple of weeks in Malaysia it was time to jet off again.

The dice had decided that we should go to the Gili Islands in Indonesia next, so we journeyed back to Kuala Lumpur for a flight to Lombok, after a great four days in the Cameron Highlands.

Read on for Indonesia!