Malaysia III, Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands

by Sarah

It took us an entire day to get to the Cameron Highlands. Malaysia is not a very big country but unless you have your own car to drive, expect to loose a day when switching locations. Traveling from one spot to another became a real drag. To get to Cameron Highlands, we had to go back to KL then to Tapah, a blip on the map, to catch a local bus that would carry us up this windy windy road through highland forests to our hostel, Father's Guest house. Whew! We had 2 hours to kill in Tapa before the bus took off. Let me tell you, the town was sketchy! It was super hot, dirty and smelly. After we ate a yucky lunch at a local restaurant where I was served soured tofu and rice- no sauce or anything, we had nothing to do to pass the time. We ended up sitting at the bus stop on dirty wooden benches, inhaling bus fumes and avoiding the stares of some bucked tooth local boys who practiced spitting and chewing food with their mouths open. The local bus could have been a real crappy ride. It had no AC and steal seats with worn out and ripped pleather covering. But as we started to get out of Tapah and could get some breeze, it turned out to be a very nice ride with breathtaking views of the highlands. However, by the time we arrived at 7pm we were crossing our fingers that Father's would still have our room reservation! Luckily they did.
We took all of our stuff into our room and were completely underwhelmed. Not what we wanted to find after our long trip. The room just looked kind of dirty and the bathroom was this tiny strangely partitioned cubicle that looked old and in need of a DEEP cleaning. I was reminding myself that it was just a place to lay my head and sleep when I noticed in a corner right next to our bed, this huge spider with these long wiry legs.
It sat there, almost touching our bed and crouching in this menacing way. I almost let Loren kill it, I'd had enough. But, it's totally against my principles so I took a deep breath, found a piece of paper and gently guided it out the door. It danced and hopped a little as it went. It was such a strange gait for the the terrifying black spider that I lost my disdain and felt a little affection for that creepy crawly guy- not enough to let him stay in the room though.
After that incident, things didn't seem so bad anymore. We walked out into the setting sun and took in our surrounding. Beautiful! Fathers Guest House turned out the be a great place to stay and we'd go back again. They had a kitchen on the premises that made some excellent vegetarian food and had 1 litre Tiger Beers available whenever you wanted them as well as a great lounge with flat screen TV's that were showing this great Australian movie on the Aborigines. We ordered some yummy dinner and a couple beers. Eating warm coconut curry, drinking Tiger Beers and watching a movie was exactly what we needed after our long day of travel and rough acquaintance with the guest house.
The next day we decided to stay close to the Hostel and check out the town. We had a lazy morning, ordering breakfast right at the place and then catching up on world events by watching BBC news in the lounge. We finally headed out around lunch time and checked out the local culture. The town was small and a mix of nice restaurants, a Starbucks-(they are everywhere now!), souvenir shops as well as stores more geared for the locals selling groceries etc. There was a little stream flowing through the town and we followed that for a scenic walk. It took us past a school where there were some High School aged kids playing soccer in their PE uniforms and then on to this strange park that had a vegetable theme. (Check out the pics to see what I mean. )


We decided to get some lunch in town and then to check out what puts the Cameron Highlands on the map- the tea plantations! The major tea seller in the area is called Boh and they have guided tours for the scores of tourists who like to visit on a daily basis. We took a taxi up to the plantation and were amazed by how the multitudes of tea bushes carpeted the rolling hills like fuzzy green sheep way into the distance. It was breathtaking.

(housing for the tea workers.)

The factory tour was very educational. Behind a glass partition in the tea processing plant, we were able to view the whole process from raw green leaves to the fermented and dried black tea that the Boh company is famous for. The smell of freshly cut green leaves was overwhelming in the entry way of the factory. As we walked towards the fermenting and drying room the smell changed to a very noticeable black tea aroma. The tour was surly one that entertained all of our senses.
Back at the Guesthouse, we perused through some of the tour pamphlets Father's provided. We decided we'd check out all the Highlands had to offer and get back into tourist mode in earnest. The following morning we set out on our tour. It was going to be a full half day of tea plantations, butterfly gardens, bee farms, Buddhist temples and strawberry farms!
First on the agenda was a trip to a beautiful flower garden. The garden proved to a picturesque place.


We saw many different plants and flowers. We had the most fun taking pictures in front of the silly statues that were plopped down in the middle of some well manicured rose bushes.
After the gardens we were trucked off to the Boh Tea Plantation! Oops! We were kind of disappointed but decided it wouldn't be so bad to take in the scenery and order a nice cup of tea while the other tourists enjoyed the experience for the first time.
Next on the list was the butterfly farm and we were ready to go! We all hoped into the tiny minivan and got back on the windy, one lane road that curled around the hills. On the way up there were a couple close calls when the driver barreled around some blind hair pin turns with nothing but a honk to clear his way. The road was truly one of the skinniest roads I've been on but it accommodated the few tour vans on the way up easily.
The way down was a completely different story. Apparently we chose to take our tour of the Highlands on a national holiday and every Malaysian decided that they should also tour their beloved Boh tea factory too. We were stuck on the little windy road for over an hour. We could have been there for hours more if it weren't for the heroics of a local bus driver who got out and directed the traffic from both directions to inch up here, hug the mountain there, edge out closer to the edge here. Our tour guide breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him and sung his praises to us tourists until we began to rever him too. Apparently, he is known to be an expert at clearing the frequent jams on the mountain. When our van began to move, our driver reached his hand out for a heartfelt shake from the Traffic Director and we all clapped and cheered with little tears of thanks and love budding in our eyes. (Ok, we all cheered, I was the only emotional one between me and Loren. He's a manly guy!)
The traffic jam cut into our tour time and we were a bit upset that our quick revisit to the tea plantation turned out to take up about half of our tour time. I could't wait to see the butterflies!
The farm turned out to be better than I could have imagined. Not only was there a room full of huge ethereal butterflies floating around, there were rows and rows of caged weird insects and reptiles from the highland forests. There was a man behind the cages who would take the "safe" critters out of the cages and allow tourists to hold and pet them. I was estatic! I got to hold a horn nosed beetle, a terribly cute lizard, a walking stick and a huge scorpion. The animal handler noticed Loren looking hesitantly at the scorpion and plopped the thing on his arm. The scorpion was close to falling off and lifted it's poisioness stinger up and in strike position in order to stabelize itself. That may have been what the handler said it was doing, but Loren wanted that thing off his arm and QUICK! He was bummed later that I didn't get a chance to take a picture though.
The bee farm and strawberry farms were nice to see, but nothing special. We had a nice strawberry juice and later a honey water and then moved on to our last stop- the Buddhist temple.
The temple was beautiful and picturesque with many gold painted statues of religious signifigance. We were only given 15 minutes to explore so we rushed around trying to take in everything. I think we may have been a little late coming back but the experience was worth it.

By the end of the tour, our senses were overwhelmed. We were ready for some cold beers and a nice dinner in our comfy lounge and possibly another movie. It was our last night before we ventured into the deep primordial jungles of Taman Negara.