Cameron Highlands
Geraint was keen for a taste of the Malaysian jungle so we decided to head for the former British hill station of Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. As our visit to Tanah Rata was during a Malaysian national holiday rooms were hard to come by. After numerous unfruitful telephone calls we were eventually successful in securing beds at Father’s Guest House. We delayed our visit by 24 hours after learning that the only available beds were in the dormitory described by the Lonely Planet as having a ‘summer camp commeradery.’ Arriving the next night meant that we would escape the dorm in favour of our own rooms. I must admit to being slightly disappointed by this. It would have been highly entertaining to watch Matthew and Geraint having to deal with dorm life. Our room, as well as the dorm, was housed in an authentic Nissen hut.
The next 48 hours were basically spent walking, eating and sleeping. Our first walk was to the BOH tea estate. The thought of afternoon tea at the plantation’s tearooms kept us going through the never-ending uphill climb in the rain. The tearooms were, however, a bitter disappointment. With scones freshened up in the microwave and sachets of strawberry jam imported from Australia (particularly after passing so many signs for ‘home made jam’ on our walk) we felt that the staff would benefit from a sabbatical at Bettys Tea Rooms. By the time we walked back to the main road we had missed the last bus which was to take us the final eight kilometres to Tanah Rata. With darkness fast approaching we didn’t really fancy walking the busy windy road back. Fortunately, after 10 minutes of fretful walking, we were picked up by a friendly local and safely driven back to town where we enjoyed a celebratory beer or two.
The next day we undertook a more challenging jungle walk. Although tough the trek was rewarding as we managed to catch a glimpse of some monkeys swinging through the treetops.
