Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Cameron Highlands

A very comfy (shock!) bus trip, if the road was not a little windy, got me to the Tanah Rata, the main town of the Cameron Highlands around lunch time. A poor display of map-reading/poor map lead to me lugging my pack around town for a bit before finding the hostel I was looking for, perched on a small hill. After a nice Indian lunch in town it was past three and since I was well knackered after a few late nighs+early mornings, and the weather looked ominous, I decided not to bother with a trek on one of the numerous paths around the area at that time, instead buying some postcards and bits and bobs and retiring to the hostel.

In the hostel I had a few cups of Cameron Highland tea (for that is what they mostly grow there) and watched the expected downpour materialise, and what a downpour it was, lasting for hours - though I think the next evening's eclipsed it! The hostel showed dvd's in the evening so I took the opportunity to watch a few recent movies, as it'd been a while: No Country for Old Men, Juno, and I gave half my attention to Charlie Wilson's War. I read a bit and had an early night, having booked on a half day trip the next day.

The trip first took us up the highest peak in the area, with stops to take in the view of the plantations on the way up. Although it was overcast, the viewpoint at the top was not shrouded in cloud, which we were told was our good luck. Then on the way down the hill we stopped and headed into the forest on the so called "mossy forest walk" and a mossy forest it was too. Also a muddy forest as one girl who decided to wear white shoes, and another who nearly lost hers in the mud discovered. While it took in a few good viewpoints, the main point of this walk was that we had a good guide who explained properties of many of the plants. I found this really worthwhile.

Next up we visited a tea plantation and the factory where they process the leaves (it all just smells mainly of privet). This belonged to the biggest firm in the area, still owned by the original Scottish family that founded it (called Archibald if I remember correctly). Then there was an obligatory trip to the cafeteria overlooking the plantations for a very nice pot of top quality tea. Here endeth the trip, but those only doing half a day were dropped off so that they could visit the butterfly gardens and Strawberry farm.

So off to the butterfly garden I went, with Louise from London, who was also on the trip. It was full of an amazing number of exceptionally docile Rajah Brooke Butterflies (among others). They are pretty distinctive and I'll have a photo soon, Rajah Brooke was the Brit who managed to inveigle himself to be Rajah of Sarawak before giving it to the crown when he ran out of money. They would happily sit on a person when put there. The gardens also had collections of other huge and gruesome insects and reptiles which you could be photographed with.

The Strawberry farm wasn't really much to see, but I took the opportunity to have tea and scones (and Strawberry Jam), a Cameron Highlands must do, while sitting out another downpour under cover. We walked to the nearest town before getting a taxi back. Then spent a pleasant evening watching the movie then having a few beer Chiangs in the Hostel. Compared to the glam people and hostel in Singapore, this was more like a hostel in rural Scotland, with people reading and playing board games while the rain poured down outside!

I actually got up at 3am to watch Man U Barcelona as some other guys were doing so in the hostel. Back to bed at 5am for less than two hours before I had to head for my bus to Penang.


Photos:
Tea plantations.

A Rajah Brooke Butterfly!


Tea and scones!

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