Cameron Highlands

After an extremely scenic bus journey from Penang, we arrived at our destination of Tanah Rata; a small town around which nearly all of the trekking routes and tourist attractions are situated in the Cameron highlands. The Cameron highlands were named after William Cameron, a British surveyor employed by the government on a mapping expedition in 1885, who discovered them.
Having already booked some accommodation, we checked into Kang Travellers Lodge (Daniel’s Lodge), unpacked and set off to explore the town. Tanah Rata is really more village than town, with one main street full of restaurants, supermarkets and souvenir shops. So there is absolutely no chance of starving or leaving without, at the very least, a postcard! Most of the buildings and hotels around the area appear to have gone for a kind of ‘Mock Tudor’ look, complete with wooden beams added with no regard to whether they go or not. The look, along with the cooler temperatures (10-25 degrees C) gives the area a slightly British feel.
After a good meal which included scones with strawberries and cream, we returned to the hostel to have a look around. We found Daniel’s to be one of the friendliest places we have ever stayed; our fellow guests were genuinely friendly and all the staff very helpful and knowledgeable. With the promise of a warming camp fire (it is quite amazing how cold it gets at night) we headed up to the ‘Jungle Bar’ for a drink. After the more impersonal hotel based accommodation of Thailand, it was really good to sit around with some fellow travellers and chat about our various experiences. A few beers down the line and it was time for some sleep.
On our previous travels, we have found a few places where we have felt completely comfortable and at home. Nepal/Kathmandu was one of those places and we would definitely add the Cameron Highlands/Tanah Rata to the list. Rarely have we stayed somewhere that actively encourages you to do so little; we used our time to catch up on journals, blogs, reading and sleep.

Deciding that we really ought to do something with our time, we booked on a half day tour to go and see the Rafflesia (world’s biggest flower). The tour started with a trip to an Aborigine village where we had a blowpipe demonstration from the diminutive chief and then all got to have a go. I am pleased to report that both Debs and I were naturals; provided our intended meal was no more than 10m away and quite large we would be welcome on any hunting party! The tour continued with us being fashioned walking sticks from bamboo (these proved to be surprisingly useful on the slippery sections of the trek), leaf hats (these proved to be no use at all) and rattan bracelets (Asian guides seem to be obsessed with making them for us). After about 1 1/2 hours of surprisingly tough walking with some very slippery inclines we arrived at our destination. From the information we received from our guide, we were told that the Rafflesias don’t bloom fully until they are at least a year old and then only for about 5-7 days depending on the weather. Apparently the reported rotting flesh smell as they decay has more to do with animals excreting on them and the chemicals then mixing, than the flowers themselves. I won’t go into too much description of the actual flowers as you can see the photos; suffice to say that it was very big, surprisingly robust and certainly different looking. Following a brief stop to take photos, we followed the trail back to the minibus and set off for Tanah Rata, stopping at Brinchang on the way to visit the excellent night market. The market is on every Friday and Saturday evening and is a great place to stock up on strawberries, fresh fruit and vegetables. It also has great food stalls where you can try any manner of local foods, as well as the western favourites of pizza, burgers & hotdogs for all those not so adventurous!

Our last few days were spent very much the same way as the rest of our time in the Cameron Highlands, doing very little! We were fortunate enough to witness the night blooming of what our guesthouse owner called ‘Lucky Flower’ (real name Night-blooming Cereus). He told us that he had only seen a few bloom in the last two years; the flower blooms once a year at night and then only for about 3 hrs. Aside from that, We did have one more visit to the market in Brinchang and then had to walk the 5km back to Tanah Rata as there were no buses. Fortunately we had the company of Emma, Katherine and Eva (hi girls, hope the travelling is going well), so the walk went quite quickly.
All in all, our time in the Cameron highlands has been great and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend ‘Daniels Lodge’ as a good base. A final special mention has to go to Gil, who made me a great hat, has the sweetest son Mario and has the best tour information in town. Check out his booth in the entrance of Kang’s Restaurant.

Next stop the Perhentian islands.