Cameron Highlands Highlights - Tanah Rata, Malaysia
Tanah Rata, Malaysia
In the morning I treated my self to yet another peanut butter and banana toast breakfast with a glass of tea. Then trekked off to the bus station. Going inside up what looked like a back set of stairs we made it to he ticket counter and got our tickets to Cameron Highlands for 9am. Our purchase of the ticket was at roughly 7:45am. We got the tickets glanced at them, then with a very brief stop on our way down to the gate. We sat down at around 7: 54am, I remember checking my watch, because I was on edge about missing the bus. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and so after going down the stairs through the gate door a few times and seeing no bus parked Ann- Marie went up to where we got the ticket to inquire to make sure we were in the right place. In the bus terminal there was no intercom voice announcing anything, in Maylasian or English, and nothing written in any form of a sign by the gate number. As the minutes ticked by I got more apprehensive. Ann-Marie finally emerged through the throngs of people quite upset. The woman at the ticket counter half yelled at her saying that we were late the bus we were supposed to be on was at 8:30am. Soo we missed the bus, some how even though we checked and went straight there, and asked for the 9:30am bus. Our ticket also had printed on it that we purchased it 2 days prior not that morning. I then proceeded up to the ticket counter and tried to reason with her. With a fee of 10 ringet to change the bus she scribbled on our tickets for the bus leaving at 10am as for some reason there was none that left at 9 that day. I made sure to triple. Heck when we had to board the bus. She said 10am??? So shouldn't the last bus have boarded at 8:30? So if we went down at a few minutes to 8am the bus should have still been there. The confusions and miss understandings are just a part of the adventure, and make it more of a tale to tell afterwards, as long as you get their in the end. Thankfully the next bus departed with out too many hitches and we were off to Cameron Highlands.
The drive on the bus was full of twists and turns as well as sudden accelerations and decelerations resulting in a roller coaster ride. We arrived in a world covered in a lush green blanket around 2:30 in the afternoon. The temperature significantly cooler than down in the lowlands, a light breeze ruffling the trees surrounding the quaint town of Tanah Rata. After a few confusing moments at street corners we found Fathers Guest House. The place is very clean orderly and spacious, with comfortable beds, free tea and coffee and a helpful receptionist. As we signed in at the front desk we noticed that there were other Canadians staying at the hostel. Exciting. We had only come across a couple Canadians in passing over the past month. We literally ran into them when we walked into our common room. Rae and Christian were from London, Ontario and have a similar rough plan/ idea of where they want to go but confirm more solid plans as they go. We hit it off right way! It was great to talk to people from back home, even if they are brand new friends. We ended up going for dinner with them and a guy named Julian at a restaurant Rae and Christian found the night before. We had a local dish called a steamboat. A large soup broth, boiled on a stove brought out with your food, along with numerous plates of prawns, tofu, lettus, chicken, egg, mushroom varieties, two kinds of noodles, squid, fish ball things, spinach and bean sprouts. You could throw in what you wanted when you wanted. When ever the broth would run low they would just top it up. We opted for the thai inspired Tom Yom ( sweet/ and spicy) broth. The meal could have fed a football team...... Ok maybe not, but a hockey team for sure. After stuffing our stomachs full we headed back to the hostel. The comfy couch area down by the tea station was full of people when we got back. We ended up chatting and making friends with another couple named Liz and Hamitch from England and Scotland. It was a great evening. Lounging in comfy arm chairs, drinking warm tea in a cool room, trading travel stories, sharing our favourite books and authors and tales from our respective homes.
The next morning we headed to a street vendor kind of restaurant beside the road, that the Canadians we met suggested. We ordered from a cute deaf couple. Getting hot banana pancakes and tea, we sat under the corrugated tin roof on plastic chairs looking out at the lush green surroundings. A jeep came to pick us up at the hostel, for our guided tour of the highlands at 8:45 after a relaxing breakfast. Another couple who had been working in Australia for a year was on our tour as well. We drove up further into the hills where the tea plantations were in abundance. Our tour started with an informative stop at the tea plantations. All the tea trees were over 30-80 years old. Workers cut the trees at a few meters height for optimal leaf growth. Our guide pointed out a random tea tree left to its own devices, highlighting the very tall natural height it can reach. Being a tea-ahold I found it fascinating to learn that many tea varieties are harvested from the same crop. The size of the leaf, and the drying, fermenting, oxidizing process is what dictates the type, from white tea, to green, to black. The steps to making tea after being picked in the field contains five steps: withering, rolling, fermenting, drying, and sorting. While in the tea fields (rolling hills) our guide described the process for tree trimming, and leaf picking. The types of leave variety, as well as some of the kinds of processes used to make black tea, white tea, and green tea. After frolicking in the tea rows and taking a ton of pictures we headed to the top of Mount Batu Brinchang the highest point in the area standing at 6666 feet. Climbing the tower structure at the top of the mountain we had a look out at the ocean in one direction, and further into the Highlands in the opposite direction. Mist and clouds clung to the rainforest tree tops below our view point, blue sky showing above the fluffy wall of clouds. We then proceeded into the forest for a mossy jungle walk. Our guide showed us a carnivorous tuber plant that digests insects in a sticky liquid. Plucking leaves off of numerous trees telling us to smell them after being crushed. Four species of plants used for citronella bug repellant grow in this area. Each leaf he told us to smell, had a slightly different citronella aroma. Walking along the path, he pointed out the Fairy Trumpet flower, that when inhaled to closely to the stamens for a longer than a minute had paralyzingly and potentially fatal effects. The short jaunt through the forest was amazing. The dense foliage debris being broken down by different kinds of moss and lichen resulted in dark chocolate brown coloured soil, rich in nutrients. Locals main source of water is stored in the moss in the forest. Moss with a shallow root system is easily disturbed and once walked on will not rejuvenate growth again. However, if you squeeze the moss growing from the trees, you can collect the water source with out killing the moss. We walked on tree roots so overgrown with moss, hanging out over the hill edge was a trampoline like pathway.
We then headed to the tea factory to see the drying, oxidation, packaging process. Here we sat looking over the hill valleys below blanketed in tree plantations. Emerald green waves, rolling as far as the eye can see, puffy outlines of tree plants create a mystical texture to the gorgeous view. At the tea factory we tried a few kinds of tea, along with a coconut pastry. Once our bladders were full of delicious tea, we stopped in at a strawberry farm on the way back to Tanha Ratha. Not as impressive as hills and hills of tea farms but still a delight to taste and see the growing process. We tried some strawberry jam, strawberries and whipped cream, as well as a few sips of a strawberry milk shake. All were delectable.
After a restful few hours back at the hostel reading out in the courtyard, drinking tea we chatted with others from the hostel some more, sharing stories over a few beers. We then all decided it was time to find some food to fill our stomachs with something of substance other than tea and beer. A group of 12 of us from the hostel ended up going for a group dinner to an Indian restaurant that our guide recommended to us. We ordered a variety of meals passing some of the food around sampling a few different dishes. What follows dinner...... Dessert. We wandered down the street for cake and mousse. A great way to top off a great day in the great outdoors. The Cameron Highlands were a brief stop while traveling up through Malaysia, but was a wonderful change of pace after being in big cities. We are very thankful to have met some truly wonderful people while staying at Fathers Guest House. A nice relaxing isolated bubble in the lush highlands, before heading to Penang tomorrow.