Where do we
start with the Cameron Highlands? It was an interesting experience to say the
least and one that we will probably never forget (Alzheimer’s notwithstanding).
We stayed in a town called Tanah Rata and we found a great place to stay
(Cameronian Inn), then set about organising the tours and treks we would be
doing around the highlands.
The Cameron
Highlands is famous in Malaysia for trekking, tea plantations, and the recent
discovery of the Rafflesia flower – the world’s largest flower. We decided to
pay 60 MYR (£12) each to go on a half day tour to see this flower, which
involved a two hour trek, as well as a few other things that can only be
described as filler activities. The day of the tour we awoke bright and early,
boarded the jeep, and set off at around 9. The jeep was very old, had no
seatbelts, and was supposed to be taking us off road. And we were sharing it
with Germans. Gulp.
We arrived
at a random police checkpoint and our driver stopped the vehicle and called for
his boss. We waited for over an hour until another man showed up to drive us
through the checkpoint. It became clear that the reason for the delay was that
our driver had no license and could not cross the checkpoint legally. At this
point, the Germans in the jeep became very angry at the driver and started “what
iffing..?” about accidents and insurance etc. We shrugged this negative energy
off, as did the driver, and eventually we continued on our cliff side road
climb.
A few
minutes later, while driving on a flat, straight piece of road, the jeep jumped
up in the air and then came crashing down with an almighty screeching noise. We
stopped very quickly, thus avoiding going off the cliff, or into a wall, or an oncoming
vehicle. When we got out of the jeep, this is what we saw:
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| Kang Tours Old Jeeps |
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| Scrape on tarmac |
The wheel
had flown off, with no bump in the road, no reason at all except for bad
maintenance, and we had come to a screeching standstill. The driver was fairly
apologetic, especially considering the screaming German girls in his ears. We
were both pretty shaken up by this but through gritted teeth, and perhaps
foolish judgement, we decided to continue. The Germans did not.
We waited
for another hour until another old, unreliable, badly maintained jeep turned
up. We asked the driver to go slowly and he assured us he would...up to the
point where he realised that we were now two hours behind schedule and needed
to drive like lightning in order to catch up. Overtaking 4 cars on a blind
corner and having to cut back in when an oncoming car approached, he seemed
oblivious to the fact we had just been in a fairly scary accident.
We arrived
safely though, and were immediately hurried up a hill. The 2 hour trek to the
flower seemed very rushed and we really didn’t have the time to enjoy the
surrounding jungle.
The bit
which was most interesting involved crossing a river where a bridge had recently
collapsed. It involved a climb down, a skip across the river, and a slippery
climb up.
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| The collapsed bridge |
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| A dirty waterfall on the way |
We arrived
at the flower a little worn out from mental anguish... however the flower was
fairly spectacular... and LARGE!
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| Flower bud that looks like a face |
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| Rafflesia - world's largest single bud |
It is
supposed to smell like rotting flesh to attract flies and although there were
many flies, we didn’t notice the odour (probably due to our own bad BO.)
The hike
back down the same trail was of little interest and Katie was stung by a bee
which didn’t help. We had to really rush as a thunderstorm was approaching, and
we had to pass that river crossing because it would become impossible once the
banks got wet.
After the
hike e went to an aboriginal village where we practiced blow pipe hunting and
saw the tradition huts they lived in (cough).
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| Aboriginal huts... I theorise they ran out of time and took us somewhere else. |
We ended up
being driven back by the guy in charge of maintaining the vehicles. He offered
no apology and instead only had this to say; “Accidents happen.” This angered
both of us, as a wheel flying off a car is not an accident if there is no cause
– it is surely bad maintenance. We ended up going to the tour organiser,
complaining and getting a full refund.
But the
story is not over. Later that evening, one of the tour guides came to our hotel
room, banged on the door and demanded to know why we wanted a refund. He was
very angry and looked like he might punch me at any moment. He didn’t, but he
did storm off. Our hotel owner then drove to the tour company to complain about
the guide’s attitude – she had seen the photos and heard our side of the story
and fully understood our reason for a refund, as did the tour manager. What a
night! The first full day in the Cameron Highlands was finally over... we were
alive and just about able to relax.
We had
planned a more eventful second day but decided against another organised tour
and instead were going to get a taxi to the tea plantations. We went to the
best spot to get a taxi and I decided that I would try to hitchhike, as I heard
it is very common and easy in this area. I stuck out my thumb and the first car
that drove past, stopped. We jumped in and were taken to the tea plantation –
bargain!
We sat at
the top and enjoyed the rolling hills of the plantation with a cup of local
tea. Delightful.
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| Not quite as spectacular as Batad rice terraces |
We managed to
hitchhike down with the same couple that gave us a lift up. Such a
fantastically nice couple from KL (one was a lawyer, one a banker) who gave us
so many tips about Malaysia and even bought us lunch. It really made up for the
slightly overwhelming first day and reminded us of one of the reasons we travel
– to meet locals and make new friends.
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| Nom nom nom |
KL to Cameron Highlands Bus - 30 MYR (£6, $10)
Cameron Highlands to Penang Bus - 35 MYR (£7, $12)
Cameronian Inn per room - 40 MYR (£8, $13)
Rafflesia Tour - Normally 60 MYR (£12, $20) but for free.
