With the temperature in Khao Lak hitting the high 30s most days and weariness setting in, Kristian and I decided to take a holiday somewhere cooler where we could relax for a few days. (For those of you who haven't heard, Kristian is the very cool Swedish guy I've been seeing for the last couple of months :)) We finally settled on the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia and booked some flights.
Right from the start, we got to see how the other dealt with 'stressful' situations. Our flight was delayed because of a massive storm, we finally got into KL at midnight, our cell phones didn't work and we couldn't contact my friend Cara who we were staying the night with. It was just one of those 'Keep Calm and Carry On' situations and we made it through laughing all the way. Thanks so much for staying up and waiting for us Cara! And we so appreciated the place to crash for the night.
A 4 hour bus ride the next day got us to the Cameron Highlands. The narrow, windy road crosses an occasional stream and is lined by dense forest. In some places, usually on blind corners, the road is only wide enough for one vehicle. Drivers announce their arrival at the corner by slowing down, honking their horn and hoping they don't meet someone coming the other way. There were a couple of times we lurched to a halt to avoid a head on accident, but I figured that we were ok in a large, heavy bus...
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| Typical blind corner on a narrow road... |
Tanah Rata is the main, sleepy town in the highlands where we based ourselves. It's in a lovely valley surrounded by misty hills and forest. There's a handful of restaurants and hotels, a few souvenir shops and a dinky bus station. The temperature reached a balmy 20 degrees C in the middle of the day and it rained (heavily) every afternoon. It was absolutely divine and gave us just the rest we needed.
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| The rain and mist rolled in every afternoon |
We decided to be real tourists and signed up to an afternoon tour of ALL the sights in the local area. Butterfly and reptile houses, a cactus nursery, a bee farm, Boh's tea plantation, a strawberry farm, a rose garden, the local markets and a Buddhist temple...and all in 4 hours!
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| Cacti are such weird plants! |
The butterflies were beautiful - so many colours, designs and patterns on their wings. The reptiles and bugs were equally as cool, but I was so glad they were behind glass walls and couldn't get to me!
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| Not a butterfly or a reptile or a bug but still in the same place... |
The tea plantation was really pretty too and stretched out for acres in all directions. (We got an idea of how big it really was the next day when we went on a trek...) It was so peaceful sitting on the balcony overlooking the tea trees, sipping berry tea, eating strawberry cheesecake and watching the clouds and mist waft around the hills.
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| Contraption to pick tea leaves...looks like something a bunch of Kiwis would make! |
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| The tea leaves still need to be carted out by hand on the steeper slopes |
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| Tacky tourist shot |
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| Strawberry cheesecake...Yum! |
Some of the flowers, pictures and peacocks at the rose gardens...
Strawberry farm strawberries...
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| The strawberries were nice but not as sweet as the ones back home :) |
The bee farm... There were huge bees scattered around the garden at the bee farm which looked quite cute but a little freaky!
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| Good to know! |
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| More tacky tourist pics... |
The Buddhist temple on the hill.
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| These always remind me of puppy dogs... |
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| Transport for monks... |
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| Carp hoping for a feed |
We decided to get active the next day and trek up to the highest peak around - a dizzy 2000 metres above sea level. Considering we started at about 1200 metres though, it wasn't really that bad ;). A couple of locals tried to discourage us from doing the trek. "It's very steep. It's been raining and it will be muddy. It's a long way." We did listen to them, but figured we were both used to muddy, steep treks and we needed the exercise so we would give it a go and see how far we could get.
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| This way! |
I'm so glad we did it! The trail was actually pretty easy going and only really steep in a few short places.
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| One of the steep parts |
The forest was beautiful and quiet. There were all sorts of interesting bugs and flowers around. We caught a few glimpses of the surrounding area through gaps in the trees but the mist had rolled in by the time we reached the top blocking most of our views. And as for the mud, well, it washes off easily...especially in a torrential downpour.
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| Arty shots |
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| The bug that curled up when we approached |
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| Mountain views |
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| Mud washes off!!! |
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| Misty scenery |
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| Out in the back blocks of the tea plantation...8km to town!!! |
We were walking down the road that would take us back to the nearest town when the heavens opened and oceans of water started pouring from the sky. An 8km walk in the rain didn't appeal at all (even if it was through the tea plantation), so we hitched a ride in the back of a 4x4 driven by a guy determined to break the land speed record. We were drenched through by the time we reached the town but still laughing. Torrents of muddy brown water were flowing down the road and we were glad to be high up on the back of the 4x4.
At dinner that night, I saw a lady stuffing a kiwi soft toy into her buddy's backpack. They saw me watching them and so I asked "Are you guys Kiwis?" Their reply, "Yeah. Who else would carry a kiwi around!" James and Sarah from a little NZ town called Levin had thrown in their jobs and were 2 months into a 12 month journey. We hooked up with them for dinner the next night and then again the following afternoon to play frisbee and soccer.
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| Kriss and the Kiwi |
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| James, Sarah, Kriss and Meg |
During our soccer game, a couple of young boys were watching us and so we kicked them the ball and got them involved. Within about 10 minutes, another 10 young guys showed up and asked if we wanted to play a game of soccer. They were so cool. Because we didn't have boots, they all took off their soccer boots, we marked out a half size pitch and started to play.
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| Cheese! |
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| Run Meg!!! |
What a laugh! Back and forth. Multiple attempts at goal. More young guys arriving to join in the action. Everyone getting involved and involving everyone. At one stage, there were about 20 of us playing and our field felt rather small! 1 1/2 hours passed in the blink of an eye and it was the dimming light that finally brought an end to our game.
It was so nice to have a break away and we had a great time meeting new people and hanging out with them. Often, it is easy to keep to myself and only hang out with people I know. Yet I find when I do get out, meet new people and make an effort to do something different, I have such a fun time and I really do feel my life becomes richer for it.
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