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| The map |
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| Locals posing |
Up good and early in Melaka and took bus direct to Cameron
Highlands (another beautiful, comfy coach). As we got closer, we wound our way
up into the hills and through tea plantations, and past waterfalls. Got kicked
out at the charming little town of Tanah Rata, which is basically a town
congregated around the main road that winds its way further through the hills.
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| Tandoori dinner |
We fobbed off the hawkers trying to take us to accommodation so far out we needed
to take their minibus, and went to a place just off the main road which was
dirty cheap because it was just that; dirt. Great atmosphere, loads of open
circulation areas to sit and chat with others, and we had a “special dorm”
which was a
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| Anyone seen Harry Potter? |
small room off the dorm. It was actually more of a cupboard, and
all of the dorms were in the attic, but by the bounce of the floors, they
didn’t bother to doing any reinforcement first. Our bed was also just a
mattress on the floor. Despite all of this, it was private, and not swarming
with creepy crawlies, so we were happy as Larry.
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| Our hike took us through this |
Didn’t do a whole lot first day, just got our bearings, got
the low-down on the hiking routes, and chatted. Had some amazing dosa and
tandoori chicken for dinner.
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| Corny picture |
Didn’t sleep spectacularly well as bloke in room one side
was pushing heavy furniture around all night, and on the other side was a
grizzly bear. Well, I assume this due to the amount of noise they made. Even
normal earplugs wouldn’t cut it and had to get out the silicon specials. It was
also really cold. This was a bit of a shock as we knew it would be cooler due
to the altitude, but the night was freezing! Both slept wrapped in blankets,
trousers and hoodies.
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| The park |
Got some grub and set about walking. I’d nicked a map off of
a bloke leaving that morning, and had a plan which rolled a few sights and 3
routes into one circular route. I started feeling a bit dodgy, so stopped off
for brief loo break in the next town, then went to a strawberry farm, and from
there we had to find a route that started and would take us through forest for
a few hours and take us back to Tanah Rata. Could I find it? Could I buggery.
The bloody map was two years old, and it was the newest revision available, but
there was now a huge development going on which had messed around the roads, so
we couldn’t find the start of the track. We walked around the development
hoping for a bit of luck, but just saw a load of new homes, and what looked
like a load of plant levelling a mountain and forming a quarry at its base next
door.
Luckily, we
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| Shot on my cheapo f1.8 Pentacon lens |
stumbled across some German lads coming off the trail who
sent us in the right direction. We were now about 2 hours behind plan, and it
took a good 45 minutes to get to the start of the trail. I couldn’t guarantee
we’d be back before dark, so I took us along a remote windy track around the
hills which would get us to
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| Strawberries and cream |
Tanah Rata a lot quicker. This somehow took us
through the middle of another huge development. Massive swathes of forest had
been ripped up, and scores of tractors and plant were moving and levelling
earth, while teams of guys were reinforcing the remainder of the hill-face with
spraycrete. Got some funny looks as two hikers would do walking through
effectively a quarry, but they let us through. Got us back to town, Jo did some
pull-ups in the park, and played around on some huge (and somewhat incongruous)
fibreglass fruit and vegetables. Had some scones and tea for afternoon tea.
Went to the same Indian place for dinner, which is where it all started to go
wrong…
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| View from mountain |
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| Tea plantations |
Day didn’t start well when I awoke and went to the loo three
times in ten minutes. I didn’t feel confident enough to leave the hostel for
breakfast, let alone go on a tour we’d booked to the mossy forest, up a
mountain and to a tea plantation, so I had to stay in bed watching movies on
the laptop and dozing. Strangely, one of the snorers in the next room snored
all day as well as night. I resolved
that it must be a tape someone was playing on a loop to wind me up, but you
think that’s me being paranoid… but you would think that, you’re all out to get
me!
Finally ate a piece of toast in the evening, but felt weak
as a kitten. I put it down to the Indian food, as it is all cooked in a lot of
palm oil, and very heavy, which I’m not used to.
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| Sunrise departure |
Day 4 was a bit of a waste as I was still weak, and Jo was
content to arrange photo-albums online while I read and listened to music. Had
a bit of a final walk around town, and was a bit sad to leave without taking
full advantage of the hikes, but there will be other places to hike, and I was
happy I’d seen as much as possible.
Early next morning I got some photos of sunrise whilst stood
on a giant lettuce (best place to get a good shot) before we boarded a bus to
Ipoh.
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