Cameron highlands is a pleasant hill station at 1500 mt above sea level in the state of Pahang,Mayalsia . Situated in the northwestern tip of Pahang, it's a small hill station with vast green sceneries and rolling tea estates.
Desperately in need of respite from the Penang heat and monotony,four of my friends and I decided to go to Cameron Highlands for the weekend.
April 11th,2014
Friday: 2pm
The bus from Sungai Nibong to Cameron highlands was empty except for the five of us! The bus cost us 38RM and in my opinion,the seats should available till even the day before your travel. The bus service run is Uniti Express(the name mentioned on the bus,but various travel agents will give you tickets),that's the only bus from Penang. Started half past two and the driver stopped at Butterworth for twenty minutes. The bus route has a stop at Ipoh, therefore quite a number of people got on the bus from Butterworth. The bus cruised on the highway with vast open lands on either side. We reached Ipoh at 4pm and stopped for about 20 minutes to freshen up. Ipoh is a quaint place, with agreeable weather and mountains in the hindsight. Seemed to me like a quiet little town where one would want to retire. The next two hours was one of the best drives I've ever been on(how I wish I was driving this stretch though). The drizzle on the windows, the curvy roads, the man-made outlets for the water on these mountains which formed gorgeous small waterfalls. So calming ,the sight of green topped mountains in the far distance. The only thing missing was being unable to eat the fresh air! Stuck in the Air-conditioned bus, I could hear the gushing winds taunt me. As our destination approached, there was some amount of a traffic clog. I rephrase, a lot of traffic!! It's a popular tourist spot for the Malaysians and foreigners alike.
We reached the chilly hills at 7pm. Chilly is a relative term here. Living and working in Penang for the last few months lets you appreciate temperatures below even 20 degree Celsius! Cameron comprises of a series of townships of Tanah Rata,Brinchang, Tringkap , Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja. We had a hotel booking at Tanah Rata, but one can alight at Brinchang as well that comes first while entering the highlands. I would suggest that one stays at either Tanah Rata or Brinchang (apart by approximately five kilometers). We made a cheaper accommodation booking at "Kisabel Hotel" which is located in Tanah Rata, in the same building structure where the bus drops us off. The hotel is suitable only for single travellers or a quiet bunch of friends, a budget hotel with just the basics and a drab view as well!. We were greeted by two Malaysian Indians who run the place. A modest reception with a giant TV, a sitting area, a fish pond. The number of rooms is limited and we took the double bedroom with attached bathroom and a triple bed room with an attached bathroom. No complaints of the place, you get what you pay for..and this place brims with tourists!
With the night left at our disposal, we hired a taxi (only mode of transport around here and slightly expensive) that cost us 12RM to Brinchang for the night market (Pasar Malam). The market was good! My favourite and must do in this market -
(1) Eat the strawberry coated with chocolate sauce available for 2RM. Delicious!! The fresh sourness of the strawberry makes your taste buds twitch and the sweetness of the chocolate gushes in to compensate. Ah!
(2) Sample some of the local fruits and vegetables. I didn't find them very fresh although the the taste was thoroughly enjoyable. I sampled a green fruit(Jeruk Jambu) that I've never tasted previously, it was mouthwatering sweet!
(3) The cactus pots. Tiny pots of cactus are sold for 3RM and above and well worth it. Many varieties of cacti.
After dinner at a Chinese restaurant and a pot of Chinese tea, we waited a while for a taxi back to Tanah Rata. It was 10:30pm in the night and the hill station was asleep, after waiting by the taxi stand for twenty minutes with no luck,we decided to ask someone. Opposite the taxi stand at Brinchang, is a hotel by the name "Jasmine", we asked the Chinese lady there if she knew any taxi driver whom we could phone up and call. She luckily had one and called on the taxi for us. The fare back to Tanah Rata was 20RM. Retired for the night
April 12th,2014
Saturday
Cameron has many jungle trails ,small hikes to offer. We decided to go for a hike that morning. We left for Robinson Falls (Trail 9/9A) at 8am in the morning. After some repetitive cycles of getting lost and looking around, we finally got the way to Robinson. The directions are simple, Follow the road from Tanah Rata towards Brinchang till you reach the "Terminal Fressia" bus stand junction, take a right there (follow the board with directions towards MARDI). Walk down that road to see MARDI(an agro technology park) on your left and continue ahead, till you read the signboard to Robinson Falls.
The falls isn't remotely "spectacular". It's a waterfall of muddy rainwater, was disappointed at the sight of it. Due to the rains every afternoon the rocks were slippery. A caution on that. After a quick stop for a photo, we continued along the jungle trail. The path has many signboard of the jungle trail paths. We decided to follow the signboard of 9/9A, that leads one to the BOH tea estate. Do a little research on the jungle trails and pick according to your fitness level. Hiking always excites me and this trail was nothing less than exciting. The smell of the rain-drenched soil,the contrasting lush green against the brown wet tree barks was a magical sight. We spotted many exotic flowers(unfortunately don't known the common or botanical names), wild mushrooms and small pretty birds. The jungle trails here are fortunately not very commercial and unspoilt by human littering. We reached towards some part of a tea estate(which we later found out to be BOH). Unknowing whether there's a path ahead,we re-traced our way back towards Robinson Falls and caught the road from where we entered. It was "stroll", a very easy path we hiked today. Nonetheless, a morning well spent!
Hungry, we found a place called "Kumar" , similar to a Nasi Kandar and ate comfort Indian food. The rain came and how! About 2 pm and the it was pouring! We tried our options with many tours and travels about half-day tours we could do for that day. Unfortunately, no one had anything that pleased our needs and suggested that we do any of the tours the following morning as the rains wouldn't subside in sometime. We finalized a half-day tour with "T.J Nur Travel & tours" in Tanah Rata for the following morning and had the rest of the day to our leisure. In the evening,we took a stroll around Tanah Rata, the weather was delightful! We ambled about admiring bungalows, a Chinese temple and nurseries with stunningly fresh and colourful flowers. We went down to the main park near the "Terminal Freesia", took the road behind it, that lead to us to a winding sloping road from where we could get a pretty view of a part of Cameron Highlands. We sipped our steaming cup of tea at "Lord's cafe" and tasted some of the best apple scones! Highly recommended to visit this place and taste some of the delicious apple scones.
Tucking myself into bed that night,I got thinking how unfortunate it is that the natural beauty is gradually being destroyed for more "resorts" and tourist purposes. The lopsided balance of urbanisation versus preserving the existing beauty. It's left to us to bring that balance.
April 13th,2014
Sunday
We were at T.J at 9am in the morning. We hopped onto a jeep and started for our tour. We were in to cover the rolling views of the BOH tea estates, the mossy forest at Gunung Brinchang and the peak itself, a factory visit to BOH tea estates again, ending with the butterfly farm and strawberry farm. A half day tour from 9am to 1pm and cost us 50RM each. Our bus back to Penang was at 2:30pm , so this worked out fine. The roads up to the tea estate and Gunung Brinchang are sloping upwards and a rather tough drive without a jeep or 4-wheel drive. The view of the rolling tea estates can easily qualify for a perfect postcard picture. The tour guide did a good job of explaining about the estates and its establishment, the process of tea processing. After spending around half an hour walking through the tea plantations we hopped onto the jeep towards Gunung Brinchang. The peak is the second highest mountain in Cameron highlands at 2000mt above sea level.There is a watchtower where you can get a panoramic view of the place, the hills and valleys, tiny villages and towns and Ipoh as well. The number of tourists here were enormous and everyone waited their chance to climb up the watchtower and squeezed to get good pictures. I found it rather dull, not a great view. We went down to the mossy forest next. This forest is claimed to be one of the oldest forests in Malaysia. It was genuinely beautiful. The natural environment of moss,ferns, lichens,orchids and pitcher plants.We got an up close view of the pitcher plants, which was a new experience for me. This plants look so tiny, to think they actually blow up to carry 3 litre of water in them. Amazing! Wild orchids was another exciting sight for me, gorgeous is an understatement! The atmosphere in this forest was cool, chilly, in the guider's words "natural air condition". We explored this area for about 30 minutes before starting back. It's not a hike,trek really, just a walk inside to explore the flora.Our next stop was the BOH tea estate, where we sipped a cup of fresh tea(don't take the tea bags, just buy and drink them at home!) and watched a plethora of tourists swarm the place.The tea factory has a small tour you can take to see the tea processing(nothing impressive).We bought a few tea bags and tea for home.Next the butterfly farm. A small enclosure with butterflies, pretty butterflies fluttering around oblivious to us humans prying. Even though it was a small area, the butterflies sure were beautiful. Stopped at a strawberry farm afterwards, it was just to purchase some fresh strawberries. The rain gods blessed us with a heavy downpour by then and we were soaked to our bones. The half day trip was not entirely worth the money in my opinion, but "pitcher plant" and the "orchids" in the mossy forest was the highlight. So much delight to have seen it in its natural environment,something I can't see back in India.
We made it time for our bus back to Penang,packing lunch before boarding the bus at 2pm.Slept for most of the way down to Ipoh and the Penang. Back home by 8pm in the night. *the traffic descending the hill was a pileup, weekend traffic from Cameron is heavy*
The trip to Cameron Highlands was a refreshing break from the monotony of life. The quaint little towns in Cameron is unfortunately becoming highly urbanised, I hope the government controls the growing development before it destroys the charm of the place.
Tips -
-- It's a romantic place but take a resort a little away form the bustling towns to thoroughly enjoy the weather and sceneries.
-- Own transport is the best, the sceneries along the journey are charming.
-- With not much to do,a weekend or three days getaway is the enough to cover the place.Not many family activities, but your thirst for hiking,trekking can be satiated with many trails Cameron has.Wear your shoes!
-- Most of the common half day tours of only the different farm visit is useless in my opinion. I would recommend the Mossy forest to be covered in your agenda and a small hike in one of the Jungle trails.
-- Food is not an issue, lots of choices to eat from in Tanah Rata and Brinchang. Many Indian,Chinese, western cuisine restaurants and no problem form vegetarians as well.
-- Shopping didn't appeal much to me. But do try some local fruits in the Pasar Malam at Brinchang and apple scones at "Lord's Cafe" . But some fresh strawberries, the one sold in the markets instead of plucking the strawberries in the farms by yourself (it's expensive).
-- Don't be overwhelmed to buy tea bags from the BOH tea plantation, you can get the same tea bags in the local supermarket, and back in Penang as well. We bought tea dust and "Seri Songket" (package was eye-catchy) from the store in the BOH tea plantation which we couldn't spot outside in the local supermarkets there or in Penang.
Desperately in need of respite from the Penang heat and monotony,four of my friends and I decided to go to Cameron Highlands for the weekend.
April 11th,2014
Friday: 2pm
The bus from Sungai Nibong to Cameron highlands was empty except for the five of us! The bus cost us 38RM and in my opinion,the seats should available till even the day before your travel. The bus service run is Uniti Express(the name mentioned on the bus,but various travel agents will give you tickets),that's the only bus from Penang. Started half past two and the driver stopped at Butterworth for twenty minutes. The bus route has a stop at Ipoh, therefore quite a number of people got on the bus from Butterworth. The bus cruised on the highway with vast open lands on either side. We reached Ipoh at 4pm and stopped for about 20 minutes to freshen up. Ipoh is a quaint place, with agreeable weather and mountains in the hindsight. Seemed to me like a quiet little town where one would want to retire. The next two hours was one of the best drives I've ever been on(how I wish I was driving this stretch though). The drizzle on the windows, the curvy roads, the man-made outlets for the water on these mountains which formed gorgeous small waterfalls. So calming ,the sight of green topped mountains in the far distance. The only thing missing was being unable to eat the fresh air! Stuck in the Air-conditioned bus, I could hear the gushing winds taunt me. As our destination approached, there was some amount of a traffic clog. I rephrase, a lot of traffic!! It's a popular tourist spot for the Malaysians and foreigners alike.
We reached the chilly hills at 7pm. Chilly is a relative term here. Living and working in Penang for the last few months lets you appreciate temperatures below even 20 degree Celsius! Cameron comprises of a series of townships of Tanah Rata,Brinchang, Tringkap , Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja. We had a hotel booking at Tanah Rata, but one can alight at Brinchang as well that comes first while entering the highlands. I would suggest that one stays at either Tanah Rata or Brinchang (apart by approximately five kilometers). We made a cheaper accommodation booking at "Kisabel Hotel" which is located in Tanah Rata, in the same building structure where the bus drops us off. The hotel is suitable only for single travellers or a quiet bunch of friends, a budget hotel with just the basics and a drab view as well!. We were greeted by two Malaysian Indians who run the place. A modest reception with a giant TV, a sitting area, a fish pond. The number of rooms is limited and we took the double bedroom with attached bathroom and a triple bed room with an attached bathroom. No complaints of the place, you get what you pay for..and this place brims with tourists!
With the night left at our disposal, we hired a taxi (only mode of transport around here and slightly expensive) that cost us 12RM to Brinchang for the night market (Pasar Malam). The market was good! My favourite and must do in this market -
(1) Eat the strawberry coated with chocolate sauce available for 2RM. Delicious!! The fresh sourness of the strawberry makes your taste buds twitch and the sweetness of the chocolate gushes in to compensate. Ah!
(2) Sample some of the local fruits and vegetables. I didn't find them very fresh although the the taste was thoroughly enjoyable. I sampled a green fruit(Jeruk Jambu) that I've never tasted previously, it was mouthwatering sweet!
(3) The cactus pots. Tiny pots of cactus are sold for 3RM and above and well worth it. Many varieties of cacti.
After dinner at a Chinese restaurant and a pot of Chinese tea, we waited a while for a taxi back to Tanah Rata. It was 10:30pm in the night and the hill station was asleep, after waiting by the taxi stand for twenty minutes with no luck,we decided to ask someone. Opposite the taxi stand at Brinchang, is a hotel by the name "Jasmine", we asked the Chinese lady there if she knew any taxi driver whom we could phone up and call. She luckily had one and called on the taxi for us. The fare back to Tanah Rata was 20RM. Retired for the night
April 12th,2014
Saturday
Cameron has many jungle trails ,small hikes to offer. We decided to go for a hike that morning. We left for Robinson Falls (Trail 9/9A) at 8am in the morning. After some repetitive cycles of getting lost and looking around, we finally got the way to Robinson. The directions are simple, Follow the road from Tanah Rata towards Brinchang till you reach the "Terminal Fressia" bus stand junction, take a right there (follow the board with directions towards MARDI). Walk down that road to see MARDI(an agro technology park) on your left and continue ahead, till you read the signboard to Robinson Falls.
The falls isn't remotely "spectacular". It's a waterfall of muddy rainwater, was disappointed at the sight of it. Due to the rains every afternoon the rocks were slippery. A caution on that. After a quick stop for a photo, we continued along the jungle trail. The path has many signboard of the jungle trail paths. We decided to follow the signboard of 9/9A, that leads one to the BOH tea estate. Do a little research on the jungle trails and pick according to your fitness level. Hiking always excites me and this trail was nothing less than exciting. The smell of the rain-drenched soil,the contrasting lush green against the brown wet tree barks was a magical sight. We spotted many exotic flowers(unfortunately don't known the common or botanical names), wild mushrooms and small pretty birds. The jungle trails here are fortunately not very commercial and unspoilt by human littering. We reached towards some part of a tea estate(which we later found out to be BOH). Unknowing whether there's a path ahead,we re-traced our way back towards Robinson Falls and caught the road from where we entered. It was "stroll", a very easy path we hiked today. Nonetheless, a morning well spent!
Hungry, we found a place called "Kumar" , similar to a Nasi Kandar and ate comfort Indian food. The rain came and how! About 2 pm and the it was pouring! We tried our options with many tours and travels about half-day tours we could do for that day. Unfortunately, no one had anything that pleased our needs and suggested that we do any of the tours the following morning as the rains wouldn't subside in sometime. We finalized a half-day tour with "T.J Nur Travel & tours" in Tanah Rata for the following morning and had the rest of the day to our leisure. In the evening,we took a stroll around Tanah Rata, the weather was delightful! We ambled about admiring bungalows, a Chinese temple and nurseries with stunningly fresh and colourful flowers. We went down to the main park near the "Terminal Freesia", took the road behind it, that lead to us to a winding sloping road from where we could get a pretty view of a part of Cameron Highlands. We sipped our steaming cup of tea at "Lord's cafe" and tasted some of the best apple scones! Highly recommended to visit this place and taste some of the delicious apple scones.
Tucking myself into bed that night,I got thinking how unfortunate it is that the natural beauty is gradually being destroyed for more "resorts" and tourist purposes. The lopsided balance of urbanisation versus preserving the existing beauty. It's left to us to bring that balance.
April 13th,2014
Sunday
We were at T.J at 9am in the morning. We hopped onto a jeep and started for our tour. We were in to cover the rolling views of the BOH tea estates, the mossy forest at Gunung Brinchang and the peak itself, a factory visit to BOH tea estates again, ending with the butterfly farm and strawberry farm. A half day tour from 9am to 1pm and cost us 50RM each. Our bus back to Penang was at 2:30pm , so this worked out fine. The roads up to the tea estate and Gunung Brinchang are sloping upwards and a rather tough drive without a jeep or 4-wheel drive. The view of the rolling tea estates can easily qualify for a perfect postcard picture. The tour guide did a good job of explaining about the estates and its establishment, the process of tea processing. After spending around half an hour walking through the tea plantations we hopped onto the jeep towards Gunung Brinchang. The peak is the second highest mountain in Cameron highlands at 2000mt above sea level.There is a watchtower where you can get a panoramic view of the place, the hills and valleys, tiny villages and towns and Ipoh as well. The number of tourists here were enormous and everyone waited their chance to climb up the watchtower and squeezed to get good pictures. I found it rather dull, not a great view. We went down to the mossy forest next. This forest is claimed to be one of the oldest forests in Malaysia. It was genuinely beautiful. The natural environment of moss,ferns, lichens,orchids and pitcher plants.We got an up close view of the pitcher plants, which was a new experience for me. This plants look so tiny, to think they actually blow up to carry 3 litre of water in them. Amazing! Wild orchids was another exciting sight for me, gorgeous is an understatement! The atmosphere in this forest was cool, chilly, in the guider's words "natural air condition". We explored this area for about 30 minutes before starting back. It's not a hike,trek really, just a walk inside to explore the flora.Our next stop was the BOH tea estate, where we sipped a cup of fresh tea(don't take the tea bags, just buy and drink them at home!) and watched a plethora of tourists swarm the place.The tea factory has a small tour you can take to see the tea processing(nothing impressive).We bought a few tea bags and tea for home.Next the butterfly farm. A small enclosure with butterflies, pretty butterflies fluttering around oblivious to us humans prying. Even though it was a small area, the butterflies sure were beautiful. Stopped at a strawberry farm afterwards, it was just to purchase some fresh strawberries. The rain gods blessed us with a heavy downpour by then and we were soaked to our bones. The half day trip was not entirely worth the money in my opinion, but "pitcher plant" and the "orchids" in the mossy forest was the highlight. So much delight to have seen it in its natural environment,something I can't see back in India.
We made it time for our bus back to Penang,packing lunch before boarding the bus at 2pm.Slept for most of the way down to Ipoh and the Penang. Back home by 8pm in the night. *the traffic descending the hill was a pileup, weekend traffic from Cameron is heavy*
The trip to Cameron Highlands was a refreshing break from the monotony of life. The quaint little towns in Cameron is unfortunately becoming highly urbanised, I hope the government controls the growing development before it destroys the charm of the place.
Tips -
-- It's a romantic place but take a resort a little away form the bustling towns to thoroughly enjoy the weather and sceneries.
-- Own transport is the best, the sceneries along the journey are charming.
-- With not much to do,a weekend or three days getaway is the enough to cover the place.Not many family activities, but your thirst for hiking,trekking can be satiated with many trails Cameron has.Wear your shoes!
-- Most of the common half day tours of only the different farm visit is useless in my opinion. I would recommend the Mossy forest to be covered in your agenda and a small hike in one of the Jungle trails.
-- Food is not an issue, lots of choices to eat from in Tanah Rata and Brinchang. Many Indian,Chinese, western cuisine restaurants and no problem form vegetarians as well.
-- Shopping didn't appeal much to me. But do try some local fruits in the Pasar Malam at Brinchang and apple scones at "Lord's Cafe" . But some fresh strawberries, the one sold in the markets instead of plucking the strawberries in the farms by yourself (it's expensive).
-- Don't be overwhelmed to buy tea bags from the BOH tea plantation, you can get the same tea bags in the local supermarket, and back in Penang as well. We bought tea dust and "Seri Songket" (package was eye-catchy) from the store in the BOH tea plantation which we couldn't spot outside in the local supermarkets there or in Penang.
Go cool your heels in Cameron Highlands.
