Hey folks,
Malaysia definitely has a wealth of different backgrounds and scenery to offer... I have been to three destinations so far and they have all been notably different in terms of foliage, lifestyle, cuisine, economy, and tourism activities. Langkawi was an island built for tourists: tax-free, expensive, and home to beautiful white, sandy beaches. Penang was also an island but didn't feel like one, full of culture, history, colonial design, and glorious temples. And my latest destination, the Cameron Highlands, well they were like nothing I have ever seen. At times, I felt as though I could be back in British Columbia, surrounded by views of mountains and trees in the forest not terribly unlike the ones I am used to seeing back home. Then there's the landscapes that look like the rolling hills of Ireland, the quaint little area of Tanah Rata where I stayed which looks like a little English countryside town, and the millions of palm trees flanking me on either side on the drive out, making me think like I had all of a sudden stumbled into the jungles of Vietnam...
I arrived on Friday night after a crazy drive through the mountains full of twists and turns that would have made my brother Zack hurl after about five minutes! I'm not prone to motion sickness thankfully, but it was still an unsettling climb up in altitude and it wasn't like other trips where I could nod off and catch up on some sleep, or read a book. The views on the way in were amazing though, miles upon miles of green assaulting my eyes unabashedly. When I arrived in Tanah Rata, I found a hostel that was the cheapest I have stayed at in South East Asia so far, only $3 CDN a night for a decent dorm bed and use of a main lounge for watching any movie from their collection, with over 1500 to choose from! A good start to my stay in the Highlands. Unfortunately, later that night, things took a turn for the worse. The Indian food I had at a local restaurant did not sit well with me and I hardly slept that night due to stomach pains and trips to the bathroom. I canceled my tour in the morning and spent the day recuperating, sad to waste a full day I had planned for activities, but aware of the need to rest or risk getting worse...
The following morning, I went on a day tour which was a little overpriced but I wouldn't have seen the things I did without going on the tour, so it was worth it in my eyes. Our first stop was at a little village hidden in the mountains which is completely supported by the Malaysian government. Apparently, up until about ten years ago, the aboriginals there were complete savages and even still resorted to cannibalism. Today, they have become somewhat more civilized, altering their palate to the tastes of macaque monkeys and wild boar that they catch themselves. They gave us a demonstration on how they catch their food with some poison darts and a blowpipe. Everyone had a chance to give it a try and my aim
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| The world's largest flower, the Rafflesia! |
wasn't too bad at the dartboard on the wall from about 20m back. You have to be careful with the blowpipe to inhale deeply before you take your aim and blow out. If you do it once the blowpipe is anywhere near your lips, you can risk inhaling the dart yourself, dead from either choking or the poison you would soon be digesting soon after inhalation! After our quick stop at the village, we climbed into an off-road vehicle and had a very bumpy ride up a muddy trail for about 500m until both range-rovers got stuck in the mud. We spent some time waiting as they got them free but were told it was best if we walked the rest of the way up the road to the trail head to avoid wasting more time. We then hiked for about forty-five minutes into the middle of the rainforest to view the world-renowned Rafflesia flower. Upon approaching it, I understood why it is so famous. It is the world's largest flower and is about one metre in diameter, if not more. We were told there is one that is 1.3m in diameter in the Cameron Highlands but you have to climb two mountains and over six rivers to get to it so it's probably not worth the journey! We were incredibly lucky to view the flower because there are only two in the entire state of Pehang, and on top of that, they are only in bloom for a period of three days, and this only happens once every fourteen months! In other words, I came at just the right time. After all our photoshoots with the flower, we headed back to the main road, and stopped for lunch before the half-day tour was over and I headed back to my hostel. Overall, a very good day!
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| Standing in front of the amazing tea plantations! |
The next day, I wanted to take another tour but there was no one else signed up for it so I couldn't do it. Instead, I asked how easy it was to do all the activities on the tour on my own and the woman at my hostel was very helpful in explaining a route and what to do. I took a taxi to the nearby town of Brinchang and began my ascent of the trail leading up a mountain to a look-out point over all of the Cameron Highlands, a place called Gunung Brinchang. I had expected the hike to be fairly easy because the signs said it was only three kilometres long, however, I soon found that the hike was very steep, full of climbs over fallen trees and patches of mud that were like quicksand, squelching down a full half metre or so under my weight. In fact, I was so distracted by staying out of the mud, that at one point I looked down at my sleeve to see I had a scorpion climbing up my arm! I very carefully picked up a stick and swatted it off before I became a victim in the middle of the rainforest! I finished the climb in about an hour and twenty minutes (I was told it would take two hours so I was very happy with myself) and reached the top very sweaty, tired, and covered in mud. At the top, there was a watchtower where I got a view of all the mountains and hills of the Highlands, a spectacular sight to behold and worth the trek! I got there just in time because an eerie mist descended as I climbed down from the watchtower, a sign of the storm approaching. There are only two types of weather in the Cameron Highlands. In the morning, it is always sunny and there are blue skies all around. It is a full 10 degrees cooler in the whole region because of the higher altitude, something I appreciated because I could get somewhat of a break from all the sweating in Northern Malaysia! But in the afternoons, right on cue at around 2PM, the clouds swirl in all around you and in many areas, it pours down relentlessly for hours on end. This never changes from what I'm told and is pretty much the norm in the region, something I'm no stranger to coming from Vancouver. I headed down the main road quickly before the rain came, and saw some fantastic tea plantations along the way, along with men working in the fields with some special contraption that cuts the leaves away into a large potato sack. It is said that there are 5.5 billion cups of tea produced in Malaysia per year. However, it is also said that Malaysians drink 7.5 billion cups of tea a year themselves! Therefore, tea is not used as an export in the country and in fact, tea is imported from Sri Lanka in certain areas within the country. The plantations were some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever witnessed and I could just imagine living in a little cabin perched on a hill overlooking the hills. Life would certainly be a lot simpler...
Today I said goodbye to the Cameron Highlands, much too soon but I had a tour in Taman Negara already booked and paid for so I couldn't extend my stay. Hopefully, someday I will make a return trip to the area as I would like to explore it further and do some more hiking. Right now, I'm sitting waiting for the ferry to take me to a nature reserve situated in the middle of the jungle. The next few days will be filled with lots of jungle exploration and maybe even some rafting. Definitely looking forward to yet another new landscape!
Hope you're all fantastic and update me on your lives!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. As always, attempt to guess which song the blog title comes from!
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