Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Adios Thailand, hello Malaysia

Our 2 months in Thailand were complete. We came back to Koh Phangan with no Full Moon Party to relax on the quiet island. It was only a short stay but it was good to be back again. We returned to Light In Bungalows and was surprised to find that we were recognised and greeted with warm smiles. Before we left Thailand, we thought we couldn't go without experiencing a Elephant trek. So we paid for a 1hour ride on Nelly. It was quite scary really, we were sat on top of this huge animal, trusting it with our lives. But we survived. And we enjoyed it, we got taken to a great view point where we could see the ocean & mountains filled with lush Thai trees.

Since we have gone into April, we noticed the temperature rise quite a lot. It was now
unbearable to sit in the sun. This made us look forward to the coolness of the Cameron Highlands.We left for Butterworth, Malaysia at 06:00am and after a few change overs & a long mini bus ride we finally arrived at 10:30pm Malaysian time. We only stayed in Butterworth for the night and got up early once again to catch the 8:30 bus to the Cameron Highlands. The 3pound bus ride took us on a 6hour journey with the best views & scenery we have ever seen. It was like a Jungle in the sky, Huge mountains with clouds covering the tops, Plants, Vegetation & Tea Plantations.
We were 5000ft above sea level and the air was crisp & clear. We arrived at Tanah Rata early afternoon and found somewhere to stay almost immediately. We put on our trousers for the first time in 3months and had a look around the town. As it started to get dark, we threw on a jumper and drank a cup of tea, crazy! It wasn't that cold but we were used to it being a lot warmer. The cameron Highlands is a good place for hard core walkers. On our first proper day we walked the Jungle path 4 to the Parit Waterfall & Watch Tower. What would have been a nice Waterfall was a little bit smelly with trash floating around at the bottom. And the Watch Tower with a great
view was collapsed into a pile of wood. We were quite surprised that we came across this in such an amazing place. Robinson Waterfall was better but we were still not impressed.We had a busy few days visiting strawberry farms & enjoying the best strawberry juice and sundae's. The Butterfly & Insect farm was also fun. Our favourite day was our tour day. We were the only people doing the tour so it was nice, our tour guide Nick was really good. We drove up to the top of Gunung Brinchang. The highest point in Malaysia accessible by road. 6,666 feet above sea level. Trekked through the Mossy Forest and got to try some wild Cinnamon. Stopped at a view point overlooking 234 hectares of Tea plants. Visited the BOH Tea Plantation, danced and tried blow pipe hunting with the Orang Asli Tribe and finished the day with a dip in a really nice & clean waterfall.....at last!