Days 85: Cameron Highlands – Day 1
Today was mostly a travel day from Kuala Lumpur to the Cameron Highlands – a district high up in the hill-country that is famous for tea production, strawberry farms and a very mossy forest. What was particularly appealing to Lindsay, is that the higher elevation almost means that it is significantly cooler than the almost every other destination in Malaysia – she needed a break from the equatorial heat!
Getting to Tanah Rata, the main city in the Cameron Highlands, was incredibly simple – we took a taxi to the TBS Bus station, bought tickets from the kiosk (first try, this time!), and we were off in an air-conditioned coach bus. Simple, no hassle – a far cry from some of our Indonesian experiences (much to Igor’s appointment – he misses the “adventure”). We had two choices of bus operator to get to Tanah Rata – one which is known to have cockroaches and one that is known to downgrade everyone to a non-AC minibus if they don’t have enough passengers. Since they were both the same price and left around the same time, we selected the cockroach bus. Sure enough, we spotted some crawling in the florescent lights on the ceiling of the bus – but other than that the drive was very pleasant. We even pulled out our laptops and started to get some work done, at least up until the halfway point when we started going up twisting mountain roads. After about 15min, we both started getting carsick and had to put the computers away.
Buying tickets at the TBS Bus station, and waiting for our bus at our gate. Easy-peasy.
We arrived in Tanah Rata in the late afternoon – too late to do any sight-seeing activities, so we just checked into our hostel (uh-oh – a hostel! Lindsay strikes again!) and organized an excursion for the next day. After getting settled, we walked through town, exploring the food market and climbing the hill to the former Catholic convent (now a school). For dinner, we checked TripAdvisor’s list of top restaurants and had a FANTASTIC Indian food dinner at Singh Chapati – apparently there is a pretty large Indian population in the Cameron Highlands, and Tanah Rata is full of Indian restaurants to choose from. After dinner, we picked up a bottle of wine from the local minimart, and relaxed in our room.
The former SK Catholic Convent – now a primary school
Tanah Rata Food Market – a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy! Fruits, meats, sweets – all of it looked so tasty!
Fryers cooking up chicken and dumplings in the Tanah Rata food market
Loving the tudor-style buildings in Tanah Rata
Very delicious and very filling Indian dinner
Kicking back at the hostel with a couple of mugs of wine