Fluffy green tea pillows, Cameron Highlands: Malaysia

I was welcomed by serpentine road that made me feel sick and heavy rain that didn’t stop even for a second during our first day there. We spent the day hiding in our room, smelling the fungus on the roof of our room.  We stayed in a OK and cheap hostel, with a very friendly owner, but terrible rooms. We could feel the humidity and fungus everywhere, but well, no wonder, Cameron Highlands are located on the Main Range and about 75 percent of the area is situated over a 1,000 metres above sea level. Humidity is constantly high are there are practically no dry seasons, with the average temperature of 18 degrees.

The second day luckily was sunny. We rented a motorbike and decided to explore the area on our own. I was a bit with a flu, so I didn’t want to do any serious hiking. We started with going to the summit Gunung Brinchang, the second highest hill in the area (2000 meters) and the highest mountain reachable by car.  I must say that the way up itself was thousand times better than the summit itself. On the top we saw some modern buildings, a closed gate and a lousy path by the fence. It was extremely muddy, so we gave up quite quickly, although we knew there should  be some nice trekking paths nearby.

On the top you can climb a view tower, but the views are not impressive at all. All you can see are forests, not tea plantations, and some ugly greenhouses.

But, as I said, the road there was really amazing. We were going up a very narrow road having beautiful views over the tea plantations on both sides.

On the way back we stopped for some pictures on a verge of a steep slope with tea bushes. I placed my helmet on the verge and accidentally kicked it down the slope. Renato offered himself do go down to pick it up, but it wasn’t easy, as the hill was really steep and the dirt was sliding down. How hard must be the work of plucking the tea leaves!

Unfortunately the famous Moose forest was closed, so we decided to go back to the main road and try some tea in one of the main teahouses. Along the main road you can spot many strawberry farms, bee farms, orchid farms, butterfly farms, all to attract tourists. And there were lots of people visiting them, but I think mainly Malaysian people. Not a high season for foreign tourists again.

We stopped in the most famous tea house, Cameron Valley. We had a … surprise… tea! and went for a walk through the tea plantation along the bushes. It’s funny that from far the fields look like fluffy pillows with different round shapes and when you actually see them from close that are rather sharp and harsh. The views were marvellous again. Huge mountains and valleys all covered with tea plantations. Definitely worth the sickness of the trip through narrow winding roads.

Magda