On the road (Again)

Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands
11 November 2010
Another city conquered and with consummate ease. Having walked around KL for a few days, we were fairly sure the traffic wouldn't be a problem. Good roads, an excellent freeway system and - Surprise! Surprise! - mostly good drivers. We were out of central KL in a flash and on the main motorway north within 30 minutes of picking up our hire car. If this were Europe, most drivers here would be blasted or 'flashed' off the road. For us, though, the Malaysian practice of passing on which ever side feels good at the time was no real shock. That's just what happens at home! Motorbikes and scooters are a bit frightening at times, but there are relatively few of them compared to places like Vietnam. They are, however, just as suicidal!


High in the mountains of Pahang, the Cameron Highlands are almost 2000 mtrs above sea level. It is cool here, around 23C, a great relief from the draining tropical heat of Kuala Lumpur. A 70 km windy road took us up from the coast through lush jungle. The population density here is quite low, with villages and towns sparsely scattered along the valleys. In fact, much of the route here today was fairly open country with Palm Oil plantations interspersed with forest regrowth, far from the popular image of a crowded south-east Asia.

Our first stop today was a Tea Plantation, established in 1929 by J. A. Russell. Beautiful, green tea plants covered the hills, set out in neat rows, only interrupted by the bobbing heads of a few pickers. They use machines mostly, these days, a sort of hedge trimmer, but the steeper slopes are “picked” using hand shears still. We enjoyed a self-guided tour of the factory and discovered tea is remarkably easy and fast to process – very user-friendly for the factory owner!


Our hotel/hostel is at the back of the town, right up against the jungle. We've already seen a small monkey from our window. Given the great expanse of jungle we have driven through today, we would hope there is still some wildlife left up here in the hills.


Tanah Rata is a fairly touristy town, but it still retains some of the feel of an old hill town. The shop fronts have been 'tarted-up' somewhat, but most still maintain a little of the authentic Asian feel. And, it must be said, they are a little dirty. Comparisons with southern European towns came immediately to mind for us. On our first visit to Italy and Greece over 30 years ago, rural towns had much the same feel as the country towns of Asia today, cars everywhere, rubbish in the streets, decaying buildings and that, not-quite-finished look to public infrastructure like roads and footpaths. It also has to be said, that there are more than a few towns in Mediterranean Europe that are still like this today.