Cameron Highlands, Malaysia – 21-24 July 2022

We pull into Tanah Rata bus station just after 2.45pm. It has been a mainly pleasant 2 hour 15 minute ride from Ipoh. As we got closer to Cameron Highlands the traffic got heavier and the fruit and Vege stalls on the side of the road start to appear. 

’m glad to get out though and stretch my legs. It’s nice not to be sweating walking to the hotel. A refreshing change.

Check-in is super easy - pay then get the room key.  By no means a glamorous room but I have space and a private bathroom. Ooh and the mattress isn’t rock hard. I drop my bags and decide to head out for a walk.

Tanah Rata is definitely a lot bigger than I expected! And there are so many people around. I walk up one side of the main road - lots of restaurants; hotels and shops. One surprising find is Starbucks, definitely didn’t expect to find one here!  

I choose one place that I can sit outside. at 3.45pm it’s too late for lunch and too early for dinner so I decide on a cold drink.

I’m actually starting to feel cold…..so hard to believe when only a few hours ago I was sweating in Ipoh! Will be strange this evening not sleeping with a/c, there isn’t even a fan in the room.

I head back to the hotel to book my tour for tomorrow, get a recommendation for dinner and book a hotel (by the bus station) in Ipoh for Sunday night.  Tonight I’ll look at Penang hotels. Soooo lovely having Wi-Fi in my room.

I wander through the town and past the bus stop to I come to a park. Great to see and people watch.  

 

The restaurant I had researched (thank you Lonely Planet! doesn’t open to 6.30pm so I walk back to the township area slowly. Along the way I stop and chat to Nikki (a fellow Kiwi) who was on my bus from Ipoh. We believe we are on the same tour tomorrow morning which will be good.

I see a sign advertising the restaurant up some stairs. Here I go!!!

It’s a good view from the balcony of the restaurant. I clearly got here at the right time, it’s a first come first serve with the tables and I get the last free one. Now I just need a menu.

The table next to me kindly tell me to go and get the menu off the table (as they have ordered) and a piece of paper from the counter. Then order. Right oh, off I go!

Trying to decide what to eat is hard - so many great options. Roti is a must! I’m going vegetarian tonight. Eggplant masala. There are lots of people already here so I know I’m in for a long wait. Glad I brought my sudoku book.

Well this is interesting! It’s 7.07pm, I’m sitting outside. There are no fans. My pashmina needs to come out…..it’s cold! Probably 18 degrees.

Ooh my, it’s getting cold. I honestly never thought I would say that I was cold in Malaysia. Tomorrow night I’ll 100% be wearing my longest pants.

Close to an hour after ordering my food arrives - it’s super tasty!!! Before the table next to me left they asked if I had told the staff my spice level. Ummm no. So far not spicy, long may that continue.

There are lots of people around when I walk back to the hotel - a huge difference from Ipoh.

As soon as I enter my room I close my windows. Far too cold (😊) to have them open! I few minutes later a baby starts crying. I must locate my earplugs.

My alarm wakes me at 7am on Friday 22 July. More sleep is needed!! My weather app tells me it’s 17 degrees. Ooh my! A bit of a shock to the system.

The hot water takes what feels like forever to arrive….then when it does it’s hot. Excellent!

As I sit here waiting for my breakfast the beautiful blue sky is calling my name.

As I’m waiting, as instructed at 8.30am outside the hotel, I get chatting to a family from KL. Alice, her husband and daughter. They tell me about their time in New Zealand and how they loved it 😊 Alice gives me her phone number before I run off.

Refer to other blog about the tour.

After being dropped off in the town one of the girls from the tour and I decide to have lunch together. She has another two plus weeks in Malaysia. Very exciting. Lunch isn’t anything to write home about, it fills a gap. 

My room is so dark, looks like it might rain again. I take my laptop and head outside. Within minutes it’s absolutely pouring! I’m glad to be here and not out walking. Will make tonight’s journey interesting! 

Wholly smoke! It’s absolutely pouring down buckets and buckets of rain!!! And now the thunder has joined the fun.

I have a couple of hours relaxing in the cafe area of the hotel - Alice joins for me a bit which is lovely! 

Nikki and I had planned to walk to the restaurant tonight but that is absolutely not happening. Such a shame. Instead we’ll go by grab. 

Grab taxi seems to be a no go. The guy at the reception desk tells me there is no Grab here…..seems odd given I did manage to book a grab (and my credit card was charged). Taxi it is then! 

We pick Nikki up on the way, nice and easy. On arrival we are the only ones at the restaurant. That soon changes. We both have roast NZ lamb. 

 

It’s not raining when we leave the restaurant so decide to walk back to our hotels. 

I’m woken yet again by a crying baby just after 6am on Saturday 23 July. The family had come in around 1am and were so loud. I really hope that I don’t have this tonight. 

I have breakfast and finish packing before checking out. My hotel for tonight is roughly 10 minutes walking away. Easy as. 

Ooh yes there is a lift! I didn’t fancy dragging my suitcase up anymore! The last 5 minutes walking has all been uphill. I really hope the view from my room is worth this. 

At check-in I’m informed they can give me my room in 2 hours at 12noon. Very kind. I do the paperwork, drop my bags then sit to get my bearings. Unfortunately there is no short cut to town which means it’s down and up I go. Burning calories for the scones I want to eat 😃 

Flat white ordered. People watching begins. 

 

Alice and her family had recommended a place to go for scones with jam and cream. It’s totally walkable (not as far as last night) so off I head. 

When I arrive on the road the place is on it’s like Piccadilly Circus, there are cars and people everywhere. One advantage of walking is not having to worry about where to park. 

I have a short wait before being shown to my table. The lady that takes me to the table very kindly allows me to hotspot off her phone to view the menu then order.  It’s a tough decision with so many choices. Strawberry scone wins in the end. 

 

The walk back to the town (a mix of uphill and downhill) is pleasant. Traffic seems to be crawling along. 

As I approach the town the wind starts to pick up. When this happened yesterday it was followed by rain and thunder. Time to pick up the pace and hightail it back to the hotel. 

Room 1 was a fail as I couldn’t get in! The reception staff were extremely apologetic. All good, these things happen. As soon as I enter my second room I open the windows and turn the fan on. And relax! 

The heavens well and truly open within half an hour of me being here. I’m so so glad I didn’t get stuck in this! 

I have the afternoon in my room, it’s nice not to be out and about. The outside view changes many times! At one stage I can hardly see anything! 

 

 

When I get to the restaurant at 7.10pm I’m the only one here. Either everyone else goes out to eat or they eat later. Thankfully dinner isn’t too spicy. 

 

It’s lovely sitting here seeing blue sky and the clouds slowly turn pink. 

Sunday 24 July I wake just after 7am, the sun is starting to make an appearance.

Like the last two days the rain is supposed to start early afternoon so I decide to head down to the town for breakfast. 

 

I have two hours before I need to go back to the hotel to check out. I chat to Mum for a bit then Alice messages me about meeting up.

As I stand here waiting for Alice and family I think the nicest part of the day is over. It’s a little cool in the shade.

We head to a restaurant that a family member owns. As I had just eaten I have coffee only. I take one sip of the coffee and realize there is A LOT of sugar in here. Sugar with black coffee. It’s not all about that though, it’s about being with friends.  

I suddenly realize the time, I need to go 😞 We have photos before I’m set off in the right direction (I was going to be going right when I needed to go left….). I’ll need to move quickly to get back to the hotel in 35 minuses….with a stop along the way to get a takeaway scone. 

 

On arrival at Opah Strawberries the lady recognizes me….I guess easy given I’m the only white person. I go with the recommendation of butterscotch scone (sorry Eva!!). 

As I depart Opah Strawberries the sun disappears behind the clouds. I really hope I get back to the hotel without getting rained on. Time to power walk back to the hotel.  I arrive at the hotel at 2 minutes past 12noon. I now need to cool down!!! Thankfully Alice had called reception to say I’ll be a little late. I head straight to reception to update my card. I’m told I can have to 12.30pm. Excellent! I’ll be sitting under the fan for the next 10 minutes or so. 

My bus isn’t for another 3 hours so I decide to hang out in the huge lobby area for a bit before going down to the town. It won’t be easy pulling my suitcase along down there so best to waste time here. 

As I cut into the scone the strong flavour of butterscotch comes out. Ooh no, no cream. Only butter and strawberry jam. What a shame! While it’s tasty I do prefer yesterdays scone, it wasn’t as sweet as what this is. 

The walk down the hill to town is SOOO much easier with a suitcase. I wander up and down trying to decide where to eat. I’m not overly hungry but know if I don’t eat know I’ll be starving as soon as I get onto the bus. 

I decide on a local South Indian restaurant and order roti, vegetables and Dahl. 

 

I get talking to the table next to me - one of the men is a tour guide the other is now in politics (used to be a Banker). At some stage the tour guide goes and helps out at the restaurant and someone else joins the conversation. He owns a hotel 1 km away. Lots of chat and laughs! They try to convince me to stay an extra night and hang out with them. When I say no they say they are coming with me to Ipoh. 

The man in politics kindly pays for my lunch. So very nice of him. 

I head to the bus station, checking in is just saying my name. She doesn’t want to see my ticket. The lady is the wife of the tour guide I met earlier. I leave my bag with her then head to one of the outside seats. Within seconds of sitting down the rain drops start. I’m so so lucky it’s only just starting now. 

When I head back to the bus station the tour guide is there chatting to his wife. We chat for a bit. I’m at least undercover here and not getting wet.

 

The bus arrives shortly after 3pm, we are asked to put out bags on then come back at 3.20pm when the driver will open the doors. 

My time in the Cameron Highlands has come to an end. I’m looking forward to feeling some heat again! 

Luggage doors are closed at 3.29pm, the driver isn’t mucking around here! We depart bang on 3.30pm. Ipoh here I come (for one night). 

I’m thinking we are going great guns, cruising down around the hills for a few Kms then we come to a stop followed by a slow crawl….we have hit traffic.  At this rate we may make it to Ipoh by 7pm (supposed to be there by 5.45pm). 

At 3.59pm I see a sign that says Ipoh 83km. 

It’s taken us 10 minutes to get 1 km…..this is going to be one looooooong bus trip!  The next km is even slower. 

A few Kms further we stop to pick someone up, traffic seems to be moving a lot better now. 

We make one more stop. Someone either brings on durian or someone already on board opens it. The smell……

Ipoh here I come!