Rock-awn Hikes the Highlands

The final instalment of the chronicles of Rock-awn takes the girls from an island to the highlands. We boarded a morning bus and travelled from George Town to the Cameron Highlands.

The bus was actually not too bad and didn’t get windy until the end, but it was longer than we anticipated and even though people from Malaysia like to head here for the cooler temperatures, the moment we stepped off the bus we were cold. It was cloudy and ended up being rainy for a lot of the evening, and I know I regretted ever saying that I had been too hot so far on our travels. I’ll be completely honest. I was disappointed with this new area from the minute we stepped off the bus. The area is known for tea and strawberries and we didn’t see any of the rolling tea hills on the way in, but we did see the multitudes of greenhouses that were actually quite ugly along the landscape. Being rainy and cold didn’t help matters (or my attitude much).

Some of the sights we came across on our first night in the town we are staying in – Tanah Rata

We decided to change our attitude and take advantage of what this area has to offer. There are a number of different hiking trails, so on the recommendation of our hotel we did a loop starting with Trail 10 and ending with Trail 4. After breakfast and on our way to the hiking trail, a dog ended up attaching himself to us. DawnO named him Freddie 2.0 since she and RobO already have a Zanzibar Freddie. Freddie followed and led us the whole way. He even warned us when there were a couple of other unfriendly dogs along the way. Freddie was a great guide and didn’t even demand payment at the end like DawnO thought he might. Once we got back into town, just like that once again he was gone. Malaysian Littlest Hobo?!

It was cloudy and a bit chilly when we started, but the sun ended up coming out and it was a really nice hike.

At about the halfway point, we came across a strawberry farm. The strawberries were delicious, though Freddie was not interested in any of it!

The hike and the strawberry farm were great and to complete our tasks of taking advantage of the area, we headed to the Cameron Bharat Tea Plantation. It was beautiful!! We sat around for quite awhile just simply admiring the view and then ended our visit there with “high tea” and scones (with strawberry jam of course)!

I’m going to say that this pretty much concludes the chronicles of Rock-awn 2.0 . . . . The Malaysian edition. Tomorrow we head back on a bus back to Kuala Lumpur where we might have half a day there. DawnO is planning to post tomorrow, so check back with her to see if we got into any last minute antics before leaving.

Malaysia has been great. It’s a fairly easy SE Asian country to travel in and feels quite different than the other ones I have visited. It feels a bit more organized and less chaotic, but at the same time lacks a bit of the energy I tend to find in other SE Asian countries. However, it is still a place I would recommend visiting.

My travel partner has also been great. I think we make a wonderful travel team. Maybe in the future there will be a Rock-awn 3.0??!!

Until the next adventure (which I’m not sure what it will be) . . . . Dela Frijoles!!!!