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| Me with the Rafflesia flower... its a bit far away, so its bigger than it looks |
Sorry about the sudden ending last night. There were only a few people still hanging out in the common space and when they left for bed, I didn't want to be the last one there. So, I'll finish about yesterday before I start on today.
Before I boarded the bus, I talked to a British couple who were also on their way to the Cameron Highlands. When the bus arrived, it was the worst one in the station. We were all a bit skeptical about the ride, and it was nice to experience the bus ride with someone. After a brief stop in Butterworth, we had a two hour drive to Ipoh. The journey was extremely beautiful - tons of palm trees, hills and rock formations. When we got to Ipoh we were supposed to have a 30 minute bathroom break. Somehow this turned into 1.5 hours because there was a mechanic working on the bus. While I was sitting, I noticed some bugs crawling around on the window and the seat in front of me. It was really disgusting, so I moved a row behind to sit with someone else. We never found out exactly what was wrong with the bus but we eventually got on the road again.
More green hills as we wound our way up the road towards the Highlands. As we got close to Brinchang (a town in the Highlands), traffic starting building up. There were so many tourists! It was insane. By the time we arrived in Tanah Rata it was almost 3pm. A guy from the guesthouse was there waiting for me; it was such an easy arrival. When I saw the dorm room, I reminded myself that I hadn't really done a dorm yet and would just have to settle in. There are ten beds and the bathroom and shower are a walk outside. The women at the front desk were so friendly and helpful, and I found out that the Rafflesia, the largest single flower of any flowering plant, was in bloom. The flower only blooms for about five days before it dies. I booked the Rafflesia full day tour for today.
When I went out around 4:30pm to explore Tanah Rata, it was already pretty chilly. The books say that the Cameron Highlands are a respite from the heat of Penang and KL, and they aren't kidding. The town itself is pretty small and mostly filled with mini-mart type shops selling souvenirs and there's even a Starbucks. I went to the Indian restaurant recommended in both my guidebooks for dinner at 5pm since I hadn't eaten lunch and ordered chicken curry and naan. Sadly the chicken was very boney and I kind of picked at it. The naan with dips was tasty, so I mostly had bread for dinner. While I was eating, I noticed a guy sit down on his own outside and when I finished dinner, his chocolate cake gave me the perfect excuse to say hello. We ended up talking for a couple hours. Brian's from Seattle but currently living in Beijing and has done some traveling in the region, so I was picking his brain for ideas.
By the time we left, it was 8:30pm and cold and dark out. There's a short cut back to the guesthouse, which I took at a quick pace. The guest area was full of people, so I sat down inside with a couple I'd met earlier in the day. Jenny and Bob are from England and recently quit their jobs to travel. We had a nice conversation before I worked on my blog and enjoyed a piece of chocolate cake. I didn't get back to the dorm until 11:30pm and everyone else was already asleep. So I quietly got ready and climbed into bed to snuggle up and get warm. I slept pretty well, given the circumstances.
This morning I was up a bit early since people in the dorm started stirring at 6:30am. Father's has a nice restaurant and I actually had a real breakfast, two fried eggs on toast before my tour left at 8:45. A French family of four from the guesthouse was on the tour, and then we were joined by the Dutch woman from my bus yesterday and a French couple. Our first stop was the Orang Asli village, native dwellers of the rainforest, about an hour from Tanah Rata. It was a little hokey, they showed us how to use a blow pipe and we walked around to see a few bamboo houses. Pretty uneventful. From there we drove a few minutes and then turned on to a dirt path for some off-roading. I think its the first proper off-roading I've done. The ground was super muddy and we were bumping all over the place. We had 20-30 minutes driving like that before we hopped out of the car and walked the rest of the way to the famous Rafflesia flower. Apparently there are about 25 flowers in the forest but they all bloom at different times. We only had to walk 45 minutes to see one, but sometimes you have to walk a couple of hours, just to see a flower! But as I mentioned already, it is a famous flower. Theresa told me about her experience with the Rafflesia flower when she and John were in Borneo so I felt I had to see it with my own eyes.
The walk through the jungle was MUDDY!!! It was pretty disgusting and very hard to find good footing where you wouldn't sink into the ground. Parts were solid, but the mud got all over my shoes and the bottom of my freshly cleaned pants. I was not a happy camper. There were lots of trees and plants and dodging branches, and I didn't take too many pictures because I was so focused on where I was going. We had to cross a bridge (if you could call it that) made of bamboo branches. It held up, but you really had to hold on and watch your step. After about 40 minutes, we arrived at the spot, the location of the Rafflesia flower currently in bloom. Just a lone red flower in the middle of the trees. I got my picture with the flower, just like everyone else.
Before walking back to the car, we stopped at a short waterfall where I tried to clean my shoes off (unsuccessfully). Our next stop was a small Indian restaurant on the side of the road for lunch. There really wasn't much on offer and I ended up with mostly rice and bread, with some curry to dip. From there we headed to the BOH tea plantation. This was the view of the Highlands I'd been waiting for - rows of tea plants on rolling hills. Our driver, Ravi, actually grew up on the tea estate so he took us on a walk through the plants for a fabulous view of the area. There are about 150 workers who gather the tea and are paid based on the weight, only 20 cents per kilogram. With the current machines, they can gather up to 250 kgs per day. The estate we were at had 234 hectares, but the entire land of BOH amounts to 1200 hectares. After our climb in the tea plants, we went to the factory to learn the process of tea making and had time to enjoy some tea overlooking the surrounding area. They didn't have the Afternoon Blend so I tried some type of tea which already has milk and sugar. It was pretty sweet.
We climbed back into the van and made our way to the butterfly farm where we saw some gross looking insects before walking around the butterfly house. Our last stop was the strawberry farm which serves various desserts involving strawberries. I sampled the Strawberry Ice Cream Special, vanilla ice cream with strawberries, strawberry syrup and whip cream. YUM! It was a sweet end to a long day. By the time I got back here it was after 5pm, we'd been gone for eight hours. Since it wasn't too cold yet, I got in the shower, which actually was hot for a majority of the time. They have a hairdryer in the other part of the guesthouse, so I took advantage. It's so cold that I couldn't bear the thought of sitting around with wet hair.
Jenny and Bob were sitting in the lounge when I got here. We talked for a bit before I ordered dinner, a somewhat flavorful spaghetti bolognese. I didn't feel like venturing into town. And after eating I've been slowly writing this, with Sunshine Cleaning movie playing in the background. I also decided to taste the scones with strawberry jam and whipped cream. I think I'm spoiled on scones though; they weren't nearly as good as the Lanesborough's.
Tomorrow I'm meeting my friend from the bus (pretty sure her name is Daniella) to walk around the area. There are lots of trails to take, but I think we'll take an easy one after our muddy hiking today.
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