On our minibus journey to the Cameron Highlands the landscape started changing as we were heading 5000ft above sea level. Tea plantations dotted all over the rolling hills with wild trees sprawled across in the background. Nearby tents were filled with rows and rows of fresh fruit and vegetables. The landscape was beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like this before. The weather is cool and calm like England and the humidity no where near the 95% it is in the cities. You might even want to wear some long sleeved tops and trousers. But finally I could breathe in and fill my lungs with fresh air and be satisfied! If you’ve been in Malaysia for a while you will understand what I mean.
This part of Malaysia is all thanks to Mr William Cameron who discovered this area back in 1885, during a mapping expedition in Titiwangsa. George Maxwell then starting developing the region and carved out a road through the dense forest. Lots of wealthy British came to the Cameron Highlands to retreat from the hot and humid weather.
The tea plantations around the Highlands were started by John Archibald Russell in 1929 and now known as the famous Boh tea plantation.
We stayed at Orchid Lodge hostel, which was a great place to stay in Tanah Rata. I would definitely ring and book a bed or room in advance. If you read about our stay you will find out why.
Cameron Highlands is made up of a few towns, most notably Brinchang and Tanah Rata. Tanah Rata is the end point where all the coaches stop. This is a small town with a tourist information centre and places dotted along the street where you can book some tours or hire a bicycle/motorbike (no scooters – nobody had any to rent) to go off exploring on your own.
After spending our time in the Cameron highlands, I would recommend getting a tour. We tried to take the old, rickety public bus from the terminal in Tanah Rata (opposite Starbucks). However, it was never on time (every 2 hours apparently). There were no noticeable bus stops so you didn’t know where to get on at. The locals didn’t know anything about the bus schedule. Anyways, we paid the 2RM to go to Brinchang, another main town. From Brinchang we trekked on our own to:
- Cactus Valley – Perched on a hillside is this botanical show garden. It has a great collection of flowers and cacti of different shapes, sizes and colours. We easily spent an hour here meandering across the paths.
- Big Red Strawberry Farm – this was our next stop. The weather in the Cameron Highlands is perfect for growing a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. Strawberries are popular and there are rows and rows of strawberry plants. You can pick you own strawberries but only between May/June to late October, when they are in season. They also grow lettuces, kale and other vegetables hydropinically. At the cafe, they have fresh salads using the lettuces they have grown themselves.
We then tried to catch the bus to the famous Boh tea plantation. It wasn’t far to walk (3km in total), but the topography here is hilly – lots and lots of steep hills with no walking paths, so walking wasn’t really an option. The bus didn’t turn up, nobody knew if it even went the tea plantations. It was rather frustrating.
We decided to walk back to Tanah Rata because it didn’t turn up, the taxis were charging us 25RM one way to the plantation, which is the same price as a half day tour we saw back at the hostel.
It was a pleasant peaceful walk behind the golf course, into another village then back onto the main road. Luckily the way back was all downhill. We enjoyed the scenery and the English style buildings surrounding us.
We decided to take a tour the next day. For 25RM per person we took the half day tour. Our Land Rover picked us pick outside orchid lodge (arranged by the owner) and we went to the rose centre, Boh tea plantation, butterfly farm, bee farm, strawberry plantation and Chinese temple.
This was a great place to stay. The scenery was amazing and unique to this part of Malaysia.
Our next stop we are venturing off to Ipoh, back into the city life.
P.S. If you are interested in Land Rovers you need to come to Cameron Highlands…like right now. There are roughly 7,000 registered Land Rovers in the Cameron Highlands. Most of them are used in agriculture and construction but some are used in the tourist industry.
Welcome home!! Little England smacked in the middle of Malaysia. One of the best Malaysian places..thanks to the colonial English, else another sleepy mountain village. By the way, there is no such thing as local bus time table, so buses are the most unreliable public transport and that is why there are so many cars ( Land Rovers in hilly Cameron) even though most are unaffordable. Haven’t been there even though spent half my life in Malaysia. So on my next trip back shall try to visit ….thanks to your fabulous recommendations and tips.
By the way, where and what company minibus did you took to Cameron Highlands..save my time searching??
We took the scenic route… You can try it too. We saw wild water buffalos and boars on our boat trip from Taman Negara to Kuala Tembeling, then we got transferred to a minivan to Cameron Highlands (Tanah Rata). It was all done through Hans Travel (http://han-travel.com). They speak good English and are very helpful!!