Heading to The Cameron Highlands

Before I came to Malaysia I had heard from a couple of sources that the Cameron Highlands were an interesting place to visit. I did some reading and found that the highlands were located high up in a mountainous region and thus the climate was quite different. There seemed to be things of interest to see and do there, so I made plans to go. I headed to the bus station and got myself a ticket. I had arrived a bit too late to catch one of the really early buses, so I set off at about 10:30 in the morning. As seems typical with bus companies in Asia, after about 2 hours of driving, we stopped at a roadside market, restaurant area for a break. I went in to get something to eat, but the guy was singularly unhelpful in letting me know how to get any food from him, so I ended up just going outside and having a couple of steamed dumplings filled with chicken curry. They were really good.

When I arrived in the Cameron Highlands, I'm not quite sure what I expected. I suppose that I really expected some sort of pristine wilderness area with lots of spectacular vistas and clean, clear air. I really ought to know better of anything that is on a tourist sort of track. The bus dropped us off in a bustling little tourist area, at a tourist info office, where I was given some directions to find some place to stay in the myriad places in the immediate vicinity. And if there was any doubt as to how much of a tourist type of town it was, well...

But on the way into town, we had passed a tea plantation that seemed to be quite picturesque, so I was looking forward to exploring the area and possibly getting back there to see if it was really as picturesque as it had seemed from the bus window. There was a tour offered at the tourist info place that seemed to take in the most intriguing sights of the area, including going up to the highest peak of the highlands, so I decided to do that the next day.

Then I wandered around town for a while, and followed a sign that pointed in the direction of Parit Waterfall. It was a puny little thing, but the park nearby was quite nice as a place to sit and read for a while.