The Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

After leaving Melaka we caught a bus back to Kuala Lampur, then another one to the Cameron Highlands so it was a long travel day. We asked for the Express bus which we supposedly caught but the driver seemed to stop in random places along the way. Here he is stopping to pick up flowers from the back of a car. I saw the driver give him some money so I think he was doing deliveries on the side!

Once we turned off the main highway we kept going higher and higher on an increasingly crooked road, but the scenery was beautiful as we went along...

We passed many little clusters of houses on the side of the road that looked rather shoddily built...

We arrived six hours later at a town called Tanah Rata which is one of the two major towns in the area. Interestingly enough a lot of the buildings were white and black and gave the feel of a British town. 

The oldest hotel here is the Smokehouse which was built in 1930 by the British...

We stayed in a development just above the town in an apartment with three young women, two from Belgium and one from Germany. Here is our apartment building...

 

The British feel to the place is due to their influence as this area after being discovered by surveyor William Cameron in 1885 was settled by them in 1920s when they established a hilltop town and called it the Cameron Highlands.

This area is quite high being over 5000 ft above sea level so with the mild temperatures, sun and rain the first tea plantation was established in 1929 and now the area is known for its tea production.

We only had a couple of days here so we hired a guide for a day to tour around the area. It was a rainy day so not the most pleasant for touring but we made the best of it.

We visited a Buddhist temple which belonged to the large Chinese population who came after the British and own many farms producing vegetables and flowers.

There were many fierce looking Buddhas... 

Don covers all of his bases...

Though if he wished for sun it didn't work!

One interesting fact in the next picture is an area where once people are cremated and have no family the temple keeps them in these urns with their pictures on them...

The temple was getting ready for Chinese New Year so they had lots of flowers and plants for the celebration...

The Highlands don't have wild animals but they have lots of interesting insects, this one is called the leaf insect and you can see why...

Also beautiful butterflies...

And big beetles that like to eat sugar cane...

Also everywhere you look there are beautiful flowers...

One of the highlights of the day was our visit to the tea plantation which is 600 acres and started by a Scottish family which still owns it today.

The fields are so green and manicured as the process of growing tea requires continual pruning to ensure the plants grow low and bushy to produce more leaves. 

We stopped to walk through the fields and came across some workers mostly from India who come on two or three year contracts and are paid 25 cents a day! 

Us in the fields...

In this picture you can see some of the ladies who pick by hand and ensure higher quality which results in a better price than leaves harvested by machines...

Here is a picture of the workers' camps...

And this was one of my favourite pictures of the day...a lone workers cabin surrounded by the lushness of the area...

We also visited the tea factory where the tea is processed and sorted depending on grade. The tea in this area is mostly consumed locally and is not of a high quality because it is harvested by machine and not by hand....

The tea plantation also has a neat tea room built out over the fields where we stopped for tea and treats...

The view from there...

We decided even though it was rainy to go to the top of the second highest mountain to see if there was a view, we climbed this tower but all we saw was cloud...

The top of the mountain is surrounded by the Mossy Forest, an old growth cloud forest which is a protected area that is being destroyed by the locals and therefore not readily accessible anymore. Our guide however had his own secret pathway in so being wet we decided to now get muddy!

At its peak condition all the surfaces are covered by moss but this day everything was slippery and muddy, we climbed up and down, hung on ropes and slipped our way through the undergrowth. However with the rain it was still quite beautiful...

The guys said the forest in the movie Avatar was fashioned after this place, who knows?

Us half way through...

We were interested in these flowers that they call pitcher plants which are very similar to ours at home except bigger and grow on trees, same principle though in that they open and catch insects.

This area is called the green basket of Malaysia because it produces lots of vegetables and is also well known for its strawberries. We visited some green houses and saw that most of them were growing hydrophonically...

Another interesting fact about the Cameron Highlands is that they have one of the largest concentration of Land Rovers in the world, over 2000 just in this small area. They were introduced by the British and were ideal for the terrain here. We spent the day in a 1980 model that still had all the original parts. Here is a picture of Don and Mike, our guide, who really knew how to drive that thing!

They are also quite cheap here about half the price they would be in Canada...

 

Some sights around the town...

On the way to school...

Enjoying a coffee, Starbucks are everywhere in Malaysia, from the smallest town to every corner in the larger cities!

One of the advantages to living in such a fertile area!

Finally what did we eat? Well here most of the food is either Indian or Chinese and sometimes it looks like Chinese and tastes like Indian!

Our most interesting meal was called Steamboat where they place a burner on your table with a large pot of broth, one side being chicken and the other being hot and sour. Then they bring out a platter of food like the one below, don't ask what it all was! With two types of noodles and two eggs we throw it all in and then wait for it to cook.

Enjoying the delicious results!

And that's it from another beautiful spot in Malaysia! The Cameron Highlands were completely different from any other area we have visited so far and even though the weather wasn't the greatest we enjoyed the cooler weather. Now off to our last stop in Malaysia.

Melaka, Malaysia

After an hectic few days in Kuala Lampur we headed to the bus station to catch a ride down south to Melaka. Our Muslim taxi driver was hilarious, wouldn't take a tip, told us he could have four wives. When I asked him if he did, he said NO WAY, maybe one wife and a girlfriend because he has to work hard, his saying was " Much money, happy honey."

The bus station was huge, modern and very efficient, bought our tickets for a total of 6 dollars for both and then caught the bus which left right on time.

The ride went fast and we were there in a little over two hours, the scenery was very green along the way...

Melaka is a smaller place with about half million people. It is a UNESCO heritage city due to its long history of being a key trading port between the East and the West as well as a very diverse culture based on all the generations of peoples from across the world who have settled here.  It also has an historically preserved Center.

The city is built up on two sides of the Melaka river which runs from the sea into the Center of the city. There is a 9 km. promenade on both sides which is a beautiful place to walk both day and evening as it is quite safe here.

As we walked along we saw many houses painted all colours some with bright murals...

We also saw a lot of reconstruction work going on besides the river as many of the houses are still in disrepair...

Speaking of houses, we scored again on our guest house, it is clean, spacious with wonderfully kind owners and it costs 33 dollars a night for a private room and ensuite!

We stayed here four days to chill out a bit and do some planning on where we are going next, hoping the place is as nice as this one...

Also time to do laundry...

Since Melaka is positioned as a strategic trading port it has a long history of being conquered, first in 1511 by the Portuguese armada using ships like these which is now a Maritime Museum...

Then in 1641 by the Dutch signified by a windmill on the river..

Then in 1824 by the British as seen by the main square with the centrepiece being a Queen Victoria fountain...

We went to visit the Independence Museum which is housed in a former British club and it told the story of Malaysia's struggle for independence over 500 years. 

There was this picture of the day the leaders returned from London after signing the papers.

It must have been a momentous day!

Malaysian flags...

There is also a long history of Chinese here as they came as traders in the early centuries and remained.There is a big Chinatown and as it is soon Chinese New Year there are lanterns everywhere...

And at night they look beautiful as well...

In fact when the Chinese came to trade some of them married the local women and created a new group of people who being half Chinese and half Maly became known as the Baba Nyonyas. They created a fusion of religions, foods, language and have been existence for 7 generations. We visited one of the homes of a very prosperous family who have donated their home as a museum. It was interesting to see over the generations how this very rich family decorated their home with treasures from around the world. This is a picture of the Grand Hall as I wasn't allowed to take other photos...

To keep this culture strong they were only allowed to marry each other but the last generation did not obey this rule and have married foreigners so the culture is now being diluted and may soon disappear.

Since there are so many religions here we did our rounds to the places of worship as they are integral to the way of life here...

Catholic Church which was full...

Mosques that were calling for prayers...

Simple temples...

And fancy ones, this temple is the oldest in Malaysia built in 1693 and still operating today...

 

The people light incense and then pray at each entrance...

They also bring offerings of foods...

There is a famous trading street in Malacca called Jonker Street which is full of boutiques and restaurants and on the weekend they hold a night market there. It is crazy with people!

There is lots of different foods to eat, what about a skewer of quails eggs?

We found a corner cafe to watch the action go by...

As we were there on the weekend there were many families out enjoying what the city has to offer, in fact there were bus loads of people as this seems to be a popular tourist destinations for other Asians.

One thing unique to here are tricycles which the drivers have brightly decorated with themes, they will drive you around an hour for 3 dollars. This family was waving as they went by...

At night they all light up so it all looks quite weird...

And then there is the food....

This place had you pick the skewers of food, most of what we didn't recognize and no one spoke English so we went ahead. The skewers are dipped in a peanut broth and boiled for about 5 minutes while you continue to stir. It was tasty but not as tasty as the grilled skewers in KL.

Our most tasty meals were at an Indian restaurant we passed every day, the meals cost 2-3 dollars and were tasty. This was lunch...

They gave you a banana leaf and then went around with big buckets and gave you rice, dahl, curry and veggies. The mango curry was delicious! Not to fussy about eating with my fingers though!

This is one of the servers, a very nice young man who spoke some English. The Indians came here as labourers for the rubber plantations and are now a large part of the population.

Another popular thing to do here is take a boat ride along the river...

 

We did it at night and the river was lit along the way....

At the end of the river were many larger hotels and office buildings...

Also we passed a small village of traditional Malay homes that were built by the British and are still occupied today. They have pointed tin roofs and were also lit up as went along...

Overall we liked Melaka as it was small enough to walk around, very clean and safe and lots to see...

A streetscape...

Beautiful colours...

Lots of places to stop to enjoy something cold when the heat and humidity got to us. This cool cafe made their own liquid concoctions...

In the evening there were lots of cafes and bars to enjoy the warm night air....

So we would definitely recommend this as a rest stop! Off early in the morning to someplace cooler!