Wandering Goose: The Cameron Highlands

Malaysia's Cameron Highlands are a really great place to chill out. The temperature here hovers around a moderate 20°C and the seemingly endless amount of hikes, coupled with Tanah Rata and Brinchang's laid back mountain town vibes make you feel like you don't really need to leave anytime soon after all. The countryside is beautiful and relatively new as far as development is concerned; commercial development only began here in the 1920's, around 40 years after it was first "discovered" by a British surveyor. However, farms and tea plantations are popping up at a mile a minute and it is clear to see that the landscape is changing very quickly. Tourism appears to have taken its toll as well, with boutique hotels under construction and many new residences being built.

We stayed at Danny's Lodge, otherwise known as Chang's Lodge, which had a big outdoor covered common area and a really rustic and charming bar called the Jungle Bar where a bonfire burns every night so you can dry the mud from your socks and escape the sometimes chilly temperatures of the highlands at night. Tanah Rata has some serious charm to it, great Indian food joints and Malaysian food markets, and an awesome little cafe called the Lord's Cafe where you can get some fresh warm scones with whipped cream and jam, apple pie, and taste some of the local tea, which is delicious by the way.

So we spent most of our days in the Cameron Highlands hiking for a few hours through some of the local trails that form a massive system throughout the highlands, exploring a tea plantation (and buying a lot of tea), went to a butterfly farm, and did a tour with the local Orang Asli tribespeople to find rafflesia flowers, the world's largest flower. We also got to try our hands out at shooting the long blowdart guns they would hunt with traditionally, but now just use for fun when they drink. By night we would sit by the fire, sip on Bombay gin and drink Guinness, and talk with the other travellers while the daily rains came down around us. Oh yeah, and for some strange reason when we were exploring the market we couldn't help ourselves but buy some retro, extremely neon ski jackets, that we will never ever need on this trip through tropical South East Asia.. So yeah, we have ski jackets now. Sweet.