Helen had adamantly claimed she'd had each shower tap on for five minutes yesterday. Time is a funny thing and is warped into a very small thing when you're being covered in cold water. Having proved the principle yesterday afternoon, I demonstrated today by turning the hot tap (the left one as it happened) on and then letting the system run for not more than three minutes and, lo!, there was a rattling of pipes as they expanded with heat and boiling hot water emanated from the shower head.
We made an effort to leave the boundaries of the chalets and plodded down the road into Tanah Rata. On reflection an extraordinary place as the 400 yards of high street are split roughly 50-50 between mini markets and eateries. There are a few other shops but seemingly only token efforts. We booked an "adventure" trip tomorrow morning and the bus back to KL for 3pm. Having found no bookshops for Helen on the way up we stopped at an otherwise deserted restaurant and had lunch. The food was good but my coffee tasted awful. I poured in some "milk" to compensate, a glutonous creamy affair (condensed milk possibly -- it's so long since I've seen any) which disappeared into the bottom of the cup. And never reappeared. Having some little knowledge of fluid dynamics I was expecting to see something but this milk had gone to the bottom and stayed there, no mean trick. Stirring it produced a commendable milky coffee colour but sadly the taste was not right for man. I managed a couple of sips before gagging. Heading back down the high street innumerable other cafes appeared offering cheaper meals in nicer surroundings. Ah well.
No more bookshops but a few bookshelves (as ever mostly filled with manga comics) including some nearly new Tom Clancy or Joan Collins'. A snip at RM30 (US$7) each. We started off back up the road to the chalets when, having forgone a trip to the Cameron Valley plantations (the ones spread up and down the valley sides), we spotted "jungle trek 4" which our untrustworthy map suggested was a good alternative to the road. Stocking up on water and an ice cream we headed into the jungle, or rather along the nicely paved path between bits of town. It does become a bit more adventurous as the path has disappeared in parts along with the rest of the land in various landslips but these are easily navigable. Less avoidable was the man at the Parit Falls (not more than 2m) but fortunately he just wanted a chat rather than our possessions.
Not far round the corner is a diversion to a watchtower which we took, scrambling up the rough path. There is a good view from the top from which we envisioned an easy route back. At the bottom we met a couple who had struggled up a near vertical slope -- did I say the maps were unreliable? We pressed on, first away from our target, then back round, or did we? Then, um, we were lost. The path markers had names not indicated on our map and you couldn't see much for the trees. Unperturbed we carried on until we met route #6, of which no mention was made on the map. It's at this stage you wish you'd brought your GPS along for your walk into town...
We guessed left, then later guessed right before the buildings of the local village appeared along with the sounds of a Malaysian Eagles -- we'll ignore the shotgun going off in the background. The path then began to disappear, but at least it was going down. Luckily we emerged at the back of the village but it still took another 45 minutes to get back as the village appeared to be split into two by a river with only one bridge, right at the back. But we weren't to know that. We did know it started to rain, though, which was nice. The rain died away but the wind picked up (taking us down to a frankly chilly 21C) which persisted for the rest of the evening.
Bala's Cottages, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands N4.47786 E101.37877 Elev. 1518m Bala's Cottages, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.
