We're up early today for our Cameron Highlands Adventure, certainly early enough to venture down for breakfast. I plump for the continental at RM10.50, a cheaper option. Having misread the menu, I get a glass of fruit juice, two slices of toast with a catering pot of butter and jam and a cup of coffee. Hmm, maybe not the cheaper option. Bala's Cottages must be relying on its English charm to sweet talk gullible people out of their money. It's not competitive at all. It did have a tiny portrait of the Fleece Inn at Bretforton, Warwickshire in the reading room which was good enough for me.
Having stowed our possessions in the laundry room (clearly moonlighting as the secure luggage room) we waited for our 4x4 to turn up. Amazingly, Malaysia hasn't succumbed to the LandCruiser (yet) and sure enough we took the bench seats in the back of an aging Land Rover. We passed through Brinchang and up the road past the Boh tea estate where we stopped for a quick discourse on the plantation and tea cropping. Boh tea estate, Brinchang. They grow tea everywhere. Impressively the bonsai tea trees (shrubs) are the originals, some 70 or more years old. On up to Gunung Brinchang, the Highlands highest point at a little over 2000m. The day had been overcast, the mist having failed to lift from the mountains despite the strong wind. And no different here. What was different was the masses of cars, vans, catering gear and movie equipment. Yes, they were shooting a film about a jungle queen on top of the mountain, or would have been if the weather was better.
We started on our "mossy" walk which meant slipping and sliding across tree roots, through mud, over boardwalks around movie lamps and across the top of the hill. It was a bit mucky. We did see some largish pitcher plants and a bit of moss but it was surprisingly cold -- it must have dropped ten degrees on those last 500m up not aided by the wind. We turned around with some relief but no relish at having to traverse the same route back. Helen with particularly muddy right leg. Up the road to the summit proper and a quick clamber up a watchtower -- another couple of degrees cooler we were told -- which had a reasonable view all told but it was blowing a gale.
Back down the hill to the Boh estate and a tour of their factory. Some fantastic great iron machines with Heath Robinson pulleys and conveyors all from the dawn of time. A lot of manual labour, still, it wasn't quite automated, with arms being thrust into dangerous looking places. Bah, people are cheap. After a quick cuppa, to the final feature, the Butterfly Garden. Instinct ignored we went in paying our RM3 entrance fee. In the first section some mighty insects, three clawed 4 inch titan beetles, stick insects, leaf frogs, bird spiders etc. plus a sackful of 3 inch scorpions. The insects etc. in glass cages, the scorpions in a concrete pit.
The butterfly garden was a big netted area, say 20m x 10m x 4m with many many huge and attractive butterflies, 5 and 6 inch wingspans. But then you realised how lifeless they were. Closer inspection revealing many damaged wings, whether from tourist feet or escape attempts wasn't clear. Ecologically sound it was not. We had, however, already committed the cardinal sin of eco-friendly tourism by paying for the upkeep of the butterfly equivalent of veal cages etc..
After lunch the bus back to KL was pretty uneventful. By chance we had the same bus and driver as on the way up. Curiously, the bus on the way up was full, there were only eight going back. Maybe that explains all the building work in the area. We were chucked off the bus half a block from the Shell garage with two goals: secure a bus ticket to the east coast and find somewhere to stay. As it happens both were pretty easy. The first counter we asked at sold us a bus ticket and the Hotel Malaya was pleased to take our money.
Hotel Malaya, Kuala Lumpur N3.14440 E101.69653 Elev. 41m Hotel Malaya, KL
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.
