Another lie in until 11:00. Ian had gotten up, enjoyed a hot shower and dispatched our bundle of laundry to reception. I then discovered the beauty of a hot shower for myself. I can't explain what went wrong yesterday but the shower I had was definately cold and I used the same tap yesterday as I did today!
After getting engrossed in my new book, one I exchanged in Arthurs Pass, for I had completed another book last night before dinner, we made an effort to walk into Tanah Rata from Bala's Holiday Chalets. After mooching around for a bit, booking our bus journey back to Kuala Lumpur and arranging a tour for tomorrow, we had a passable lunch in a restaurant where both of our lunches together cost less than the sandwich I had yesterday! Sadly, the owner felt it necessary to keep several fish in a tank in the restaurant. One of the fish was about 40 centimetres long and could barely move around, obviously he was too big for the tank. There were also two young turtles amongst the other fish.
We ambled back towards Bala's Holiday Chalets after unsuccessfully exchanging my three novels and two travel guides and decided to walk along 'pathway number four.' This led us into the jungle to Parit Falls which we weren't impressed by, but we were stood across them on a bridge, and to a watchtower. We had seen the watchtower from the junction to Bala's Holiday Chalets and didn't imagine we would be ascending it. However, we climbed up and incredibly steep pathway which left us yet again sweaty. All the while we were on the lookout for snakes, Ian instructing me to lead, which I think is because I seemed to be quite good at spotting them in Bako National Park. From the watchtower we could see the cottages and much of the Cameron Highlands. When we descended we sought another route which would lead us to the main road so we could return to the cottage without passing through Tanah Rata and retracing our steps. As we continued along pathway number four we discovered another couple who I recognised from Bala's Holiday Chalets and we exchanged opinions of the trodden walkways, both of us suggesting our experienced routes may not have been the best. Anyway, we continued along the well trodden path and were disturbed by what we guessed was a monkey making a commotion in the trees and thus forcing a branch to fall off a tree to the jungle floor below. We kept on walking despite our instincts telling us that we were going in the wrong direction. A little further on we met a sign and chose to bear left, which also happened to be downhill. So we descended slightly and I found myself walking straight into a spiders web. Displeased, I sought a stick to which I could brush away future encounters. From that point on I was leading the way, looking out for snakes and brandishing a large stick. At the next junction we continued to bear left despite the pathway nuumber six, which we had taken, not being identified on our map. As we walked we were faced with another fork, neither of which was posted, but Ian chose to take the path leading to the right that had some orange tape tied to a tree and he could hear music coming from that direction, a sign of civilisation. The path became narrower and narrower and more overgrown and less walked the further we went. I felt as though we were walking in the wrong direction. Constantly weary of snakes, now I had to contend with fighting my way through the undergrowth and taking care not to slip too often. A little further on we could sight the high rise accommodation that we saw from the watchtower which is located near Bala's Holiday Chalets, our new target. Then we reached the back of a village and at last we had reached civilisation. However, we couldn't find a way out of the village and kept discovering dead ends! The lack of throughways was beginning to irritate when the skies brought in dark cloud and the heavens opened up on us. We found that we had to walk back on ourselves towards Tanah Rata through the village before reaching the main road which led us back to the cottages. By the time we got back we were pretty wet and I discarded my long stick as we approached the cottages.
Having derobed and dried off I set about writing my journal before settling into my book.
We dozed for an hour and woke to the sound of praying from the mosque. We decided that that was our call for dinner and ate Mee Goreng and Nasi Goreng, both accompanied by beer, sitting beside the open fire in the dining room.
It had continued to rain for most of the afternoon and evening which prevented our sleep.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.