HIDDEN
MALAYSIA
Our London Correspondent Shozeb Haider
likes to go where the crowds don’t. True
to form, his Malaysia tour tosses up terrific
non-touristy gems
W
The Cameron
Highlands: Small
cottages, narrow
alleyways, rose
gardens, cascading
waterfalls and
walking trails
hite sandy beaches, clear
turquoise blue water,
dense tropical forests,
orangutans and Petronas
Towers. These tourist
traps awaiting every
visitor to Malaysia were
struck off the list as soon as I decided I would
be travelling on a four-day trip. After extensive
deliberations, I picked two places–Cameron
Highlands, the highest hill region on peninsular
Malaysia and Georgetown, which arguably is the
heart of composite Malaysian culture.
An early morning three-hour bus ride from
Kuala Lumpur brought me to Tanah Rata.
At 1400 m, it is the largest amongst eight
interconnected towns, spread over 35 kilometers,
along the arterial highway 59. The nearby towns
of Brinchang, Ringlet, Bertam valley, Kea farm,
Tringkap, Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja
collectively form the Cameron Highlands. Named
after the British surveyor, Sir William Cameron,
this is a wonderful escape from the warm
humid tropical heat of the lowlands, where the
temperatures almost never exceed 24 degree C. The
surrounding buildings exude old British charm.
Small cottages, narrow alleyways, rose gardens,
cascading waterfalls and walking trails through
the temperate forests add to a nostalgic allure.
One could easily mistake it for an English hamlet.
Some Tudor-styled landmarks that have withstood
the test of time include the Ye Olde Smokehouse
Inn, All Souls Church, Foster’s Lake House and
the most infamous of the lot – the Moonlight
Bungalow. It is from here, one misty spring
evening in 1967, that Jim Thompson, a Thai
silk magnate, went for an evening walk and never
46 Travel Secrets September-October 2015
returned. His disappearance is one of the unsolved
mysteries that attract a lot of travellers to this part
of Malaysia.
The fertile mountain slopes and the cool climate
make it ideal for strawberry growing. However,
it is the endless lush green tea gardens that this
region is famous for. Cameron Highlands is to
Malaysia what Nuwara Eliya is to Sri Lanka. No
trip is complete without visiting a tea estate.A
narrow winding road off the main highway near
Brinchang leads to the Sungai Palas Tea Garden.
A sprawling estate owned by Boh Tea Plantation
is the largest in Southeast Asia. Perfectly manicured
rows of tea plants on undulating hills make for
a compulsive viewing. The tea leaves are handplucked, fermented and processed onsite at the
nearby factory. A guided tour offers interesting
insights into tea cultivation, and is provided free
to visitors. A must-for-all is a trip to the factory
cafeteria for tea sampling. Freshly baked scones,
locally procured strawberry jam from nearby
farms and Malaysian tea, with spectacular vistas
overlooking the estate: absolute bliss for tea lovers.
With three hours to go before sunset, the taxi
driver, who I hired for the day, suggested I visit
the nearby Mossy Forest. Beyond the tea estates,
as the narrow single carriage road climbs steeply
up the mountain towards the peak of Gunung
Brinchang, mist began to descend and persistent
fog enveloped us.The tea plantations gave way to
the ancient cloud forests, shrouded in perpetual
mist and moisture, constantly wind- swept by
moist laden low-level clouds, making it an excellent
ecosystem for ferns, lichens, moss and orchids. I
got dropped off at the entrance of the forest, about
two kilometres before the peak. A wooden planked
board walkway leads upto 400m into the forest,