Malaysia sure feels like the hottest country we’ve been to yet. Every afternoon, once past its zenith, we have to take cover from the searing sun. So then, it’s a relief to be heading to a hill station, where temperatures drop considerably.

As you may guess from the name, the Cameron Highlands are a result of British Colonial rule. As with India, the Brits very much made it their business to find the coolest places to holiday and the Cameron Highlands holds the accolade of first hill station in all of SE Asia.

It’s littered with stunning vistas of tea plantations as well as wild jungle. Tea plantations, being as harmful as many agricultural endeavours, nevertheless look great from a viewpoint.

Here, we will travel around to various beautiful hiking spots and see some brilliant birds. We’ll also scoot daringly in the pouring rain through deadlock traffic on the winding roads of the highlands. And we’ll eat some delicious food while we’re at it. With no further ado, the Cameron Highlands:

Day 104 – Arrival to Cameron Highlands

Our minibus took much of the day to arrive in the Cameron Highlands, and we drew into our little town with a slightly sceptical outlook. There were old high-rise flats, reminiscent of a failed skiing village, a rusty old ferris wheel and a crumbling mall with about 10 of the 100 available lots in use.

Trying to remain optimistic, we headed to our hostel, which indeed gave us a boost. The cheery host had lots of QR codes linking to various local activities for nature lovers and vegetarian restaurant recommendations. Furthermore, they had designed the hostel to be retro in a very over the top way; cassette tapes and floppy discs decorated the walls and we had a Peter Andre poster above our bed. When we scanned the QR code next to it, it linked to Beautiful Girl on Spotify. More importantly the room was comfy and there was a desk for blogging in comfort!

The road we were on was at the base of a much longer road up to ‘Mossy Forest’, a destination many people from across the highlands drive in 4x4s to visit. The whole walk up we would tackle at a later date, but we found our evening routine here on the first day; walking up the road for an hour or so, looking for birds and taking in the views.

Day 105 – Valley Hike

We were determined to challenge ourselves, here in the Cameron Highlands, to a difficult and beautiful hike. We did research and found that two trails link to make a fairly tough route, first steeply up to a peak (Gunung Jasar) and then down through a dense valley, finally coming out at a tea plantation. We scooted to the start of the trail (basically in someone’s back garden) and started climbing. Immediately, we were in the jungle. Huge roots from towering trees comprised the steep path and the sweat started to pour.

It only took 45 minutes to reach the peak of the hill, and perched there was a massive electricity pylon. It felt more a landmark than an eyesore though.

A few steps further up and there was also a little stone to denote the border between Pehang and Perak, two of Malaysia’s states.

We were able to see our route down the valley from here, which would follow the pylons all the way down to the tea plantation, which was somewhat dauntingly not in sight from our viewpoint. The valley, however, looked lush and green and full of promise.

We started our long descent and the way difficult, the path narrow and the sweat profuse. Our naked shins took hundreds of tiny scratches as we made our journey carefully down, the pylons our unerring guide in the mist.

We eventually arrived at a small stream which we splashed our faces from before stepping over it and onto a much wider grassy path. At this point, the walk came into it’s own as it meandered up and down over small hills, each one revealing fresh wonderment. We decided it was up there with our best walks ever.

We came to a small road and before we reached the tea plantation we had one more treat in store; a colourful village perched beautifully on the hillside. We could hear laughter, the shouts of children and dogs barking. It seemed like a truly beautiful place to live.

And then out we came to the tea plantation and while at first we had the paths to ourselves, a skip in our step despite the long road behind us, we soon met more people and eventually electric carts full of tourists visiting the tea plantation and the tea-house above it.

We climbed up to the tea house itself and the place was packed to the rafters with folk in their Sunday best. We’d naively planned to sample the tea from a breezy balcony overlooking the plantation, but were quickly disabused of the notion. We ordered a Grab as quickly as possible to take us back to our scooter and after that enjoyed a delicious Indian thali reminiscent of our time in Kerala a few months ago.

It was then the heavens opened upon us, and we were very glad to have packed our waterproof coats. The one road that winds through the Cameron Highlands was gridlocked with traffic and so, in the pouring rain, I buckled down to get us through it, winding through cars, down the inside of lanes and basically wherever there was a gap. Billie’s involuntary noises of fear dissipated as she realised I had it under control and we grimly worked our way through for a good forty minutes, back to our retro palace. Our clothes were soaked through despite waterproofs, but warm showers and a nearby restaurant awaited.

Day 106 – Return of the Valley

Having tired our legs and with a big walk to Mossy Forest planned for the following day, we decided to have a more relaxed day and revisit the valley we’d walked down the day before. We scooted to the road entry at the bottom end of the valley and walked up looking for birds. We didn’t find too many but it was a lovely leg-stretch.

Just as we turned back to return to our scooter, we saw a shaking in the trees of the wall of jungle opposite us. We know what tree shaking means by now: monkeys. Soon enough we had view of a beautiful silver monkey sitting on a tree having some food. After some furious picture taking and googling, we determined them to be White-Thighed Surili, a type of leaf monkey, not at all expected or commonly seen here. Once again we’d got lucky with monkeys, a trend we’re enjoying greatly!

For dinner, we opted to try the local speciality: the STEAMBOAT! A wonderful name for a hot pot. We went all out and paid an extra 50p (equivalent) for the charcoal burner, rather than a gas stove. We dipped noodles, veg, tofu and a lot of mushroom into a boiling seaweed broth. It was fun and delicious, if slightly hard work!

Day 107 – Mossy Forest

Before we’d arrived or even looked at what there is to do in Cameron Highlands, my eyes alighted upon the words “MOSSY FOREST” on Google Maps and I knew we had to go. Luckily, it’s one of the most desirable places to visit in the area AND our accommodation sits at the base of the road leading to it, AND the host said it was a walkable distance. It was a bloody long way, but it was another absolutely top notch hike. In large part, because of a very special set of guests.

That’s right, a group of three dogs, turning briefly to four at one point and then eventually one absolutely beautiful, gentle and sweet dog who I named Devon, decided to adopt us for the walk. They galloped and romped around us and every now and then came for strokes and cuddles as we climbed, climbed and climbed (no downhill for us) the road through the tea plantations. Other (lazy) tourists were going up in Land Rovers and stopping at viewpoints and, eventually, the top. Our doggos were thankfully adept at dodging the traffic.

Eventually, three of our four canine guides betrayed us for another group of tourists, but lovely Devon remained with us, running ahead but looking back often or coming back to wait for us if we decided to rest for a while. We spotted some birds of prey circling above and I was thrilled to identify the Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle!

The path got really steep towards the end, and the trees started getting mossier. We finally came to a big MOSSY FOREST sign and it was Billie who had the bright idea that I block out the Y.

At the top was a car park full of Land Rovers and a small ticket office. It was busy here, yet Devon stayed with us, even coming onto the boardwalk to accompany us through the Mossy Forest proper, despite not having a ticket and seeming fairly uncomfortable on the wooden stairs and dodging all the other people. He did eventually leave (somewhat to our relief) when we climbed a small tower with a beautiful cloudy view.

The Mossy Forest appears so mossy because it’s a cloud forest, meaning clouds blanket the area year round, which gives certain unique flora and fauna a chance to thrive in a habitat found in very few other places. One such example were brilliant pitcher plants, not the easiest to spot. I was actually taking a close up picture of the moss on a tree before I noticed the pitcher plant right there in front of me.

We departed from the boardwalk and Devon came bounding up to us in the car park, eager to begin the journey back down, a request we were happy to grant. The way down was joyous, so much easier than the punishing ascent. There was a particularly lovely moment when we sat down to eat some nuts on the side of the path and a few minutes later Devon reappeared from ahead and threw himself happily into some flowers on the verge right beside us, smiling and wagging his tail. He got some nuts for his efforts but wasn’t interested in the food so much as our company. At this point we were slightly too attached and were worried about the upcoming heartbreak of leaving him.

Onwards down, then, and we were treated to some more beautiful views of plantations and, eventually, we saw an absolutely stunning, colourful bird: the Silver-Eared Mesia. This was absolutely my favourite bird of our time in Malaysia, and one of my favourite photographs of the whole trip.

We were worried our new doggo friend was going to follow us all the way to our hotel door, and we didn’t know how we’d handle that situation, so it was with great relief and happiness that a taxi turned the corner and he went hurtling over to it, wagging his tail and jumping up at the driver’s open window. The man inside was smiling and waving it on, speaking Malay to it and off they went back along the road together; definitely a dog happy to see his owner. Phew!

And so ended another truly fantastic walk. Beautiful views, a unique eco-system and a gratifying challenge with a special companion. Not to mention the wildlife… The Cameron Highlands was a huge success and we can only apologise to it for judging it by it’s slightly grimy cover upon arrival.

Next time we’re off into Taman Negara, one of the world’s oldest rainforests, where many surprises lie in store. See you next time!