Hiking in the Cameron Highlands

I never thought I'd say this but after four months of temperatures in the mid-30's and upwards, it feels damn good to break out the jeans and feel chilly again. 

The Cameron Highlands is one of Malaysia's old hill station districts, with towns scattered throughout the region situated at a pleasant 1400m above sea level and year round average temperatures of around 20 degrees. The highlands are covered by mossy forests, tea plantations and increasingly, some fairly hideous mock-Tudor style resorts. 

We arrived in Tanah Rata a few days ago from the rather disappointing town of Ipoh (apparently infamous for a sleazy prostitution scene) and bought a map of the surrounding walking trails, all ready to shake off the muscle atrophy that comes from 5 weeks of beach-bumming.

Despite much bitching and moaning online about the lack of signage, difficulty in finding trails and poor maintenance, we found Trails 1 and 10 easily (and this from the people who couldn't find the defining feature of the Penang Botanical Gardens!). 

Both hikes took us through pretty forest to the peaks of Gunung Jasar (Trail 10) at 1670m and Gunung Brinchang (Trail 1) at 2000m. Trail 1 was definitely the better of the two, with stunning, resort-free views on the way up and an observation tower at the top with awesome 360's of the surrounding valleys. 

Although there isn't a lot of wildlife to be seen, the forest is very atmospheric and feels like it could well be home to faeries, pixies and goblins (in addition to the less exotic but far more commonly sighted mosquitoes). 

 

Coming down the other side of Gunung Brinchang we were treated to lovely vistas of tea plantations, stretching far off into the distance. 

Although it is bright and sunny in the morning, by mid afternoon the rain clouds roll in and it begins to pour down. We were lucky both days of our hikes- about half an hour after reaching the top of Gunung Brinchang we looked back to see that the peak had been consumed by clouds and the view we had enjoyed so recently had been completely obliterated. Good thing I have Martijn to make sure we are always early birds!