Day 7: Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands,

Gong Xi Fa Cai!*

*Malaysian spelling*

And Happy New Year from Kuala Lumpur!🎉🎆🧨 Never in my wildest thoughts did I figure that I’d ever write those words. Funny where life takes you. Reminds me how very fortunate and privileged I’ve been. As the saying goes, Oh the places I’ve been and the sights I’ve seen!

There was quite the party here last night! We walked over to the Patronus Towers and found dinner in a Japanese restaurant in the massive malls underneath the towers. A full restaurant and one of many. Dinner was very tasty😋

Fed and watered, including a very good Japanese beer, we walked down through the mall and out into the lake area. Lots of people present and the air was charged with anticipation!

There was a water fountain show played to music which was pretty good, and tonight the twin towers were completely cloaked in red. It was a real treat for the senses!

Fireworks were exploding behind us in multiple locations as well. We decided to walk back through a new park that we’d seen earlier and it took us in behind the mosque.

Looking back we saw that even the viewing tower was lit up in bright red which of course is the colour for the Chinese NY.

Later laying in bed I could hear the fireworks going off in huge numbers all over the city.

This morning after breakfast we decided that as we were packed (we have very little gear) that we might as well head to the bus depot. We checked out and arranged our ride on the Grab app and within 5 minutes we were on our way.

When we arrived at the bus depot we went up to the third floor to find massive lines to exchange pre-purchased bus tickets for an actual paper boarding pass. It’s the oddest ticketing system! The huge lineups are because it’s New Year’s Day, and with a bit of a disjointed ticketing system long lines were always going to happen. Many of the buses were sold out, ours included.

We decided to split up and each get in a separate line to see who would get to a booth fastest. Strategizing for a ticket😂

As I write this AM’s line is moving faster, lol. It ultimately proved to be faster. As I watched some lines move quicker than othered, I thought back to my working years and recalled that some people were always faster, more efficient workers. Same, same here🙂.

We finally got our passes and went upstairs to purchase some food for the bus, a 4-5 hour journey. We’ve learned that it’s never clear how long the bus ride will be. Advertised for 5 hours, the actual time could be +/- 1 hour.

We are now on the bus and I can continue.

Once again we have individual window seats on one side and there are doubles on the other side. All reclining seats, so quite comfortable.

As I write this the bus is moving along pretty slowly with four lanes of bumper to bumper traffic emptying out of KL. I think that half of the 2 million population must be on this highway😬

Later: traffic has thinned as we head away from the coast and climb into the Cameron Highlands. We plan to spend 3 nights with two full days to sample this area. Home to tea plantations (yay), butterflies and apparently good hiking. We have arranged a guest house to stay in. We know there will be local opportunities to tour around and that most accommodations owners have links with people who will take you where you want to go. Should be fun! The red dot is our destination today.

Traffic continues to be heavy, but I’m content to pick away at my blog or look out at the very green landscape.

As we climbed into the highlands it became more rugged and the road very winding. Probably a treat to drive! It’s a well travelled road with still plenty of traffic. Our bus just passed two cats😅 How winding are the roads? Our bus had to stop before curves several times to wait for traffic coming the other way to clear and then crawl around it.

Getting closer to our destination there is still considerable traffic along the single lane, tortuous road. I notice that there are lots of permanent improvements to the steep embankments beside the road. I know there is limestone underneath, but in this climate there is a deep bed of soil on top which has a tendency to slide when the monsoons hit these areas. Many temporary areas of steep erosion are covered with large plastic sheets as a ‘temporary’ fix. It makes me very happy that it’s a dry day as we climb.

We finally reach Tanah Rata a full 6 hours after setting off, and we are deposited at the rundown cement depot. Someone there tries to tell that every bus will be full for the next two weeks. A young English woman we’ve met suggests that these comments are common as they try to create some panic so you will buy from them. She says she checked buses for tomorrow and there are lots of seats. We check as well and find the same for the coming days. Nevertheless, we book tickets online for Saturday morning.

We’ve discovered that the path to the Cameron Highlands is now well trodden by travellers and there are new large hotels popping up everywhere to support this traffic. It is with some relief that we find our nice quiet guest house looking like something from an earlier time in the community’s evolution. Family run, we are warmly welcomed and arrangements for a half day tour are made. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to tour a tea plantation because the holiday traffic is very heavy on the roads and also the Chinese plantation owners have shut down for the holidays. We didn’t plan this visit as well as we’d thought!

We find an outdoor Japanese restaurant and enjoy a satisfying bento box with chicken teriyaki and some tasty additions. Afterwards we walk the main drag through town before returning to our room.

That’s it for today. Not enough exercise, but a nice road trip! And the fireworks and crackers continue to go off up here tonight as well! 🎆🧨

Geoff🌴🐲🎉