Day 150 - 21 Nov Mon KK to KL

 We say our goodbyes to Asa, Kiran and Jay and head to the airport, via the post office to send our last box of bits home. We drop the car back and check in. OUr flight passes without a hitch and we arrive in Kuala Lumpur and board the shuttle bus to the Tune Hotel, located just across the road from the Low Cost Carrier terminal. It is a very basic affair, with just one large double bed wedged into a teeny box room - but as we are here for less than 12 hours, we dont need much more. We pass the time by catching the shuttle to the main terminal  to buy the Lonely Planet India book which we have been unable to find in Malaysia. We eat our supper at the little cafe next door to Tune before a very long night for David and Nicole! We have lost our phone and therefore our alarm clock. This means that we take it in turns to sit up for an hour while the other sleeps (ish) at the end of the bed until 4.30am when we make our way to the airport for our India flight.

Day 138 and 139 Kuala Lumpur

We have spent two very quiet days in Malaysia's  capital, Kuala Lumpur, holed up in the little apartment where we are staying.

 Tiegan has been really suffering with David's bug, complete with high temperature, traveller's tummy and sickness and feeling really rotten. Actually, not being in our usual budget one room has been a complete blessing as we have had the space to spread out and to allow Tiegan to sleep in one room while we are in the other or the kitchen. The apartment is really central and so we have been able to take Rowan out to eat in the evenings at the Pavilion Mall Food court, and the girls have also acquired some much needed new lightweight trainers.

We did brave the hop on hop off bus  on Thursday morning (as TG is feeling a bit better) to atleast visit the main sites of the city stopping at the KL Bird Park - for a bit of light relief and some mental stimulation for Rowan!

 However after half an hour or so the heat and humidity has got to our poorly girlie and she chooses to go home. Nicole takes her back completing the rest of the bus tour to get back - which seemed to last forever- and we retire to the cool and calm of the air con and the security of our own bathroom - enough said! David and Rowan stay at the bird park for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to complete the rest of the bus tour.
 We pass the KL Tower -  at 421 meters and 515 meters above sea level, is considered a main feature of the city skyline and is the 5th tallest telecommunications tower in the world. Also the Petronas Twin Towers-  the world's tallest twin buildings. Tower 2 was built by the South Korean multinational Samsung Engineering & Construction and Tower 1 by Hazama Corporation of Japan. They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural top, the original height reference used by the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996).

 

Tiegan feels better in the evening  so we head out to eat ending up at a Teppanyaki cafe in the food court where we decide to share two specials of soup, rice, vegetables, bean sprouts and chicken or beef for 15RM (about £3) with some extra rice and vegetables on the side for 12RM - actually this is quite expensive but it looks and smells delicious and the girls were keen to watch the chef cooking on the hotplate in front of us. Our chicken and bean sprouts are cooked, served and eaten - but we nothing else materialises... we query this and the chef looks at us blankly... the waitress is equally nonchalant and eventually brings a bowl of cold rice - by now we have nothing to eat it with and so decide to call it a day and pay the bill. A lot of discussion follows and eventually David negotiates supper for 24RM (about  £4.80) and we walk back to the apartment. The girls go to bed and Nicole packs for our flight to Borneo in the morning - trying to shed yet more weight from the bags as we go.

Day 137 Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur Tues 8 Nov

Another day, another journey - this time to the capital of Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur on the express train from the wonderful Ipoh railway station. Mr Velu kindly delivers us safely to the station and we find our way to the platform and wait. The train is delayed by half an hour or so - but it doesnt seem to spoil our people watching as we enjoy a large cup of coffee from the station cafe. The information board shows the number of minutes overdue our train is - but doesnt give an estimate of when it will come! We arrive in Kuala Lumpur mid afternoon and locate our accommodation for the next few days but only after the taxi driver has driven us round in circles trying to find it! We have concluded over the last few months that British cabbies are certainly better than any other we have encountered!  On the advice of Mr Velu we are staying in the Bukit Bintang area which is very central and once we are settled we walk to Times Square for an ice cream and something for supper. Sadly mid meal Tiegan is hit by the same bug which David has suffered with and we make a hasty return to the apartment and a very long night.

Day 136 Cameron Highlands to Ipoh Mon 7 Nov

We leave the Highlands today - we have all had enough of the almost non stop rain and the cold which we have become unaccustomed to in the last two and a half months. We board the bus to Ipoh - the fourth largest city in Malaysia and the sixth most populous urban centre. It is also where we are able to join the west coast railway which will take us on to Kuala Lumpur.

We are welcomed by the heat of the day as we get off the bus in Ipoh and locate our hotel- The Shangg - owned by a lovely Indian gentleman named Velu who kindly offers to drive us around the main city centre sites and into the centre so we dont have to get a taxi. The name Ipoh is derived from a local tree, Pohon Epu or now more commonly known as Pokok Ipoh. The sap of this plant is poisonous and was used by indigenous Malays to coat the tips of the darts of their blowpipes for hunting.
Ipoh developed into one of Malaysia's main cities around the turn of the 19th century due to the booming tin mining industry and several notable buildings from the British Colonial era such as the  town hall, St Michaels institution and the railway station (known locally as the Taj Mahal) remain.

Day 135 Cameron Highlands Sun 6 Nov

 Cameron Highlands was named after William Cameron, a British government surveyor who stumbled across a plateau in 1885 during a mapping expedition on the Titiwangsa Range. Failing to mark his discovery on the map, the location of the plateau was a finally confirmed by subsequent expeditions after which Sir Hugh Low suggested that this would be an ideal location for a retreat and farmland. A narrow path to the highlands was then cut through the dense jungles of the highlands. Nothing much happened after that until 1925 when Sir George Maxwell visited the highlands and decided to develop it as a hill station. A development committee was then formed which functioned until 1931. Cameron Highlands was a haven for the British who were stationed in Malaya as it provided relief from the hot and humid tropical climate of the lowlands.

No Cameron Highlands trip would be complete without a trip up Mount Brinchang and a walk in the Mossy Forest. We are collected in a landrover driven by the amazing Wasu who will be our guide for the morning. He tells us that outside the UK the Cameron Highlands are home to the highest density per square km of landrovers and as we travel out towards the mountain we can see why!





The mossy forest is a natural environment that grows only at the highest elevations of Cameron Highlands and other mountain ranges across Malaysia. At such heights, low-level clouds, driven by winds, blanket the forests with constant mist and moisture, creating an ideal environment for moss, ferns, lichen & orchids.  This moist tropical evergreen forest is also home to insects, snakes, frogs, birds and mammals - that thrive nowhere else but in this chilly atmosphere.

 

We slowly realise that Wasu has plans for more than a wander through the forest, more like a jungle hike, and, due to the almost constant rain, the path is boggy, waterlogged and very muddy! The extent of the squelch comes as a surprise even to our guide who has to take several detours to avoid the worst of it! It also requires a bit more than a walk - and we have to cling on in places to tree roots and branches as we clamber up to the best spots to see the bizarre Mossy Forest in all its' glory. We all end up with more than a shoeful of mud and very dirty trousers!

 

The series of wooden platforms winds for about 150m through the mossy forest, but is slippery and missing a few planks and we have to tread carefully.

 

When we reach the Mossy Forest "proper" it really is a very odd place indeed  - an amazingly rich 200,000 year old forest with deep green moss, ancient trees and fresh dewy mist that gives it a mystical aura - the girls liken it to a "fairytale forest like the land of the Faraway Tree!" A strange environment, filled with oak trees with stunted stumps, wrinkled leaves and gnarled branches that clump together, forming dense crowns that protrude furiously from the ground like mushrooms.

  

The conditions are also favorable for orchids – and there are a few rare species of this beautiful flower found in the highlands. The forest is also home to “pitcher” plants or scientifically known as “Nephentes”. They are carnivorous plants with a liquid filled deep cavity called “pitfall traps” which attract small insects that drown in it. The plant then feeds from the insect that has dissolved in the liquid that contains enzymes secreted by the plant itself. Besides this rather interesting plant, a variety of other strange plants (some poisonous) and medicinal herbs can also be found here,   

  

 

 Unfortunately- when we make it to the top of our trail the mists are well and truly covering the spectacular views we should have seen, but it was very atmospheric!

 

Our second "must do" while in the Highlands is a visit to a tea plantation. First we stop on the slopes around the BOH (Best of Highlands) plantation - the largest in Cameron Highlands. The largest producer of tea in Malaysia, Boh was established by JA Russell, an English businessman in the very early nineties. Noting the mineral-rich soil, high rainfall and cooling climate of Cameron Highlands, Russell saw the potential for growing tea - high in demand at that time despite an economic depression. He purchased a tract of land in Habu and set out to produce a robust tea with a distinct flavour, straight from the ground up. Since then, Boh has expanded into a corporate franchise sponsoring nature conservation efforts, producing intense media campaigns, and marketing its products sold across Southeast Asia.




The tea pickers village, complete with its own school sits nestled in the hills - the workers (only short men need apply!) come mostly from Bangladesh, Burma and Indonesia and not Malaysia ( in the words of our guide "Malaysian men are lazy!)

 

 We are staggered by both the uniformity of the individual bushes, the steepness of some of the slopes and the regularity of the rows and rows of plants stretching as far as the eye can see. Wasu explains that the favourable weather conditions mean that plants can be harvested every three weeks all year round and that the leaves are now harvested by men, but still a laborious and tiring job, either by hand with adapted shears or a 2 man machine (only usable on the really flat bits!)

 

We go into the factory and see the tea production process from the fresh leaf to the finish dried leaves - such a simple process. First the leaves are rolled, then dried and finally graded before being sent to mature like a good wine!

 Finally - the best bit! We get to sample the tea - and we opt for two pots: the finest "Palas Supreme" and the "Gold Blend" as well as two mugs of "builders" or standard tea (bags).

 The bigger the leaf - the finer the tea - I think our palettes are too used to a stronger more robust flavour ( e.g. whatever we drink at home!)

 

 

Oh... obviously we needed an accompaniment to help the tea go down!  

Chocolate melt cake and a "Cameron Highlands" style cream tea of scone, cream(bleurch) and strawberry jam. Not quite like the cream teas we are looking forward to from Pooh Corner on our return!

Day 134 Cameron Highlands Sat 5 Nov

We wake up today in the Cameron Highlands! It is largest and most famous hill resort in the country about 1500 metres above sea level and it is raining in Tanah Rata as it has been for the last 18 hours. We spend the morning amusing ourselves and Tiegan builds endless houses of cards!

 However, cabin fever starts to set in after lunch so we take a trip out to an undercover attraction - the Cameron Butterfly and Insect Farm - just outside Brinchang, the next town along from Tanah Rata.

 It is a bit tired around the edges, but we descend the stairs into  a covered, enclosed area and the girls disappear complete with a camera! One of Cameron Highland's oldest tourist attractions; it's essentially a garden enclosure built along a hill slope, filled with free-flying butterflies and strange insects displayed in aquariums.

 

 The pictures probably say more than words ever could!

The butterflies cling to the netting high above us, but are also resting on the ground and on almost every plant. They are every colour imaginable and some have a wing span as wide as Tiegan's foot!

   

We suddenly hear squeals and laughter from somewhere deep amongst the paths and plants and so David and Nicole head to investigate. Visitors are not allowed to pick up the butterflies but some have crawled onto and landed on the girls as they are exploring the enclosure. 

Nicole spots a very large spider suspended and waiting for a tasty meal of fresh butterfly. It was fascinating to watch as it sped into the centre of the web and wrapped up its' catch. Nature at its most brutal.

 

 There were even the most outrageous looking caterpillars perched precariously on the tips of plants as they munch and munch their way to full size. The largest were fatter than David's thumb!

 

We spend an hour or so here before we return to the guest house, avoiding the worst of the rain!