Day 123 - Day 129
Trip Start
Sep 14, 2006
1
113
169
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Cameron Highlands,
Malaysia
Sunday, January 21, 2007
general has been an excellent place to come and kick back amongst some
beautiful scenery with great people and cooler weather!
After spending my first free-of-charge night in the movie room on a
sofa I moved into a single room for 20 ringgits a night (about three
pounds). I had just received some complicated instructions on my cargo
boat trip to Australia - I needed to email the shipping agency
documents including a doctor's certificate saying that I was fit to
travel for a week on a boat that has no doctor
01 Robinson Waterfall
. They also wanted thebank transfer receipt to prove I'd sent payment and other insurance
declarations. You don't get any of this grief before taking a plane!
The boat is much more expensive than flying too, in fact I'm sure you
could fly from England to Australia for what this bit is costing me!
Still, in thirty years time what do I want to be able to say? : "I went
from my home town to Australia without flying" or "I nearly did it but
got a plane right at the end to save a few hundred quid". The booking
is Port Kelang, Malaysia to Fremantle, Australia departing on the 21st
February.
It took a day or so to sort all the paperwork out - cash machine daily
limits and Lloyds Bank security mechanisms meant I couldn't get my
hands on the cash for the bank transfer in one go so all in all it was
a frustrating time
02 View while trekking
. While I didn't do any trekking in the first fewdays, I enjoyed the facilities at Daniel's Lodge including the movie
room and the nightly bonfire singsongs which are great fun. The vibe
around the lodge is such a friendly one and that's great since I'm on
my own again after a few weeks with Neil, Karen and Jim in Thailand.
On the third day I went on a walk with three English guys Justin, Zaf
and Jamie. It wasn't a proper trek, just a walk along the main road to
a butterfly farm which also had lizards and various other animals on
show. The butterflies were really tame and would land on you and even
let you transfer them from a leaf on to your hand. Some were really big
and all were very colourful. I didn't take my camera but hopefully I
can get one or two photos from Zaf.
All around the Cameron Highlands are numbered trails and treks. On one
day I went out on my own with a local map and headed for trek number 13
which would take me through the jungle and to a tea plantation
03 Round the campfire
. 13proved unlucky for me as it took 45 minutes just to find the beginning
of the trail and when I did a local woman told me it was closed! That
was hugely frustrating as it was already three pm and I didn't fancy
doing one of the other longer trails. I set out on number 9 though and
found Robinson's Waterfall before heading back.
The best trek I did in the week was trek number 1 with Zaf and Jamie.
We caught a taxi to Brinchang - the next town along from Tanah Rata and
found the start easily. The next two hours was a grueling up-hill
climb. We really were climbing in some parts too - pulling on vines or
trees with hands to get the lift needed. It was raining and big muddy
puddles were everywhere
04 Rob from Montana on guitar
. You had to plot a course carefully or else geta full foot stuck in the mud. Ever now and then you would hear a
squelch and then an expletive as another foot got it wrong. It was very
satisfying to reach the summit (about six thousand feet though I'm not
sure what altitude we started at - this is the highlands!). There was
no great view though since we were right in the clouds. It was just
nice to be up there. We found the road and began our descent. Along the
way and back below the clouds we saw wonderful scenery including tea
plantations. It was a good 15km back to Tanah Rata so we decided to
hitch a lift. The first vehicle we saw was a pick up truck that was
full with boxed plants. The driver stopped for us but tried
gesticulating that his vehicle was full - "never mind" we said as we
climbed on to the rear bumper and held on to ropes that were holding
the boxes in place
05 Zaf and Jamie trekking
! The journey down was a bit of a scary one and Inearly slipped once - my water bottle flew out of my pocket and down on
to the road at one point. After that I swivelled around and sat on one
of the boxes - from there I got some good footage of the ride on my
camera - Zaf and Jamie couldn't sit down and had to stand all the way
down.
There were some really late nights around the camp-fire and hung-over
days were spent in the movie room or out front on the saggy sofas. One
night we had a big Texas Hold 'Em Poker tournament and eight of us put
ten ringgits in each and spent a few hours battling it out. David (the
resident poker expert) came third, Irish Mike came second and yours
truly picked up the 50 ringgit top prize
06 Scary house!
! Great stuff since I haven'tplayed for months!
It's really cheap up here in the highlands, we've been eating for less
than a pound a meal (served up in the hawker cafes in the towns main
shopping area). The room is costing me three pounds a night so a beer
free day costs less than a fiver. It's been a running joke just exactly
how long we're going to stay here but I've booked a bus ticket with
Jamie and Zaf to arrive in Kuala Lumper on Sunday 21st January. Most of
the people who have stayed at Daniel's are heading to the same
guest house in K.L. so the party should continue!
I had some bad news at the end of the week
07 In the clouds
. My boat has been delayedone week and will now not call at Fremantle! They now want me to stay
on the boat another six days and disembark in Sydney with the extra
days costing 85 Euros each more! After some frantic emails to the
agency in London I might be switching to a different boat that does
call in at Fremantle. What a mess and it's still not sorted out yet. I
want to arrive in Western Australia and work across to Sydney in the
East so to arrive in Sydney first would really mess that idea up. The
thing with cargo boat travel is that the cargo is King not the
passenger. If there's no need to go to a port then they won't go. If
the boat is delayed a week then it's "tough" - boats will even leave
days early if the cargo is ready. That's all fine as long as you know
this first and don't think it's going to be a luxury cruise where the customer's every whim is take care of.
So that's the end of my Cameron Highlands adventure - tonight is our
last night so we're going to have a bit of a party at Daniels -
Liverpool v Chelsea at 9pm Malaysia time will take centre stage so come
on the reds!
