After an amazing 5 days in Kuala Lumpur, we had to decide what our next stop was going to be. After some research, we decided to head into the mountains for some hiking. Some of the best trekking/hiking in Malaysia is in an area called the Cameron Highlands, located in the state of Pahang. We booked a bus with CS Tours on RedBus Malaysia to take us from KL to Tanah Rata, the main hub of the Cameron Highlands.
We arrived at the bus terminal to catch our bus to Cameron Highlands. What we didn’t realize is that the ticket that RedBus emailed to us wasn’t a boarding pass – we still had to wait in a long line to show our passports and get our boarding passes. We had arrived 30 minutes before departure thinking it would be plenty of time, but the lines were very long and we were getting nervous as our bus departure time was approaching. We were nearly at the front of the line with about 8 minutes to spare, but the guy 2 people ahead of us in line was painfully slow. He clearly had booked the wrong ticket, and was arguing with the worker to allow him to swap it. He spent at least 5 minutes arguing back and forth, and we nervously watched the time tick closer and closer to departure time. We asked the guy ahead of us if we could cut in line, and he kindly agreed. The worker quickly printed our boarding passes and we sprinted down to the gate… but we were told our bus was late. Crisis averted. We waited for about 10-15 minutes before we finally boarded the bus.
The bus was one of the nicest buses we’d ever been on! The seats were super comfy and spacious and could recline very far back. It was about a 5 hour bus ride from KL to Tanah Rata, with the first 3 being on the highway and the last 2 driving up the windy mountain passes. Neither of us are particularly prone to carsickness, but we took some Dramamine before the journey. The winding narrow roads were no joke and we climbed almost 1000 metres over 50 km, but at least the drive up the mountains was beautiful. We got to see some stunning views of waterfalls and planted hills. As we got higher up the mountains, it got mistier and chillier. We reached Cameron Highlands and walked about 15 minutes from the bus station to our hostel. Right as we checked in, the skies opened up and it started POURING! We were so happy it didn’t dump on us with all of our bags. One of the big attractions of the Cameron Highlands is the tea plantations, and our hostel owner had graciously left a box of local tea for us to try, so we made ourselves a nice cup of Cameron Highlands tea and sat in our cozy little room listening to the rain, planning & booking some future flights/accomodation.
The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful blue sky day! We looked up some hikes on AllTrails, and decided to try the Jungle Trail 6 hike. As we walked to the trailhead, we stopped by the 711 to pick up some hiking snacks. As we were leaving 711, an adorable little dog started to follow us up the road!
We tried to pet her, but she was very skittish and would always shy away when we tried to touch her. Nonetheless, she followed us up the road, never lagging more than 10 metres behind us. At one point, we even stopped to fly the drone, and the little dog just curled up beside us and waited!
We named her Strawberi, as we found her near the local strawberry farms, and she became our companion for the hike.
Jungle Trail 6 was very dense and lush and muddy, but Beri was a great hiking buddy the whole hike. She eventually warmed up to us and even let us pet her! The hike was an out and back trail that was about 6 miles, and she followed us the whole way.
As we were walking back into town, we noticed that people were behaving very weirdly around Beri, looking scared or screaming at the sight of her. It was very strange. A few grown men even stopped dead in their tracks with a terrified look in their eyes when Beri and us walked by. We were really confused by what was happening. Turns out, in Malaysia (a predominantly Muslim country) many Muslims avoid dogs due to their religious beliefs. In Islamic culture, dogs are considered impure and unclean, and there are strict guidelines on how to purify oneself if one comes into contact with them. Two random white girls with a little dog following them through town must’ve been a sight to see for the locals who avoid dogs at all costs! No wonder Beri was so skittish around humans at first!
Beri was such a champ through the hike that we had to get her a little treat. We went back to the 711 and bought a little packet of cat food (of course they didn’t sell dog food!) and a jar of peanut butter. She was skeptical at first but after her first taste of the peanut butter she couldn’t get enough!
We had lunch at a delicious Arabian restaurant in the same plaza as the 711, and it started to rain just as we were about to walk home. We put on our rain jackets and walked down the road towards our hostel, and looked back to see Beri had followed us!! She walked us all the way home in the rain. We were so sad we couldn’t bring her up into our hostel, but we left some peanut butter outside for her to snack on.
That afternoon there was a big thunderstorm that lasted all night, so we stayed in and researched another hike to do for the next day. We decided on the Mount Jasar to Cameron Valley Tea House loop, which is one of the most popular hikes in the area.
The next morning, we again woke up to a beautiful blue sky day. We packed up our bags for our big hike and started walking to our trailhead. To our surprise, Beri was waiting for us! We were so happy to see her, and she started following us to our next hike.
Unfortunately, the trailhead for the Mount Jasar hike was on the other side of town, with only 1 main road going through it. Beri was very scared to walk through the town, with all the cars and other people, so we had to slowly coax her. Eventually, she started to follow us and even found a big pile of chicken heads to snack on, which probably made the town more appealing.
As we got to the other side of town, Beri was very happily sniffing all the new smells. We could tell she had never explored this area before, and she was all over the place with the new scents. We walked to the trailhead to start the hike, and Beri bounded up the side of the mountain without waiting for us.
We were sad to see her go, but we were excited that she found a whole new playground to explore! We miss you Beri!
The first section of the Mount Jasar to Cameron Tea House Loop was a steep incline through the jungle – almost 300 metres in less than 2.5 km through the dense jungle.
After trekking up the steep incline for about 2.5 km, the jungle cleared and we emerged above the tree line. There was a huge cell tower at the top, and we got to see some panoramic views of the surrounding area. We stopped to take some photos and fly the drone over the misty hills, and got some amazing footage.
We also met a solo traveller named Luke from South Africa at the summit, and we started chatting about travelling and teaching. We decided to do the rest of the hike together.
The next portion was absolutely insane – super steep downhill, and extremely muddy and slippery. There were overgrown roots and patches of extremely slick mud everywhere, and I took a tumble and slid down a bit on my butt.
Luckily, the muddy section didn’t last too long. After about 30 minutes of slowly navigating down this terrible trail, we emerged at a little stream. We whipped out our Lifestraws to drink some of the cold mountain water.
The rest of the hike was on a paved road with a gentle decline, so it was very beautiful and easy. We hiked through beautiful farms and next to tea plantations, and came across a local village with cute puppies and adorable children. I was able to fly the drone and get some amazing aerial shots of the tea plantation. While flying it at one point though, we heard a loud smacking sound behind us and all turned to look… a three-foot long SNAKE had fallen from a tree onto the pavement and was slithering across the road. Incredibly unchill.
The very last section of the hike actually takes you directly through the tea plantations, so we were able to get an up close look at the plants.
The hike finished up at the Cameron Valley Tea House, one of the two main tea companies in the Cameron Highlands. The Cameron Valley Tea House was absolutely beautiful, built into the side of a cliff overlooking the plantation. We decided to have lunch with Luke at the tea house, and of course tried a pot of local tea. It was a super relaxing way to end the hike, and the tea was delicious!
It was about an hour walk from the Cameron Valley Tea House back to town, but just as we were finishing up lunch, it started to rain again. The 3 of us decided to just get a Grab back to town, and made plans to meet up again for drinks that night.
We had a shower and relaxed a bit in the afternoon, before heading back to town to meet up with Luke and some of his hostel friends at the Travellers Kitchen & Bar. Their happy hour special was 5 mixed drinks for 40 ringgit ($9 USD), what a deal!
Luke introduced us to some of his hostel friends, Fenne, a nurse, and Bram, a musical theatre performer, both from the Netherlands. They were so much fun, and we played drinking games and chatted before befriending the bartender and taking over the aux.
Bram started playing bangers (Lady Gaga, Britney, etc.) and we all started dancing. An Australian girl named Mackie from the table next to us joined in, and we turned the casual dive bar/restaurant into a full blown dance party. We even roped the bartender into dancing with us and he gave us lots of free shots (shoutout Adam!) It was an amazing night with new friends from all over the world!
The next morning, we woke up around 7 am to get ready for our half-day Mossy Forest Tour, which is big attraction in the Cameron Highlands. It’s located on the highest peak of the highlands, Gunung Brinchang, which stands at 2,032 meters above sea level. Because of its high altitude, the forest is blanketed by low-lying clouds, which bring lots of moisture, creating an ideal environment for moss, ferns, lichen, and orchids.
The jeepney picked us up at 8 am and drove us to the first stop – the BOH tea plantation farms. The BOH Tea Plantation is one of two main tea companies in the Cameron Highlands (the other being the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation where we hiked to yesterday), and it is also the largest. The tea plants are beautiful, nestled in the rolling hills of the Cameron Highlands. Another couple on our tour was an Austrian couple that were also doing a similar world trip, so it was nice to exchange stories and travel hacks with them.
Our guide drove us up Gunung Brinchang on the steep and windy road, until we eventually reached the Mossy Forest entry.
There is a 2 km boardwalk that goes through the Mossy Forest, so that visitors are able to walk through the forest without damaging the local flora/fauna. There was also a 3-story high viewing platform that we climbed up to get a 360-panoramic view of the area!
Our last stop of the tour was the BOH Tea House. The BOH Tea House was much bigger and much more touristy/commercialised than the Cameron Valley Tea House, but it still had great views and a good ambiance.
Our trip to the Cameron Highlands was such an amazing change of scenery, and we fell in love with the quaint mountain town vibes. It was so nice being out of the city, in nature, and in a cool climate for the first time since Chiang Mai!
After a lovely few days in Tanah Rata, we hopped on a bus to take us to our next stop – Ipoh.