Cameron Highlands - Tea Estates and Hikes

Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands was established by the British for planting tea and is named after William Cameron, a Scottish explorer and geologist. The main town where most of the hotels are is called Tanah Rata and this is where most of the buses terminate. 

After reaching here, I walked to The Rustique guesthouse which was a few minutes away and Norman who manages the place, warmly welcomed me and took me around the place. 

Tanah Rata

Tanah Rata is a small quaint town with a center filled with restaurants and accomodations of all types. The food options are varied and ranges from Japanese, Korean, Indian, western and local cuisines. I marked out the restaurants and cafes and spent the evening strolling around the Center. 

Trail 10 Hike

The next day, I started off at around 8 AM on a trek called Trial 10. The other major trekking were closed due to the rains and this didn't require a specific guide to go along. The route involved going up to the hill called Gunung Jasar and then descending from the other side through Trail 6. The path is treacherous and muddy especially the descent and requires a sturdy set of hiking shoes. Not to be attempted during rains and not without good shoes. I was lucky not to get any rains during my trek. 

During my descent, I met 2 ladies going down, it was the same Mother-daughter duo from Taman Negara! In all my travels, this is something that I experienced once a while, as most travelers have similar routes within a country. The end of trail 6 is an inner road that leads to the Bharath Tea Factory and the other to the main road from where I hitchhiked back to the town.

Indian Influence

I noticed quite a number of Indians and Indian restaurants in Tanah Rata. I was told by Norman that when the British established the tea estates, they had got Indians from India and Sri Lanka and therefore there are more Indians here. 

South Indian movies are quite popular. Norman comes from the East Coast and his name is an amalgamation of his mothers and fathers names - Nor and Man. He said that in the 80s there used to be Tamil Movies on Friday and Hindustani (Hindi) movies on Saturdays which he and his Grandmother used to watch. His Grandmother is also a Lata Mangeshkar fan. Sharukh Khan and Salman are as usual well known. So is Rajnikanth, because of the Tamil population.

While cultural influence of India comes from movies, Indonesia has a large influence on music. Their music is modern and appealing to the young. The variety of musicians and genres in Indonesia is large and Bahasa is quite similar to Malay language. 

After a few days in Tanah Rata, it was time for me to head out North West to the Tin Mining town of Ipoh.