Day 90: Cameron Highlands

I remember in 1997, the drive up to Cameron Highlands was pretty scary. We were sitting in the front seat of a huge tour bus with a gigantic bubble window stretching down to our feet. The bus wound around the narrow two lane road and quite often we would be hovering over nothingness as the bus swung really close to the edge. It didn't help that we would occasionally see the rusted hulk of an overturned bus that had gone off the edge at some point in the past. Fast forward 18 years and Beth was furiously doing research on the road conditions (but how do you expect results from googling "is the road safer now?").

 

We looked into a private car - the economics of going the private route have largely worked to our benefit, as multiplying trip costs by four usually ends up close to the cost of cheaper transit. This time, it didn't make sense: almost $200 Canadian for the four hour trip compared to $45 to go by bus. We loaded up on rolled sushi and snacks and in the morning got our packs on and walked 10 minutes to the Pudu Raya central bus station.

 

The girls were forced to take gravol, but Beth unfortunately made mine optional. The drive was pretty uneventful for the first two and a half hours, right up to the rest stop. After that, it was like we boarded a ship in rough seas. Ugh.

 

 

With our seats near the back of the bus, I was not feeling good. Why didn't I take gravol again? The roads were actually very safe - they've widened the shoulders quite a bit, and I didn't see any bus carcasses, so that was good. The last 45 minutes of winding up the mountain road was pretty bad. Lesson learned? Maybe.

 

We got dropped off in the town of Tanah Rata in a driving rain. The place isn't too big - just a main strip and then some hotels and residences off some small side streets. We had booked a stay at the Heritage Hotel, which is a giant colonial style building at the top of a hill at the south end of town. There were not a ton of options for staying in Cameron Highlands (at our price point and our desired comfort level - always a struggle between trying to save money and being comfortable... often overriden by the comfort side of things :-)) and since we are here for 6 nights, it was an important choice. We donned our trusty ponchos, and began the hike up the hill to the hotel.

 

 

I was on sea legs still by the time we checked in, so Abby and I hung out at the hotel while the other two went to scout out the town. They returned a couple of hours later having found a Starbucks and a tourist map (I gave them 25 scout points each!) and by that point, we were ready for dinner. We found this place called Kumars, which has great Indian food. I have a feeling we will be back many times before we leave this place.