Cameron Highlands

Early in the morning at 6:00 I got up to catch a ferry to the mainland of Malaysia. Unfortunately, I couldn't book any bus or train connections in advance (didn't know the right stations), so the delay of the ferry was a challenge to arrive in the evening at all.

I was given incredible help from the Grab driver, unfortunately the scheduled bus was then delayed and we had to re-arrange. The last solution was a transfer of 4 minutes (train station Butterworth to bus station there), which seemed unmanageable to me. I sprinted to the bus station and flagged down before the bus even though it had already started the motor and drove 3 meters. Wow was I relieved, but I made it. 🙌🏽🙌🏽💪🏽(Lessons Learned: Book always a transfer in advance, otherwise you get fucked up..😂)

On the way there I met Anna from Hungary and in the evening we booked a half-day tour at Cameron Highlands, which is known for its tea plantations and strawberry plantations. The strawberry plantation is not worth seeing said many from the hostel before, because in Germany there are supposedly larger. In addition, I was here 1,500 meters above sea level, which means cold weater. Furthermore i went in the raining season to Malaysia, so the weater is not the best currently.

Next day:

We got up tomorrow at 6:30 and first made a hike in the second oldest forest in the world, which is known for its moss stocks (Mossy Forest, ~200 million years old). Since there is a lot of tourism hiking and the tourists touch the moss, it dies and it takes 15-20 years to grow again at the touching point. Also, to protect nature the locals did not want to open up new hiking routes, which I found remarkable from the locals.

The next stop would be a non-tourist tea plantation, which unfortunately was not passable, because the road there was damaged by a landslide (In the evening I talked to some, that this was but promptly passable again...🤬)

We went to another tea plantation and there the tea was very tasty. Worth mentioning is, that people from Skri Lanka, India and Thailand come with 3-4 years contracts, away from their family, to harvest the tea leaves. For one kilo of leaves they earn 30 cents, which is just damn little…

After the tour was completed, Anna was not feeling good so I planned my further route and booked a flight from Singapore to Indonesia at the 13rd of October (Surabaya) and planned the further route. (Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Singapore, flight to Surabaya, Bromo Volcano, Ijen Crater and then I want to chill in Bali until about mid-November.

(Last picture is a flesh-eating plant)Read more