Trekking to Brinchang Mountain

I woke up this morning to a post on my facebook page from my dear friend Maeve telling me it is only 9 days to go until we are home. 9 days! Man this trip has gone super fast.

This morning we decided to trek up Brinchang Mountain, the tallest mountain in the Cameron Highlands. After my wee misadventure on Ben Nevis, I decided to wear my hiking sandals complete with socks, instead of my sneakers which apparently have no tread. Jamie told me I looked like a German, I think Germans are cool, so whatever.

We had a super early breakfast, which by our holiday standards was 7.30am and then headed off on our merry way towards Brinchang. The first few km of the walk was relatively uneventful, and was spent taking in the breathtaking views of the tea plantations across the area. At the 3km mark, we turned up a road and started the steep climb towards the top. About 5 min later a truck driven by a local and carrying two Australian guys came barrelling down the mountain coming to an abrupt stop beside us where we were told that the mountain was closed today.

Feeling a wee bit gutted that I wasn't going to see the peak or the Mossy Forest, we decided to walk on another 2km up the mountain to yet another strawberry farm, where we met some goats and a Bangladeshie worker who proceeded to take strawberry themed photos of Jamie and I, before Jamie went and picked another 1/2 kilo of strawberries for him and him alone to consume on our walk back down the mountain.

We headed back down the mountain where we were passed by numerous tour companies heading in the direction of Brinchang. We could only assume that the tour companies had special admisson and if we were travelling on our own we wouldn't be allowed in, which strikes me as odd for a natural attraction.

As our walk up the mountain had been cut short, we decided to walk to the BOH tea plantation for a spot of local tea. On the way we observed the local workers picking tea across the vast and picturesque tea plantations. Some tea was being picked by hand, but the majority of it was being extracted using what can only be described as electronic shears come vacumn cleaner. When we arrived at the actual factory, it seems like the whole of Malaysia also decided that it was a good idea to visit today, and the place was completely mobbed. Turns out that BOH is the most consumed tea brand in Malaysia, so is very popular with all of the local tourists, which there are many as it is now the school holidays. The BOH tea factory was set up by a British man in the late 19th century and has continued to grow in popularity ever since.

With not that much left to do, we decided to head back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon where I did some yoga and Jamie had a bath. By the late afternoon, I was starting to feel unwell again after not drinking a huge amount of water during the day, so it was an early dinner and bedtime to ensure I was able to starve off any inkling of a repeat of the heat stroke.Read more