I have a very strong dislike of buses

Another travel day, but this time it is only apparently 4 hours on a bus to get us to the Cameron Highlands. As our bus didn't leave until 2pm, we were able to have a nice casual morning before we maximised the check out time of 12pm.

We caught a taxi to our drop off point and waited an hour or so before we were whisked off to another bus terminal in Southern Penang. When we arrived it was 1.45pm, so didn't have to wait long for the actual bus to arrive, or so we thought. 1 hour later, our bus finally turned up and we jumped on, ready and eager to hit the road.

We spent the first couple of hours driving through the towering karst mountains, similar to the ones we had left behind in Krabi and worked our way inland to a small city called Ipoh, approximately 90km away from the Cameron Highlands. The bus stopped here to allow locals to exit the bus and this is when our bus driver announced that we had another 4 hours to go until we reached the highlands. To me this just didn't add up. Google said that the bus ride would take 4 hours, and at this stage of the journey we had already spent 3 hours on the bus and I knew the Cameron Highlands by distance was only 90km away. However, as today was a public holiday, the traffic was heavier than usual and the roads were pretty windy the further up we went. Still, 4 hours seemed excessive.

After grabbing some food for dinner from the bus terminal, we left and winded our way through Malaysian Countryside where we witnessed some very unsafe driving practices by the locals. At about 8.30pm, we reached the outskirts of the Highlands and were greeted with the most beautiful aura of lights I think I have ever seen. The crops in the greenhouses are covered with grow lights which makes the whole valley look like it is covered in fairy lights. I decided to listen to some coldplay and mellow out while taking in the prettiness. It wasn't long before we were pulling up alongside our hotel at about 9pm, 6 hours after we had left Penang but fortunately not the predicted time of 10.30pm by the bus driver.Read more