Cameron Highlands

We continued on - easily by bus over mountain roads with wild curves to Tanah Rata in the so-called Cameron Highlands, named after their British cartographer. This area was only discovered in 1885, and it wasn't until 1925 that it was further developed with the aim of farming and creating a recreational area where the British could escape the tropical humid heat of the lowlands. Even today, it is a popular travel destination for locals, as one can enjoy a lovely cultural landscape with many tea plantations and agricultural production amid jungle and pristine nature at comparatively low temperatures.

Tanah Rata itself was relatively unappealing to us, with too much noise and traffic, but it had all the necessary tourist infrastructure. We spent the following days on longer and shorter hikes through the surrounding misty valleys, hills, and tea plantations. Some of these trails were a bit more challenging due to a lack of maintenance and were quite washed out and partially difficult to traverse because of the recent rainfalls, while other paths were completely closed off. So we sometimes moved forward crawling, climbing, and slipping. Nature compensated for all the effort, and the hikes through the tea plantations were relatively solitary (the Malays generally don’t seem very interested in hiking) and fantastic. At times, we passed through a small village where the children of the plantation workers showed us shortcuts to the right path, and at other times, we crossed fields where crops were being painstakingly hand-harvested, cut, and packaged. And in the tea plantations, we also found places where we could drink and buy tea. Very delicious.

We noticed that especially the children were very lively, friendly, and open to strangers, exuding a lot of joy for life. We had to think of the children we had met in South American countries, who often seemed reserved and fearful, reluctant and unresponsive to their environment. Just our subjective observations, but even at that time, it seemed strange and sad to us. Here was a stark contrast with children who, even when they have to help out, are truly allowed to be children. How beautiful!