Hiking in the Cameron Highlands

I took the train to the bus station, which was outside Kuala Lumpur. It felt like being at the airport with a thousand gates and counters. I was initially pleasantly surprised by the bus ride because I finally had legroom and it seemed like a pleasant bus ride. But unfortunately, I was wrong because when we started going up the serpentine roads, I sat on my seat with tears in my eyes and full of fear. When a bus overtakes cars on narrow roads in serpentine bends, almost everything is already said. Once again, I was relieved to finally arrive in the cold 18 degrees. I had met two nice Swiss girls on the bus, whom I had made plans to have dinner with. But I also met three nice girls directly at the hostel, so we all joined together and had a nice evening with delicious Indian food. The place Tanah Rata, where we and about a thousand other tourists stayed, consisted of a main street and about three smaller ones - small but nice. Clara and Ulli continued to Penang the next day and I went hiking with Verena, Andrina, and Jasmina. We started at 7:00 am and walked a hiking trail through the jungle. The view at the top made up for every effort. And then we went back to the village to eat Indian food again. We also decided to start again at noon and initially took the bus to the next village, from where we hiked another 4 km to a tea plantation. This view is breathtaking! It started raining heavily in between and fortunately we had a place to take shelter until it was just drizzling, and then we continued. Once we arrived there, we enjoyed a cup of tea and a piece of cake. By now it had started raining heavily and so we made our way back. After about half of the way, two young men stopped and gave us a ride to the next village. Since we were much too early for the next bus, we strolled around there for a while. Then we headed back and for a change, had Indian food for dinner. Mind you, twice that evening. I slept deeply and soundly that night, which was no wonder after seven hours of hiking. Unfortunately, I had to get up early again the next morning as my bus to Penang departed at 8:00 am.

I wouldn't have believed a few years ago that I would voluntarily go hiking. But it feels so good to be so close to nature and to move around. I am glad that I am finding myself more and more and discovering what I really like and need.