I need to tell you about a couple of the great people we have met on our travels. On our last day in Kuala Lumpar we met a guy on a train who is an Iranian student studying in Malaysia. He is called Bahador Keshvari and is so interesting. He loves Malaysia and has been at different universities over the past two years completing a masters degree. We are staying in touch through e-mail and he keeps giving us suggestions of where to go and what to see.
The second is a real character, his name is Shah and we met him in a small town called Benta where we had stopped looking for coffee. He came across to talk to us and we arranged to meet in a coffee shop when he had picked his son up from school. Such a genuine man, so interested in us and so proud of his country. He was very funny too and we soon had the whole coffee shop in uproar! The elderly lady who was serving, who had very little English, was desperate to talk to us so Shah translated. She was a real delight! He treated us to iced coffees and we swapped e-mails. We left, an hour and a half later than planned, with everyone's best wishes and lots of waving!
The very pleasant interlude set us up for the next part of our journey. We had decided to forget Kuala Lipis and to head for the hills instead. It took an hour of climbing uphill on a one-way road, one vertiginous bend after another to eventually reach Fraser's Hill, an idyllic little town reminiscent of the perfect English village out of an Enid Blyton book. We just needed wedges of fruit cake and ginger beer - which we got that night but that tale is for later!
The hill station was cleared and built in the early 1900's for ex-pats as a summer retreat from the heat in Kuala Lumpur. It clearly has a forces feel to it, there was an RAF jungle training school nearby and several locals have a posh English accent, using words like, chaps, high tea and sah (sir)! Our hotel overlooked the immaculate golf course which was manicured perfectly.
That first evening we went out to eat at Ye Olde Smokehouse restaurant, a pseudo Tudor house just out of the town centre. It was like walking into a film set. The tall, slim, grey haired Indian 'man servant' came to take our order in his perfect Etonian accent. The menu included beef Wellington, roast chicken, pavlova and bread and butter pudding. We drank..... ginger beer!
Unfortunately the meal, although beautifully presented, and served in the most refined dining room, didn't come up to expectations. Raw chicken - not to be recommended. We've eaten street food from dodgy stalls and unidentified food from small cafes, all of which have been beautifully cooked and delicious. Good old British stodge let us down! We went back to our hotel and had fried rice instead!
We are now on day 3 of the Cameron Highlands, in a place called Tahan Rata. We are high in the hills, in cooler temperatures, surrounded by tea plantations, vegetable and strawberry farms. Its green and lush and very beautiful. Yesterday we visited Sungai Palas Boh Tea Estate, a tea plantation where tea, camellia sinensis, is grown on terraced hillsides. We had a tour of the factory, tasted tea and had a wander through the terraces, we were warned not to go more than 100m into the bushes from the road because there are lots of cobras living among the tea plants!! We didn't stray more than 5m from the road!
It is bliss up here, the weather is like an English June summer's day, if you can remember what one of those used to be like. For the first time in over 4 weeks there is little humidity - lovely. The food is great too, big Indian influence so it's curries all the way, yumm. The call to prayer does wake you up at 5 am though, must have got used to it cos we go straight back to sleep!
Sorry if I've gone on a bit but we didn't have wi-fi in Fraser's Hill so I've waffled. Thanks for the news from home - well done Leeds Rhinos. Next stop Penang, hope to see you there.
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Location:Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands
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