Cameron Highlands is a small, slightly anticlimactic haven of greenery tucked into the northwestern corner of Malaysia, I ventured over from Kuala Lumpur for a 2.5 day/3 night city-getaway and even that proved to be a bit on the longer side. If, however, you have a strong interest in tea plantations and strawberries, then you have found yourself in the perfect place.

GETTING THERE

The road to Cameron Highlands gave Pai, Thailand a serious run for it’s money. It’s a 4.5 hour ride with the last 1.5 hours exclusively filled with twists and turns through the mountains. Before starting the last leg of the journey our driver stopped and gave each person a small plastic bag and lecture: “From now, road is like this,” he said as he wiggled his arm in the air like a slithering snake. “You get sick, you use the bag. No go in the seat!” he continued, wagging his finger. “Need more bags? I have more and no extra charge for you. You go in seat and you pay 30 ringgit! Okay we can go now.”

And off we went!

How to get there

From Kuala Lumpur, take the LRT to Bandar Tasik Selentan for 3 MYR; Walk to TBS station; Don’t be a rookie and wait in line, go to the automated ticket machine and select Cameron Highlands, 35 MYR.

Pro Tip: Choose seat 1, it’s delightfully roomy.

things to do & see

TANAH RATA

We made arrived without incident (as far as I know) and were dropped off in Tanah Rata, the town I was advised to stay in because it’s the more “bustling” area of Cameron Highlands. Let me say this, if Tanah Rata is “bustling” I’d hate to see what the others look like. There are a few cafes along this one-street town including, ironically enough, Starbucks, though my main activity in Tanah Rata quickly became the intense devouring of scones. If someone must eat the scones, let it be me.

THANK YOU, LORD

The Lord’s Cafe is a quaint little place that felt like a visit to Grandma’s house, at least if my grandma were Malaysian and had Bible quotes hung in her home. Their apple pie was a borderline direct American import using your family’s secret recipe, and the scones were nearly as good as the world’s best, which happen to be at the Puyallup Fair in Washington State (pronounced pew-al-up, for the curious ).

The blessed carbs I devoured were a gift from the scone Gods above and came with creamy butter, delectable whip cream and a side of strawberry jam. The jam is made with berries picked in the fields of the Highlands and without a shadow of a doubt would receive my Grandma’s seal of approval. The chamomile tea is also from the Highlands’ most famous plantation, BOH, and it was smooth as honey and had me reminiscent of my younger years when, to help me fall asleep, I would make myself a cup of chamomile tea with a monstrously heaping, and totally disproportionate, teaspoon of honey.

CACTUS VALLEY

Now I’ve never really gotten all that excited about the desert or cacti, but I thought I’d check out Cactus Valley since it was that or eating more scones (which I eventually did later anyway). After my visit, I can say with confidence that I’m beginning to fall in love with cactus in all it’s prickly glory. I love how diverse they are, how funky they look, their resilience, and the fact that it is potentially harder for me to kill one than to keep it alive. Forget bouquets, if you want to profess your love to me please do it with a cactus.

SIMPLICITEA

Later, I drove the curvy roads to Malaysia’s most famous tea plantation and it ended up being a glorious ride alongside vibrant green hills of tea fields and mountains. Best of Highlands, or BOH as it’s more colloquially known, is a massive tea company that produces 4 million kilograms of tea a year, which is the equivalent of 5.5 million cups a day! That’s insanitea! They only produce black tea and foreigners make up a bulk of their leaf pickers, mostly hailing from Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, and a few from Indonesia. They are paid 0.27 ringgit per kilo they pick, which is roughly half a US penny, and earn about 32 ringgit a day, or $7.52. Fortunately, they live in homes on the plantation that are paid for entirely by the company, including water and electricity.

The plantation itself boasts jaw-dropping scenery and has a small (and very crowded) cafe atop a hill overlooking the tea fields. I enjoyed a vanilla tea and Oreo cheesecake, because if there’s anything I cannot pass up, it is absolutely Oreo or cheesecake based, and be still my heart if they are working together as a team.

TOUR TIME

On my second day, I took a tour that I could have probably done without. The “jungle trekking” that we were supposed to was non-existent, unless you count the planked pathway through the anti-climactic Mossy Forest, but for an $11 half day tour, I’m not complaining. In any case, our guide was pure entertainment.

Since I was a solo guest, I was given the privilege of the passenger seat. When I hopped in, I saw he had cobs of corn just hanging out in the cup holders of his truck; one unopened and one semi-shucked. Road trip snacks? The mystery prevails. Then, we stopped at a viewpoint for a few minutes and one second I see that he’s casually leaning on the car while we take pictures of the landscape, and the next second I turn around and he is casually walking around with a crown of ferns on his head. Did he just weave that!? The best part, hands down, was near the end of the day when we went to the Butterfly Farm. This activity didn’t exactly draw forth my enthusiasm, but I could either go in or wait in the car. Since it was a $1 entrance fee, I opted for the former, and thank goodness I did because at one point I saw my tour guide sitting inside a den cradling a raccoon like he did it everyday. Which maybe he does? And yes, there are raccoons at the Butterfly Farm.

Who on earth is this raw-corn-eating, fern-crown-wearing, raccoon-cuddling man!?

BUTTERFLY FARM

This is less of a “Butterfly Farm” and more of a “All Animals Farm.” There were butterflies, hamsters, ducks, turkey goblins, snakes, annoyed-looking lizards, piles of scorpions, very strange insects, and hungry chipmunks. This place needs a serious name change.

STRAWBERRY OVERLOAD

Cameron Highlands takes great pride in their strawberries and they are delicious. I found the best ones to be at the farmer’s markets.

to summarize

If you decide to make a visit to the Cameron Highlands, I recommend spending 2 days/1 night here, skip the tour and take a scooter around instead. Then again, I did get to pet a raccoon and, my oh my, are they incredibly soft little creatures.

JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE.