Aterforening och Cameron Highlands

Forst vill jag bara skriva att fran och med imorgon sa galler inte mitt malaysiska mobilnummer, eftersom jag da flyger till Bali, Indonesien.
Jag skaffar ett kontantkort dar sa fort jag kan.

I torsdags var jag alltsa tillbaka pa Red Dragon efter ca 9 dagar i lyx hos Magnus med familj.
Jag valde att stanna i ett s.k ”dorm” (korridors-rum) som kostar RM 15 per natt. Det ar ett stort rum med manga sangar, i detta fallet 4 st vanings-sangar. De har separata tjej- och killrum.

Jag stack till Indonesiska ambassaden for att ordna mitt visa infor Bali-resan.
Jag hade alla papper i ordning, betalade RM 160 och fick beskedet att jag kunde hamta ut det pa tisdag.
Jag umgicks med kanadensiska Marissa, schweiziska Sabrina, tjecken Paul samt hans slovakiska kompis, Jorge, resten av tiden.
Bl.a at vi mycket billig och god Sushi pa ett kopcenter (ca 18 Sek for 10 bitar).

Pa lordagen satt vi nere pa Red Dragons restaurang och vantade pa att A-M skulle dyka upp.
Vi drack nagra ol och lyssna pa underbar live-musik. Fick aven sallskap av en engelsk/indisk kille, Robert (som sjong nagra latar aven han) och en malaysier/australiensare Joey.
Sa kom da A-M till slut! Vi kramade om varandra och det kandes jatteharligt att se henne igen.
Hon checkade in och gjorde oss sen sallskap nere pa restaurangen. Det blev en riktigt bra valkomst-fest och vi hade jatteskoj.

Pa sondagen var vi och at glass pa glass-paradiset Swensens, och sen gick jag och klippte mig. Det kostade RM 12 (ca 22 Sek) och tog 10 minuter. Det var en sorts express-harstudio, sa det var torrklippning men det funkade. Klippte ju bara topparna. 🙂

Pa onsdag formiddag tog vi bussen till Cameron Highlands. http://www.cameron.com.my/
Det tog ca 4 timmar, varav 2 timmar var pa slingriga vagar i bergen. Vi akte upp till ca 1500 meters hojd over havsytan.
Den sista biten av resan mottes vi av underbara vyer bestaende av te-plantage.
Det kommer att finnas bilder pa det i mitt fotoalbum snart.
Vi blev upphamtade vid bussen, for vi hade redan bokat boende fran Red Dragon.
Val uppe pa Fathers Guesthouse kande vi den underbart friska luften, samt att det var lite kyligare an vad vi var vana vid (iaf jag som inte varit hemma i Sverige pa ett tag. :p)
Vi valde att bo i korridors-rum, vilket var endast 7 RM per natt. Det var inte det fraschaste jag sett, men det fick duga.
Vi la in vara grejer och gick sen upp och traffade Marissa, som akt upp dagen innan.
Vi bestallde in the och scones och sen borjade osregnet och askvadret…
Tyvarr sa fortsatte askvadret ett bra tag, samt att det var nagra hundar som ylade och hade sig utanfor. Jag somnade nog inte forran vid 2, men kl 7.45 var det dax att ga upp iaf till varan bokade guide-tur.
8.45 halsade Kumar (var indiska guide) oss valkomna och vi packade in oss i 2 landrovers. Vi var ett stort gang med blandade nationaliteter. Vid forsta stallet, te-plantaget, motte en tredje landrover, med guiden Bob och fler deltagare, upp.
Kumar berattade om hur de tar tillvara pa teet, hur lang tid det tar att vaxa, vilket sorter som finns m.m.
Det sker ingen export av teet utan allt saljs i Malaysia.
Sen akte vi till fabriken och fick se hur behandlingen av teet gick till.

Vi korde ocksa upp till en utsiktsplats som ligger ca 2032 meter over havsytan och tog lite bilder.

Efter det bar det av till Mossy Forest.
Kumar berattade om vaxterna runt omkring, bl.a vad de var bra for och vad man kunde gora med dem och en granne man inte gillade. Nu har jag inga problem med mina grannar i Sverige sa jag skippar nog det. 🙂
Vi vandrade upp i skogen, och pg.a vadret dagen innan var det mer an lerigt. Det var riktigt roligt att behova leta upp sakra stallen att satta fotterna och vi blev mer an lite skitiga.
Val uppe fick vi se ”The Pitcher Plant”, en vaxt som lurar insekter att krypa ner i den och sen kan de inte komma upp igen utan de loses upp.
Det var fuktigt och ganska svalt i Mossy Forest, och jag hade garna stannat men det var dax att ata lunch nere i byn.
Vi hade bara kopt en halvdags-biljett, men bestamde oss snabbt for att hanga med resten av dagen.

Efter lunch akte vi ivag till en Orkidee-odlare. De hade en sort som kallades ”The dancing lady”, sen blev det nagra stopp for att ta lite utsiktbilder pa vagen till en by om heter Orang Asli Village.
Vi hade kopt kex pa lunchen som vi delade ut till byns barn, och aven de vuxna fick. Kandes lite i maggropen av att sta dar och dela ut ett kex i varje hand som stracktes fram…Men de ar val vana vid det eftersom denna turen gors nastan varje dag.

Bob ledde oss till ett vattenfall i narheten, och det var den varsta klattringen under denna dagen. Den forsta backen var grymt brant och det enda som fanns att ta tag i var bambustammar.
Nu var det sa att Bob namde i forbifarten att man inte skulle rora de bruna delarna av bambustammen for de ar giftiga…Det var ju nastan bara brunt pa dem, sa det var ju inte sa himla latt. Dessutom borjade det regna, och det var ju ratt lerigt redan innan.
Iaf sa lyckades jag ta mig upp, satte armbagen pa det giftiga pa bambustammen och blev lite orolig. Bob verkade inte sa allvarligt oroad, sa jag lat det vara och vantade pa att kunna skolja av det vid vatten fallet. Man kan tydligen fa skinn-allergi om man kliar pa det sa att det gar in i skinnet (vilket jag inte har fatt eftersom jag inte kliade pa det. :p).
Efter mycket om och men kom vi fram till vattenfallet. Det var himla fint, kanske inte sa stort men anda helt ok.
Pga regnet sa borjade vattenmassorna oka, sa helt plotsligt var stenen som A-M stod pa overskoljd med vatten. Vi papekade detta for Bob, som sa att vi fick ta en annan vag tillbaka, for vi kunde inte ta samma vag. Vi borjade ta oss ner pa de vata stenarna runt omkring och manga halkade. Sjalv satte jag forst en fot i vattnet och sen den andra. Det hade ju varit ok om man hade flipp-flopps men nu var det ju gympaskor jag hade. :p
Efter mycket om och men sa kom vi tillbaka till byn.
Det var 4 tjejer som inte hangde med och de var ratt glada for det. 🙂

Vi tog av oss vara dygnsura skor och gick in i hovdingens hus dar de forberett the och kokt tapioka (en sorts potatis). Kumar berattade om hur byn jagade och levde. Sen gick vi ut och hovdingen visade upp blasrors-tekniken de anvander for att doda stora djur som bergs-getterm.m.

Sen var det dax att bege sig tillbaka till vart gasthus sa smatt. Var forare var ny sa han fick verkligen testas. Vagarna var mer an lite slingriga och branta, och det var lite som rally. Han fixade det galant men vi var lite ”shaken, not stirred” efter den turen. 🙂

Vid halv 9 var vi tillbaka pa Fathers Guesthouse igen dar vi tog en varm dusch, tvattade gympaskor, at mat och sen slumrade in under vars tva filtar.

English version:
First of all I want to say that from tomorrow I can’t check my Malaysian mobile number since I will be flying to Bali, Indonesia.
I will get a cash-Sim there as soon as I can.

On Thursday I was back on Red Dragon after about 9 days of luxury at Magnus and his family’s place.
I chose to stay in a so called dorm, which is a big room with many bed. In this case it was 4 bunk beds and they have separated guys- and girls-rooms.

I went to the Indonesian Embassy tog apply visa for the Bali-trip.
I had all papers in order, payed RM 160 and was informed that I could collect in on Tuesday afternoon.

I spent time with Canadian Marissa, Swizz Sabrina, Czech Paul and his friend, a Slovak called Jorge, the rest of the time.
On Saturday evening we sat downstairs at Red Dragons restaurant to wait for A-M to show up.
We had some beers and listened to wonderful live-music.
We also had company from a Indian/English guy named Robert (he also sang a couple of songs) and Joey, his Australian/Malaysian friend.

Finally A-M stood there! We gave each other a big hug and it felt really great to see her again.
She checked in to the dorm and then she joined us at the restaurant. It became a really good welcome-party and we had lots of fun.

On Sunday we went to the ice cream-paradise Swensens and after that I got a haircut. It cost RM12 and took about 10 minutes. It was at a express-hair studio, so they cut dry hair, but since I only wanted to remove a few inches it was quite ok. Cheap and perfect. 🙂

On Wednesday we took the bus to Cameron Highlands. http://www.cameron.com.my/
It took about 4 hours, 2 of them on twisting mountain-roads. We went up to about 1500 meters above sea level.
The last part of our trip we where met by wonderful views of tea-plantage all over the mountains. There will be pictures in the album soon.

There was a minibus picking us up, because we already booked accommodation through Red Dragon.
Up at Fathers Guesthouse we felt the fresh wonderful air, and that the temperature was a bit lower than we are usually used to (at least I since I haven’t been in Sweden for some time. :p)

We chose dorm, which was only RM 7 per night. It wasn’t the most fresh room I saw but it had to due.
We put in our stuff, and then went up to meet Marissa (she went up there the day before us) at the social-rom. We ordered tea and scones and then the rain started to pour and the thunder to sound…
Unfortunately it lasted for quite a while, and there was also some howling dogs outside, so I didn’t fall asleep until about 2.
I had to go up at 7.45 anyways, because we had booked a guided tour that day.
At 8.45 Kumar (our guide) greeted us and we packed ourselves in to 2 Land rovers.
It was a big bunch of people with mixed nationalities.
At the first stop, the tea-plantage, a third Land rover with the guide Bob and more people showed up.
Kumar told us about how the collect the tea, how long it takes to grow , what kind of tea there is amongst other things.
There is no export of the tea, because all of it gets sold in Malaysia.
After that we went to the factory to see how the tea was handled before it was ready to be sold.
We also drove up to a viewpoint that is 2032 meters above sea level and took some pictures.

After that we headed off to Mossy Forest.
Kumar told us about the plants around, what they are good for and what you can do with them and a neighbour that you don’t like.
I don’t have any problems with my neighbours in Sweden so I think I will skip that. 🙂

We wandered up in the forest, an due to the rainy weather the day before it was more than muddy. It was quite fun to have to search for safe places to put your feet, but we became more than a little dirty. 🙂
Up there we got to see ”The Pitcher Plant” which is a plant that lures insects to drop down in to it, then they can’t get up again and dissolves in the fluid.
It was moist and kinda cool in Mossy Forest and I would gladly have stayed some more but it was time to get some lunch down in the village.

We had only bought a half day-ticket, but decided quickly to join for the whole day-tour.

After lunch we went to a Orchid-farm. They grew one that is called ”The Dancing Lady”. After that there was a few stops to take some view-pictures on the way to Orang Asli Village.

We had bought some crackers at lunch that we handed out to the children in the village, and even the grown-ups got some. I felt a strange feeling in my stomach standing there and handing out a cracker in every hand that was reached out to you. But I guess they are used to it tho, since this tour is almost every day…

Bob led us to a waterfall nearby, and that was the worst climb during this day. The first hill was so steep, and the only thing to grab on to was the stems of the bamboo.
Bob just happened to mention when he went by that the brown parts of the stem are poisonous and that we shouldn’t touch them.
It was almost only brown parts on them so that wasn’t easy. It also started to rain, and it was muddy already before that…
Anyways I managed to get up, then i happened to put my elbow on the brown part of the stem by accident and got worried.
Bob didn’t seem so worried, so I let it be and waited to get to the waterfall so I could rinse it off.
It seems you can get skin-allergy if you itch on it so it goes in to your skin ( no worries, I seemed to get all of it off and have no problems so far).

After a while we got to the waterfall. It was really nice, maybe not big and impressive, but still quite ok.

Due to the rain the water masses started to grow, and the stone that A-M stood on was all of a sudden wet by the water. We pointed this out for Bob and he said that we had to take another path back, since we couldn’t get back the same way.

We started to walk back on the slippery stones and many people slipped. I myself put first one foot in the water and then the other… It had been ok if I had flipp-flopps but this is sneakers we are talking about. :p
After a while we finally got back to the village.
We where welcomed by 4 girls that skipped going to the waterfall, and they where quite happy about that. 🙂

We took off our soaking wet shoes and went in to the chiefs house, where they had prepared tea and boiled tapioka (sticky potato). Kumar told us about how the people hunts and lives. After that we went outside and the chief showed us the blowpipe-technique they use when killing big animals like mountain-goats amongst others.

After that it was time to drive towards our guesthouse. Our driver was new to this and he was tested really well. The roads was more than a little steep and twisted, and it felt a bit like rally.
He did really well but we were a bit ”shaken, not stirred” after that ride. 🙂

At half past 8 we where back at Fathers Guesthouse were we took a hot shower, washed the sneakers, ate a warm meal and then fell asleep under two blankets each.