Trekking the Cameron Highlands

2,000m up in the highlands and the weather's nice and cool - a far cry from the 30+ degrees on the coast. I rug up in my fleece ready to tackle whatever the jungle can throw at me.

But first, a visit to the Boh Tea plantation.


The tea bushes are planted out in neat little rows, so the harvesters can get between them.


Tea was once picked by hand. These guys use plastic-shrouded shears, and toss the tea in to their backpacks after a few clips. More modern plantations are fully mechanised - but of course the quality suffers.

On to the factory, where I now know how tea is withered, crushed, fermented, dried and packed. Might even start drinking the stuff! I bought a little pack for Pauline, who's an avid tea drinker.

But no jungle yet. Next stop is the Butterfly Farm, which has an interesting variety of insects and animals to view before moving on to the pretty ones.


Now this is a cool bug! These guys are genuine - no touch-up paint here.


I (and everyone else) pass on the opportunity to have one of these little fellows on our hands. I can just imagine explaining to Southern Cross why they paid tens of thousands in medical bills just because I wanted to play with a scorpion.


The tortoise was a much safer bet.


As were the millipedes after the guide explained they weren't poisonous - only the centipedes. What he didn't say was that millipedes can still give you a nasty nip - but fortunately I didn't aggravate these ones. It's a unique sensation having 2,000 legs simultaneously searching for grip on your hand.

Nik - what goes 997, 998, 999, clunk? A millipede with a wooden leg! Why are mother millipedes always cross? Because the kids are always losing their shoes! :-)


Now here's a bug that really knows all about camouflage.


On to some stunning iridescent butterflies.


These guys have a wing span as wide as your hand.


Ok - getting closer to the jungle trek now, but first to try my hand at blowpipe shooting. I could do with some practice! To be on the safe side, our darts aren't tipped in poison (typically made from frogs or snakes). You have two minutes left to live if struck by a poison dart. Apparently it takes two darts to bring down a tiger.

On to the trek at last. Our mission? To walk one and a half hours into the jungle to see if we can find the fabled Rafflesia flower - the largest in the world. Very hard to find, and they only bloom for seven days. I'm a bit dubious - I've never walked that far for a flower before, but the trek should be fun.

We set off up a slippery clay 4WD track, which quickly narrows to jungle single track. I keep an eye out for snakes, scorpions and spiders, and settle in comfortably near the back of our group to ensure those up front encounter them first. (We actually alternated - I'm not that wussy!)


We cross rickety bamboo bridges...


and slippery logs across raging streams...


and past stunning waterfalls...


and after 90 minutes we reach it.

What - this is it??

Our guide laughs. "Ah - you're lucky to see this - it's just a bud. Hasn't opened yet."

Big deal. No snakes, no scorpions, no spiders, and only a flower bud!

Then our guide points up the hill.


And the damned thing takes our breath away. It's huge!


But you really need a photo with me in it to get an appreciation of the size.

Well satisfied, our group (three Canadians and a Dutch couple) trek back out to the road. We're lucky - it starts to rain just as we're heading back in to town in the van.

I look at the guide books back at the guesthouse. I've pretty much done all there is to do here. I book the 9am bus to KL, still hopeful of a Borneo trip. But I'm being increasingly warned of how wet Borneo is, and how nice Malacca is, so I'll call it over the next day or so.

Now to find a nice curry house for dinner. I'm running in energy deficit after the trek and need to make amends.