Tuesday we took a bus from Taman Negara to the Cameron Highlands. It was an 8 hour journey in a bus that was very bumpy and along roads that were very windy so we were very relieved when we arrived in Tanah Rata, a small town within the Cameron Highlands.

The Cameron Highlands is known for its cool climate due to the higher altitude of 1500m above sea level, which was a nice change for us after the hot and humidity of the last few months, it was actually so cold at night that we needed to wear fleeces!! The cooler climate and the altitude make it a prime location for tea plantations as well as strawberry and vegetable farms.

Tuesday afternoon we explored Tanah Rata which did not take long as there is not much there except shops selling all sorts of tat and restaurants, but it is a good location for exploring the Cameron Highlands. However we did stop at a little cafe to have a cup of tea and a piece of strawberry cheesecake each which was very yummy! In the evening we had a Tandoori dinner, I am already getting more used to the spice and flavours but am not getting carried away quite yet and sticking to the milder dishes! We then went back to the hostel which had a bar and a camp fire which we sat around with a few beers, this is what travelling is all about!

Wednesday was Andrew's 24th Birthday. I had got him a little jokey magic towel (am waiting for him to decide what he actually wants!) and Karl and Lucy brought him a sling shot which got lots of use throughout the day by everyone! We headed out to explore the Cameron Highlands with a walk up to Gunung Brinchang which is at 2031m or 6666ft! It was a long tiring climb up through lush rainforest and jungle but it was a fun using the tree roots as steps. There was a good view from the top but it was quite hazy. As we started heading down from the lookout we started walking through vegetable and strawberry farms and everywhere we looked we could see the patterns of tea plantations, all green and lush looking.

Next we headed to the Sungai Palas Boh Tea Estate where we could look around the tea plantation, watch then harvesting by machine and by hand and most importantly we had some really good tea and cakes with an amazing view over the tea plantation. It had ended up being a much further walk than we had anticipated, we had already walked about 10 miles, so with still a long way to go we managed to hitch a lift back to Tanah Rata in the back of a truck!

Wednesday evening for Andrew's birthday we had what is called a Steamboat at his request. Basically it is the chinese version of fondue, where you have bite size chunks of various things and steam them in soup. It certainly was interesting we had quite a variety of food from chicken, fish, prawn, mussells, crab, tofu, mushrooms, bean curd, noodles, egg, the list goes on! It was really quite fun to eat and very filling but at the same time we were a bit unsure about what exactly we were eating and at times it was best not to think about it too much!! I think it is a thing we will only have once, but is a good idea and fun too! We finished off the evening back at the hostel bar, playing drinking games and celebrating Andrew's birthday as you would expect with too much whiskey and gin!!

Thursday we caught the bus to Georgetown in Penang, where we are spending today relaxing and sorting ourselves out before we catch the ferry tomorrow across to Indonesia to Sumatra where we are going for a few days to see Orang-utans, Andrew is very excited about this as they are his favourite animal! We had not planned to go to Indonesia but since talking to Karl and Lucy about it we decided to change our plans a little. We will let you know how it goes when we return!

Lots of Love

Sarah and Andrew xxx