I arrived back in Kuala Besut on the speed boat at 8 in the morning, but the bus I'd booked to leave on wasn't leaving til 10, so I had plenty of time to kill in this particularly dull town. Also due to the fact neither the islands or this town had an ATM, I was on limited funds! The lovely lady in the bus company office let me dump my bag and use her internet for free, which was great and i headed over the road to a funny little cafe to get some kind of breakfast. I met up with Jacqueline, a Dutch girl I'd met a few times on the island and we sat together in this strange room, more like the kitchen of a really cluttered house, with a musty smell all around, an elderly group of women sitting at one table and no one else about. Each table had plates of different baked products, covered by a clear plastic lid, and we worked out we just help ourselves and pay later. I ordered a tea, accustomed by now to this coming containing condensed milk and horribly sweet, and sat eating curry puffs and a weird doughy sweet thing I couldn't identify! Finally we had wasted enough time and we found a minibus that was meant for us and climbed aboard. We met Michael, who was from California, and formed a little group, so that when we were dumped at a cafe (no doubt owned by someone known to the driver) for our forced lunch break, we stuck together. We finally arrived in the Cameron Highlands, not really knowing where to stay, but we'd all heard good things about Father's Guesthouse, so we asked to be taken there. The owner was a very good salesmen, and his rooms ranged from amazing (in the main house) to basic dorm which was in the kind of bunker outside. Even this was ok, but he'd tempted us with the nice room first, so we decided to go for it and split a room 3 ways. The air in the Highlands was refreshingly cool after being on the coast, and it was cold enough to justify wearing trousers and a long top! The guesthouse was really cosy and had a living room with sofas and DVD's showing and really cheap cups of tea - well it was a tea region! I was obviously limited for time having only two nights there, so I booked on a day tour for the following day that seemed to include everything I wanted to see. I spent the evening catching up with the World and met a girl called Rachel from Oz who introduced me to a website called Sporcle.com. This was a mistake - its so addictive! (obviously I'm a geek!) The next morning I went down and after a brilliant breakfast of beans on toast (this place gets better and better!) and a normal non-condensed milk tea and Jacqueline, Michael and I climbed aboard the 4WD with our guide Francis and 5 others squeezed in. Our first stop was to be up a very bumpy track to do a mini-trek to find the rafflesia flower. The tour had almost been cancelled as the last one had died - they only last a week - but the locals had managed to find another one, so we were in luck. I was having issues with my new camera, as I think it was less waterproof than it claimed!! The lens was partially misted up, making the photos cloudy - it didn't look good. We trekked up through pretty jungly land which was pretty steep in parts and lots more humid than in town! Francis stopped every now and again to explain a flower or plant or demonstrate the uses of bamboo (something I was well aware of after PNG!) He also turned me into an All Black by printing a dusty underside of a fern leaf on my black T-shirt! We finally got to the flower, with the last bit being up a slippery muddy slope. It was huge, bizarre and looked fake - like something you might see on the set of the Wizard of Oz... We all took turns to climb the slope and have our picture with it, but my camera was being misty, so when I finally sorted it I had to go up again, almost falling flat on my face in the process.

After the Flower, we headed back down to a waterfall, where we were able to cool off in the water - very gratefully as it was hot and sticky in the jungle. After a speed dip, we carried on back to the 4WD and set off back down to the main road with Francis doing some very impressive driving! He took us to an Orang Asli village - local village of people living some kind of "nomadic" lifestyle, although to be honest, they all had motorbikes and were living right by the main road. We got shown how to use a blow pipe - a lot easier to aim than I'd thought, then had a brief look around the village. There wasn't a lot to see. After this we set off again, this time to the tea plantation. There was no time for a lunch break so I munched on some coconut rolls I'd bought at the petrol station until we finally arrived at Boh tea plantation. This, for me was the highlight of the day - I love tea!! We had a quick tour round the factory to watch the tea drying process before heading to the cafe for the main event. I decided to compliment my tea with a huge slice of apple pie, which was great, but slightly lacking in cream...(there was none). The cafe was sticking out over the tea plantation so we could enjoy panoramic views of tea while we sipped. After we had sadly finished all the yummy tea, we drove off again, this time up towards the "mossy" forest, stopping for one last view of the tea before it became a distant blur down in the valley. Our walk through the mossy forest was somewhat different to the mornings hike as it was really cool, almost cold and we were surrounded by damp moss growing everywhere and pitcher plants of all colours and sizes - These are the ones that "eat" insects, or at least are designed so when insects fall in they can't get out and they dissolve in the sugary liquid at the bottom, the plant using the nutrients for growth. They were pretty cool, but there were so many in the end they got a bit boring! There were also several types of orchid, which were beautiful. Our last stop was at the top of the tallest peak in the highlands - it wasn't that tall and but by the time we got there it was surrounded with thick cloud, so no view - it wasn't even just my camera! Whilst we faffed about at the top of the tower however, the cloud all managed to lift, so we got amazing views anyway - very lucky!

After we finally got dropped off back in town, Michael, Jacqueline and I headed to an Indian restaurant recommended by Francis and had an amazing meal all served on a banana leaf. I then headed back to the guesthouse where I did some proper schlomping with Nick, Becky and Ben who were all from England and drank a weird beer that claimed to be 10%! Apparently the owner limits guests to 3 cans... We finished off in the back room which is where they relegate people to who want to keep making a noise after 10pm and here I met Matt, who was getting the same bus as me down to KL in the morning. Never alone!