The Cameron Highlands was a good place to get back into much needed travel mode. This small touristic town was friendly, full of Indian food, had sweater weather and more treks! The Cameron Highlands are Malaysia's top producers ( 80%) of fruits, veggies, teas and flowers. It was nice to visit local farms and see where all the delicious food iv been eating came from. The short treks were very different from my last two weeks. There were short jungle paths with waterfalls, groomed trails, mossy forest and great viewpoints. After a hike through the jungle and visiting Robinson and Pariet falls we hitched ride up to the BOH tea plantations. There we got a short tour of the factory, a very fresh strawberry tart and 'teh Tarik' (my new favourite drink) and a great view overlooking the many plantations. Green rolling hills as far as I could see, they even had a cartoon look to them try we're so perfect. I wish I knew a little more about agriculture to have known what I was looking at, but it was nice either way. The next day involved a hunt in a town 9 km away for a white stone marker just north of cactus valley, marking the start of a trail to the Gunung Brichang mountain summit. After a busy morning of hitching rides, visiting the cactus valley and a strawberry farm, finding the marker seemed more and more like an aggravating riddle. Asking for directions in a foreign country is not always easily done, asking for direction to a 30x30 cm white stone marker was just getting a bit ridiculous. So back to Tana Rata we went and climbed the steep trail to the summit of Gunung Jasar that lead to a great viewpoint over looking two towns with the fog still lifting over the highlands. Which we heard afterwards was much better then the viewpoint we were trying to get to that morning. Two days seemed short but feeling satisfied we headed north west to Ipoh on a search for caves... Ipoh is surrounded by many limestone caves. Sadly, my top pick was inaccessible by public transit and i was not going to hire a private driver, so I settled for three caves that could be done in a day. I was very impressed with the Perak Tong cave temple, which had a turtle sanctuary at the entrance and there were lots of trails leading in, out and to the top if the limestones cliff with plenty of pavilions along the way. More impressive then the popular Batu caves I would have to say. The two show caves, Lok Tong and Sam Poh Tong had a small outside trail to guide you from on temple to the next which was crowded by scary stray dogs. The trail leading up the limestone cliff was blocked off for renovations, I think that would have been the highlight, oh well. All in all Ipoh was friendly, had great food courts, a giant central market and lively street markets at night. I was glad to have dropped in and glad to leave, beach time has finally arrived! Off to Penang!