To get to the Cameron Highlands we had to take a bus from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur and then another bus from KL to Cameron Highlands. When we arrived at KL the 2.30 bus was cancelled so we had to wait until 5.30. The time went quickly with Gem teaching Matt how to play the card game Uno (which we had bought in Mersing for a pound) and Matt won, beginners luck?

We therefore arrived a lot later than expected in Tanah Rata and by the time we found the guesthouse we wanted to stay at it was 11pm. Unfortunately noone was around so we had to pay double to stay in a hotel! The first thing that hit us was the difference in temperature, it was freezing, the kind of cold where you wish for a hot water bottle. However, this was one of the reasons why we wanted to visit the Cameron Highlands, to see the tea plantations and agriculture which is unlike anywhere else in Malaysia. We also wanted to do some highly recommended treks in lower temperatures.

The following morning we checked into "Twin Pines" guesthouse and went off to explore. We walked to "ye old smoke house" which was built in 1937 by Douglas Warin and is modelled on an old haunt of Warin's back in the UK with the same name. Mimicking the Tudor-style of old public houses, complete with a charming cottage garden for strolling in the pleasant hill top temperatures, the Smokehouse was created to give homesick expatriates a feeling of home. Gem felt more at home than anywhere else we have been - the garden had it's own red telephone box and stone pig, both exactly the same as Mum's garden at home! We enjoyed a treat of cream tea and scones and waited for the rain to ease before walking back down to Tanah Rata. The scenery was very picturesque, mountains covered in pine trees and clouds both below us and above us.

That night back at Twin Pines we bumped into Lonneke and Virgil who we met in Melaka and we all went for one of the best curries we've had in Malaysia. For 1 pound you can have a tandoori or vegetarian set with roti or naan bread. Very tasty and very cheap!

The next day was totally rained off - it started at 11am and didn't stop, it rained so much that the road next to Twin Pines was flooded and people staying at another guesthouse either couldn't get back or out. we enjoyed watching the local fireman scratching their heads trying to figure out how to pump the water out for 5 hours only to come back and try again in the morning! We spent the day visiting a small cafe and drinking copious cups of different flavoured tea (cheap as it's made just around the corner!) and we booked a tour for the following day which includes a guided trek, tea plantation, butterly farm and a strawberry farm.

We were picked up at 8.45 and drove for about an hour and started our trek through the rainforest. The main aim of this trek was to see the biggest flower in the world, the Rafflesia flower. When we booked the tour we were dubious as to whether we would see one as they are very rare. The walk was very pretty and we stopped at a waterfall with the group for a break. One chinese guy was wearing flip flops and they broke within 5 minutes of setting off. We felt quite smug in our walking shoes (Matt having learnt his lesson in Laos!). The guide, Mohammed, showed us wild ginger, the plant that tiger balm is made from and banana trees. About 2 hours in Mohammed told Matt to keep going and he would see the flower on his right. It was amazing!!! Very pretty, bright red and orange but it didn't smell too nice! See our pics to get an idea of size... we were pleased we finally saw one, they only grow in Malaysia and Indonesia and we didn't think we would get the oppportunity, well worth it. After getting back to the minibus we were shown how to use a blow pipe that the local villagers still use to kill monkeys, frogs and birds etc to eat. As predictable as ever Gem missed and Matt hit the target! Our next stop was the Boh Tea Plantation where we had a tour of their factory and saw the process of harvesting, drying, grading and packaging the tea. Quite interesting and it smelt lovely. We had a Boh cuppa on the balcony of their restaurant and enjoyed the views of the tea plants, very pretty - see pics. Then Mohammed took us to the butterfly farm, which we were both expecting to be quite pleasant. What we didn't expect was to be shown lots of wildlife up close....the first thing Mohammed did was find a massive stick insect on a tree and put it straight on to Matt's jacket! The funniest thing was when Mohammed started to pick up scorpians from an enclosure, and made us both have 3 on our arm, very very scary stuff. Gem had the last laugh when 2 of the corpians got stuck on Matt's cagoule - whispering in his ear that they both looked very angry and likely to sting!!! Gem's day was made when she was given the oppportunity to hold a turtle. It weighed 20kilos, a small chinese lady in our group tried to pick it up and couldn't! We were shown spiders in their enclosures that Mohammed said are pretty dangerous. They were yellow and black and quite big. We went through to the butterfly enclosure and saw lots of beautifully coloured big butterflies. What was worrying though was that we also spied 2 of the black and yellow spiders in webs in a tree eating some of the butterflies. When we left we told the guy in the ticket booth but he just laughed at Matt as if we were making it up! The last stop was the strawberry farm, much like ours at home although you couldn't pick your own and there was CCTV to catch out anyone who had a nibble. There was a kiosk where you could buy a punnet so that was our treat at the end of a very long and exciting day.

On our last day we made our plans for the rest of our time in Malaysia and decided to go to Penang next and then an island called Langkawi before we have to be in Singapore to fly to Oz. We enjoyed curry from our new favourite restaurant on the last 2 nights and spent the evening sat around a bonfire at the guesthouse talking to everyone else who was staying there.

Cameron Highlands was a lovely place to visit, we learnt a lot and got to see loads but we are really looking forward to wearing flip flops again when we return to the heat in Penang :)