We began our epic journey on 11/12/06, we got on our 2 hour boat trip to Krabi on the mainland the plan being to then get on a coach to Hat Yai, (Hat Yai is a large city with apparently a large train station with loads of trains to Cameron Highlands), then at Hat Yai get a sleeper train to Ipoh by the Cameron Highlands. Getting on the bus was fine, there was a Thai guy with a board saying Lee on it who took us to our 'bus'. It wasn't a bus it was a large taxi with no legroom and hardly any air con. It took us five hours to get to Hat Yai which is probably the most uncomfortable journey ever! Unfortunately the sleeper we were expecting to be able to get was none existant, to get to Ipoh you have to go to KL then back north again - gutted! We ended up staying over in Hat Yai in a motel type room which cost 106 Baht each (1.5 pounds) for a room with air con!

Staying in Hat Yai wasn't bad after all we had what was basically a banquet with crispy pork, spare ribe, pramn soup, green noodles etc and it only cost 2.25 pounds! After sampling a bar called 'The Pink Lady' we went back and slept. We had booked a coach the previous day that would take us to Ipoh, we weren't expecting much but it was awsome! Full on reclining bed like seats, air con, tonnes of leg room and free water, I could have stayed on there for a few days! Anyway the coach took us over the border and after 8 hours we arrived in Ipoh.

The people in Malaysia seem to be so helpful, more so than in Thailand, and things seem a lot cheaper, they don't seem to be inflating their prices for tourists like they did in Thailand, which is nice. A taxi man directed us to the bus and we hopped on and it proceeded to take us to Tanah Rata, right in the Highlands. This bus took a further two hours but after all the travelling the Cameron Highlands is totally worth it. After coming from hot steamy beaches its bliss, with its cool temperatures and stunning mountanous scenery its a lot like the Lakes back home but on a grander scale.

We checked into a local hostel which is dead nice and at 1.5 pounds a night you can't complain! They run jungle treks and many tours from our hostel so we took advantage of one today. We visited 6 different sites; Rose Garden, Strawberry farm, Tea Plantation, Apiary, Butterfly Farm and a Buddhist temple. The highlights were definately the Butterfly Farm and the Tea plantation. At the butterfly farm we saw loads of insects, snakes and scorpions aswell as butterflies. the tea plantation is owned by a Scot and they produce loads of different teas, espeicially the Cameronian tea, surprisingly enough, seriously the place is huge, tea as far as you can see, obviously we sampled a few brews.

The Cameronian Guest House gets 5 stars from me, it offers cheap rooms (11 ringit per night) and awesome services. We've got well comfy beds, hot and cold showers, homemade scones, trips organised and a guy who does a jungle trek every morning that you can follow for 20 ringit. We did a trek on the 14th that lasted about 3 hours, it was quality clambering through the jungle up near vertical slopes and falling on our backsides going down slippery slopes. Our guide gave us a bit of an education too, he showed us these plants that ants live in and provide the plant with nutrition and protects it from other insects. He showed us a carnivorous plant. We smelt the scent of a mongoose type creature, he said there were poisonous green vipers in there, loads of stuff it was fun.

The following day we had booked ourselves onto a full day excursion as our previous guide had told us that if we did this we would go up to the highest point in the Cameron Highlands followed by the butterfly farm and the tea plantation in the morning. Then in the afternoon we would have lunch at an indigenous village, use blowpipes, then trek to see the Worlds biggest flower, the Rafflesia.

This is not what happened the morning was as he described and being 6,666ft above sea level at the highest point was pretty cool but after the morning we had to buy our own lunch at some Chinese place and afterwards we went to the village (which was at the side of the main road!) and used a blowpipe which was ace, but there was no flower! He did show us a hot spring that Elephants bathe in and a waterfall but these weren't very spectacular and were covered in litter! Although you could boil an egg in the hot spring. To make things worse, we were told that you had to book the full day tour however it turns out you could have only done the second half if you wish which is probably what we would have done, I felt a bit scammed but I suppose it was a good day out and it only cost 12 pounds.