Tanah Rata is the major town in the Cameron Highlands, with Brinchang to the north and Ringlet to the south. It is a lovely town for strolling around down the main street with quaint shops on either side and lots of lively action filled with tourists and locals alike. The best thing about this place is the cool mountain air - I felt just like I was back in Melbourne! The air is fresh and clear and there's no humidity like the rest of Malaysia. There are still old buildings around which haven't yet been torn down by the Malaysian government in the name of progress.
Out and about
As the bus arrived around noon and given the kerfuffle of before (see #96 Kang Traveller's Lodge - Warning) it was well past my lunch time and with rumbling tummy I set off to investigate the town and find somewhere to eat.
Spotted this poor butterfly on the ground. As you can see, its right wing is damaged and it was having difficulty flying so I gently picked it up and palced it on the grass.
Ah here at last were the durians I had heard so much about. And no, I wasn't game to try one.
Walking further down the street, this is the high side btw - the steps are raised and as I walked along it was up, walk, down, walk, up, walk etc. The whole side is raised it really was quite pretty. The other side of the street is the "low" side.
For some reason I didn't find this side as interesting as the high side. Perhaps it had something to do with light and dark - the high side was light filled.
I had lunch (not in the main street) at a place called Nonga Fern, or it could be Nonga Ferm (can't read my own writing), the meal was so-so, coffee awful and the cup very dirty with a big chip. This is from my notes of that day. I ate ouside the cafe/restaurant at their tables and chairs and spent a very pleasant half hour or so writing in my travel diary.
Going back up the way I had come there are many food and market type stalls here. I also noticed quite a number of white plastic tables and chairs and a lot of people were eating - there were several families gathered around and plenty of cooking going on too.
This beautiful old building was built in the 1930's and is sited on a hillside overlooking the township of Tanah Rata. The Convent Primary School, (or Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent (SK Convent) is one of the oldest buildings in Tanah Rata and has lovely elegant lines. It was once used as a British hospital (as were a number of the old buildings here) as this was where people came to escape the heat and for those who were recovering from malaria. It became a fully-fledged Roman Catholic school in 1971.
I thought the public telephones here were cute - much nicer than ours back home.
Further down (think it was south but can't be sure as one's sense of direction gets a little hay wire) is the town clock which is situated in the Botanic Gardens which are on the right hand side of the main street. I've not been able to find any information about the clock so don't know when it was built. The time on the clock is wrong btw.
The gardens were were a lovely surprise and the flowers! Beautiful, bold, bright colours and the layout was well thought out. I spotted several seats where you could sit in the shade and the paths were clean and well kept.
This adorable little bridge is down the side from the side street. It had a look of a Dutch feel to it, although why that should be I don't know. It was sort of olde worldly.
This metal arch is in keeping with the rest of the design - again that olde worlde look.
Walking back along the main road, this very large structure stands out from across the street - this is on the "low" side.
Back on the high side again, is Marrybrown's - Malaysia's answer to McDonalds. By this time it was late in the day, the weather had turned quite cool and it had started to rain a little so I stopped here and had tea - chicken and rice from memory. The food was delicious. I should add that I don't patronise McDondal's, Hungry Jack's or KFC. But I did eat at this "junk food" place.
I really love this tree and wondered how there could possibly such a tree in existence with the different colours. Closer inspection showed me that it was not actually a (living) tree at all - hence the different colours. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the Botanic Gardens in the backdrop on the left side. Further to the right, the number "one" sports part of the Malaysian flag,
This was back towards the "low" side of the main road near the bus/taxi terminal - a cream brick place. The public loos were closed. Building was going on and hadn't been completed when I was here. As you can see from this photo, it is raining and fairly consistent too. I had left my brolly in my suitcase, wasn't wearing long sleeves so caught a taxi back. Didn't take long going by car.
I had a lovely walk around the town and thouroughly enjoyed the day. Back at the Cameronian Inn it was cups of hot tea sitting around the tables at the front entrance with Ganesh and three or four of the other guests. We just sat and talked and a good time was had by all.
So ended the first day in the Cameron Highlands.
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