A Rotton Adventure (with A Baker): ANDY AND ANA, CAMERON HIGHLANDS, MALAYSIA 30 MAY 2014

We had an early start to catch our onward bus to the Cameron Highlands. The journey was timed at around 5-6hrs with a stop halfway. We stopped at the bus terminal in Ipoh (sorry we didn't get to see you Durga!) where Andy invested in a new 19 ringgit watch (just under £4) to finally replace the one which was broken by the man who replaced the battery in Khao Lak.

Back on the bus to the highlands via some spectacular scenery. The highlands are famous for growing tea and strawberries! So the landscape was littered with tea plantations and plastic greenhouses for the fruit. We jumped off the bus and into a jeep sent to collect 6 of us who were all heading to the same guesthouse- Fathers.

Fathers guesthouse and for those of who who we've spoken to about this place, this is where you will find Jason :)

Gathering some trekking snacks and Andy chose these to keep himself fueled for the trip...

We checked into Fathers,with a very thorough introduction to the property and tours available, by Valerie. Settled in and we decided on a couple of tours we'd be keen to do and booked ourselves onto the Rafflesia flower trek- the biggest flower in the world- for the next day. That evening we popped into town and found dinner at a local stall serving nasi goreng (fried rice) and satay- yum!

Next morning we joined around 5 others for our Rafflesia hunt... Our guide for the day was Francis and it was his job to march us through the countryside in search of a flower in bloom. From our guesthouse we drove for around an hour to the start point. We all disembarked the jeep and started our adventure. The group were good fun and we got chatting to a Japanese/Canadian girl called Kumi. We trekked through the jungle, across rivers and over trees to find the Rafflesia. Francis had seen some quite recently as buds so was hoping that they'd open and be in bloom for us to see. Kerching! He hit the jackpot and found a flower which had just completely opened for us all to see. We'd seen the pods of those which would be open in a few weeks on route so were chuffed to see an actual flower in the flesh.

Wild ginger

Foresty

Francis also had to look after his bosses kid who trekked along better than any of the rest of us! He even got bitten by leeches and you wouldn't have known as he made no fuss!

Humm.. so how do we get across this small river, never mind photo first :)

The Rafflesia flower is named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles who came across it back in the 1800's, he also hung out quite a bit in Indonesia and notably Singapore where the world famous Raffles Hotel serves its Singapore Slings.

Once we'd all had the customary photo shoot with the famous flower we headed back to the jeep. It was pretty hot and sweaty work and the trek had taken a little longer in search of the flower. At the other end there is a random demonstration of a 'blow-pipe' which was used by the native tribes (the Orang Asli) for hunting. So we all had a quick blow- so to speak and headed on our way back. Just as we got in the jeep it poured down, perfect timing.

This is one of the Rafflesia buds, as big as a cabbage!

It's THIS BIG....

One for the family album, us and our Rafflesia

Andy investigates exactly how big it is by seeing if he can climb inside...

Although on closer inspection, this parasitic plant doesn't look too hospitable :)

There is a whip snake in this picture, come on, look a little closer

If only the lizard had seen the snake... What looks like a leaf is actually the snakes head with half a lizard in his gob!

They call him the Rotton Blower...

Back at the guesthouse we filled up on tea and headed out for a well deserved dinner. We headed to an Indian place where I had tandoori chicken and Andy had a claypot mutton curry.

Yum to my tum, tandoori chicken with all the trimmings

The next morning we'd been persuaded by Kumi to join her on the 'Cameron Valley Descent' tour which would be a good few hours trekking through the valley into a tea plantation (and ending up at a cafe which I think sold it to Andy). We had another early start and set off with a new group and guide- Jason. Our group was smaller for this walk and consisted of Kumi, ourselves and a couple from Germany- Val and Ollie.

The pitcher plant... has some fluid in the bottom which attracts insects, insects head in to try the nectar and that's the last you see of them...

We started our trek from the guesthouse and got chatting within the group. It turned out that Jason was an excellent guide who spoke far better English than either of us! A local guy who was taught English by a tutor as a kid and he studied in Oxford, England and then met his French wife (Valerie from reception) and moved back between Malaysia and France. He is a keen orchid photographer and pretty much an expert on all things orchid and nature. The trek was a good balance of stopping to explore the flora and fauna (that one's for you Mrs Turner) an uphill climb and a gossipy chat. We reached the peak and stopped for some fruit and cakes bought by Jason. As we reached the top you could hear the army of monkeys below in the canopy of the jungle, brilliant.

And Jason, our friendly, knowledgeable and fun guide

Val, Ollie, us and Kumi at the top of the trek before we head down into the tea plantations

Back down into the tea plantations and as always it was as tricky going down as it was climbing up! We made it to the Cameron Valley tea plantation and were given a mini tour of the process and people who worked on the fields. Trek done and we arrived at the cafe of the plantation with time for a cuppa and slice of cake.

Andy and his tea plantation pose

And mine!

Just enough tea to supply the Baker household for a few months...

We caught a taxi back to the guesthouse and had arranged to meet the group later in the evening for dinner. We headed out to another Indian and had a great evening, chatting and getting to know Kumi, Ollie and Val more.

We dropped Kumi off at the junction for her guesthouse and headed back to ours (Ollie and Val were staying at Fathers too). We got back and had more tea and chatter with Ollie and Val and had decided to all head out on one of the trail walks as a foursome the next day.

We headed to a place that served pancakes for breakfast and were joined by Ollie and Val (who as you may have guessed were great company). Once we were done we set off to find the start of trail 4- our route for the day. Took a few wrong turns to find the start of the trail but after a few locals pointing us in the right direction we got there.

Apparently fanning your male companions whilst trekking is an ancient custom here in Malaysia... I'm sure that Ollie has done this before!

Andy obviously isn't as used to it as Ollie!

Explorer Rotton

And then came the rain... Val was well prepared with her bin liner come poncho, flattering :)

As we headed back down into the valley so did the clouds and rain...

The 4,6,5 trail route that we completed took around 3hrs and we got back just as it had started to rain and become very foggy/misty. We rewarded ourselves with a cuppa and cake before heading bank to the guesthouse to chilax. We met up with Ollie and Val for dinner and they'd recommended a Chinese steamboat dinner. Both had lived in China for periods of time and had some good stories to share. We settled down to our table and let the experts choose which steamboat we'd have. Within 15 minutes staff kept bringing stuff to our table for the dining event! First was a grill, on top placed a big saucepan with two sections of broth and then several plates filled with food (including jellyfish-which happens to not be very nice). The idea is that you place the foods into the broth and let them cook and then you eat!