Cameron Highlands to Penang

View over 'aboriginal village'

We had one more day in the Cameron Highlands and we used it to go on a jungle trek. The trek was 4 hours, and you're meant to set off in the morning, but by the time we'd gotten ready, got out the hostel, and had yet another all you can eat Indian for brunch, it was 2pm. We set off on the trail and it was blazing hot - I had to put sun cream on and was drenched in sweat. We trekked through a very roughly cut path in dense jungle (just the two of us, no guides) and it was quite scary at times as we were scared we would see snakes. We saw lizards, monkeys and at one point a leech attached its self to Jemma. The trek was hard and mostly uphill, winding through the forest, and we had to steady ourselves on branches a lot of the time. About 2 hours into the trek, we got to the top of the mountain and had a glorious view over the rain forest, and then it started to rain very heavily, with thunder and lightening.

One of the many creatures we saw

Knowing we were not even half way, we set off back into the forest to try to complete the trek before the paths became impassible. We got absolutely drenched. There were times when I was quite scared that we would get trapped in the forest and not be able to get out, especially when Jemma started complaining of chest pains. I had visions of her having a heart attack and me having to run for help, 2 hours out of the forest. We took a wrong turn at one point and had to climb over a fallen tree to get back. The rain was gushing down into the forest and the paths up the mountain were becoming very muddy and slippery. I was so relieved when we eventually saw rooftops in the distance: we had arrived at the 'aboriginal village', which is a vary basic village of wooden houses on stilts with tin rooves. I stood at the top of the hill for a few moments in the pouring rain, taking in the view of the misty village below me. It was a real round the world moment. From there, we were able to make our way back down out of the forest and towards the resort where we were staying. It took us about another hour to get back to the hostel, and we stopped on the way at a cafe for Jemma to have strawberry and chocolate waffles (strawberries picked fresh from the local area). It is nice to be able to allow ourselves these luxuries, we really feel like kings here after scrimping and saving in other parts of the world.

Drenched at the end of the trek

We got back to the hostel, had a shower, and then went back out to our favourite Indian, where you can have so much food (Indian, Chinese, Malay), you can eat until you're really stuffed, have 2 fruit juices, and it never comes to more than £2. It's heaven. That was our last day in the Cameron highlands. We relaxed that night in our cosy hostel and the next day we took a bus to Penang, which should have taken 3 hours but took 6. We are now in Penang, where it is unbearably hot (Cameron highlands were such a nice cool relief from the hot Malaysian weather). It is unbearably hot here and our hostel only switches the aircon on between 9pm and 6am so I am lying here at 5pm, having just had a cold shower, lying on my bed under the fan. Penang is known for its food and yesterday we went on a 'food crawl' with the hostel, where they took us around all the good food places. The food really is amazing here.

Pics of Cameron Highlands & trek: Cameron Highlands