We had purchased our bus tickets a few days ago for our trip to the Cameron Highlands and also booked a hotel. Since the Malaysian school holidays were coming to an end though and the 31st August is their national day, we were limited with our choice and had to go for somewhere a little more expensive than we were planning. Still, 35 pounds a night isn't too bad.

The journey up to the highlands wasn't too interesting. It was only 212km and took a little over four hours. The worst part was the last 60km where the road was steep and bendy and in addition to all the turning, the bus kept having to stop when the road got narrow. Eventually we got there though and we were met by a nice Indian gentleman who was very proud to speak British English and not American English. We were swiftly taken to Bala's Chalets where we checked in. The place itself was an offshoot of a famous Singaporian school for European expats between 1934 and the late 1950s and is designed to look like an old English farmhouse with its white walls and black beams. (Actually, quite a few of the hotels in the area have tried to incorporate that into their design.) The whole area used to be run by the British owing to its exceelnt tea growing climate. Speaking of the climate, in contrast to KL, the highlands were quite cool and not very humid at all. Had it not been for the palm trees you could have imagined yourself in England.

We tried going for a few walks but kept missing the turnings we wanted so we eventually gave up and went back to the hotel for dinner. We ate a rather nice and very filling Indian meal as the hotel was run by an Indian family who are apparently famed for their cooking. We weren't disappointed. There wasn't much else to do apart from that and we headed for bed shortly afterwards. I found it very difficult sleeping for some reason and I only managed to get to sleep just minutes before the call to prayer started. It sounded like a recording coming from the nearby town of Tanah Rata but at 5am I wasn't that interested. The constant chirp of the crickets didn't help either.

When we arrived in the highlands we had booked a half day tour of the area for the meagre sum of RM 15 each (2 pounds). The bus picked us up at about 9am so we had plenty of time to get up. After picking up a few more people we headed to the rose gardens for a look round. The highlands have many exports, all of them agricultural in nature. One of these exports though is cut flowers. Apparently, many of the flowers we saw in the rose gardens make their way to Amsterdam and Europe as well as eastern Asia. The place was pretty large and full to the brim with lots and lots nice looking flowers. Strangely, I found myself enjoying all of the flowers I could see. What's wrong with me? I think my dad would approve though.

Our second stop was a strawberry farm just across the road. Strawberries are another major export of the area. We had only a quick look around the farm before trying some of their produce. They get strawberries all year round! No wonder the British liked the place!

Our third stop was a butterfly farm to see some big and beautiful butterflies. Next we went to a tea plantation to see their tea fields. One company, the one we visited, has over 230 hectares in the area alone. Unfortunately we'd come to the plantation on the one day that it was closed! Our last stop of the day was a buddist temple. The coach dropped us off back at the hotel where we looked into some lunch.

Unfortunately, the heat and humidity of the past few days had caught up with me and I felt a bit off in the afternoon and I had to have a nap. By the time the nap was over though, it was quite late and we didn't get much else done.

The following day we had to head back to KL. Fortunately, the bus ride was slightly better on account of us heading downhill instead of uphill. We got back to KL to find the streets crowded with people. Of course, August 31st was Malaysian national day. Lucky for us the bus station was close to our hostel and we had pre-booked our stay.

After getting settled and retrieving our bags from storage, we headed for the KL City Centre mall for some dinner. Earlier, during our stay in KL, we had spied out a Chinese restaurant offering Crispy Aromatic Duck. We couldn't resist and it was absolutely delicious. We popped outside afterwards to take some night shots of the Petronas towers and then finished the eveneing off with a doughnut.