– JANUARY 18-22, 2015

After riding a bus from Penang to the town of Brinchang, we have decided to take a few days to chill out and see the beautiful countryside that we enjoyed back in July.

MOUNT BRINCHANG

Mount Brinchang is the highest mountain in the Cameron Highlands area that is able to be accessed by vehicle.  This makes it a very popular tourist destination.  This makes the vehicle access road the highest road in Malaysia.  The observation tower at the summit enables tourists to enjoy panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.

While you can reach the summit by road, we did not rent a vehicle and the taxi rates are terrible out here for rides to the top.  Walking the road is an option, but it is around 12km and takes around 3-4 hours.  There is another option, a jungle trek on the opposite side of the mountain road, which cuts through the foliage all of the way up to the summit.  It is impossible to take this jungle trek and not get completely muddy, as sections require ropes to climb up very steep sections.

Of course we chose the jungle trek.

It took two hours to climb this trail, but at the top you see the views and the juice is worth the squeeze!

BOH TEA PLANTATION

We made another visit to the BOH Tea Plantation, which was founded in 1929 by a British businessman during the British colonial era in Malaya.  He was optimistic of the tea plantation business due to huge demands despite of the world-wide Great Depression at that time.  As a result of the potential, he applied for and was granted a concession of land for his first tea garden in Habu, Cameron Highlands.  The BOH Tea Plantation is a tranquil and cool area where you can get away from the city and relax amongst the natural beauty.

BAHARAT TEA ESTATE

The Bharat Tea Estate has great views all around the grounds.  You can hike up through the rows of tea plants, while taking some amazing pictures of the area.  A family originally from India started the Bharat Group of Companies and took over this area in 1933.  It is the second largest tea producer in Malaysia after BOH.

Another return visit to Malaysia as we travel our way down to Kuala Lumpur.  This place is magical and we are certainly leaving northern Malaysia with nothing but the fondest of memories.

<><><><><><><><>

For more photos of our adventure go to our flickr account here.