Highlights of the Cameron Highlands

A cool, misty agricultural region blanketing the west-central mountains of peninsular Malaysia, the Cameron Highlands provide the mainstay of Malay tea, as well as any number of other crops that benefit from its year-round tea-growing climate, including strawberries, watercress and flowers. It's also a place where crops you might not associate with "cool" and "misty" seem to thrive: succulents, cacti and even some citrus fruits.

We rarely opt for a guided tour, since they deprive us of the joys and challenges of finding our own (often much cheaper) way to interesting sites and since it sometimes feels akin to being cattle taken to slaughter to board a mini-bus full of other western tourists. Our time was so short in the Highlands, however, we decided to take an organized trip. And we're so glad we did!

For the first half of our visit, the weather offered a persistent drizzle and low-hanging clouds — a welcome change from the heat and humidity of our prior coastal abode, but hardly optimal for sight-seeing. Just as we were about to depart on the tour, however, the clouds lifted...



Video recorded on my first-generation iPhone with Cycorder (thanks, Jay!). Some of the artifacts in the video are known issues with pushing the iPhone beyond the limits of its flux capacitor. Still, a great new tool in our kit!