Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the mrlukeniktravels blog, coming from the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Leaving Kuala Lumpur, I have headed north into the hills of Pahang state. This region is famous for tea growing and, as I have learnt since being here, strawberries. As I write I have finished a day of hiking in the jungle. Tanah Rata is a pretty quiet town, very different to the capital. The sun is quickly setting out the window and air-conditioning not necessary. Quite a nice change!
Leaving Kuala Lumpur on Saturday I managed to navigate my way through the city. Fortunately, a kind lady gave me some change to pay my fare for the train to the bus station. Exact change was the only form of payment, great until you don’t have the exact change… Once on the LRT, I somehow managed to use the wrong platform and ended up going in the wrong direction! Thankfully I realised quickly what had occurred and corrected my error. I arrived at the regional bus station with enough time to check in and board my ride north. After the first half of the journey on main highways the road got steeper, twisty and slower. The final 50km seemed a lot further than it is on a map, just like New Zealand. Arriving in Tanah Rata I was glad to get off the winding roads and narrow passing places. The cool air outside was a refreshing change to the humidity of sea-level, the air is not thinner up here though.
I spent yesterday reading my current book (Robinson Crusoe) and watching a couple of films. I think it’s important to take time to recharge when travelling “full time”. It can be easy to want to do everything, see everything, and go everywhere. That isn’t possible! I make sure to include some time to relax, doing weekend things on the other side of the world. After a relaxed Sunday I can spend Monday hiking and getting out and about being recharged. There is no fun to be had when I’m too tired to enjoy what I’m doing. Of course there is the danger of fear of missing out, but I’ve got used to it over the past year. Being well rested helps keeping coughs and colds away too. I have managed to keep these at bay pretty well on this trip, only being under the weather a few times. Hopefully this will continue. I’m trying to avoid needing to use local health services- lots of paperwork!
Tomorrow I am heading off on an organised tour, something I do from time to time. It’s nice sometimes to pay the money and let someone else organise everything. This is how some people travel all the time! I don’t think I would enjoy that style very much, not enough freedom for me. With the freedom comes the responsibility of organising and maximising my travel experience.The last tour I went on was snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, so this one has a lot to live up to. I am sure there will be plenty to enjoy, hopefully including plenty of tea and strawberries. There should also be a little hiking, so some active recovery from today. The Monday slot for this blog means it’ll be next week when I can document my experience. Hopefully there will be some accompanying pictures too.
That is almost all for this week, next week I shall be back on the coast and yet further north. If you would like to receive a notification of my new posts, you can subscribe to the email newsletter. For updates on the go, I can be found on Twitter via @mrlukeniktravel. If images are your thing, then my Instagram handle is @mrlukeniktravels, or follow the link on my homepage. On that note that is all for this week, so stay safe and travel on!