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From Vietnam, via Facebook, I was invited by Mr. and Mrs. Lum Victor to enjoy the lush green forests and tea hills on the plateau located at an altitude of 1,500m in Pahang state. Cameron Highlands is about 250km from Kuala Lumpur, similar to the location of Da Lat compared to Saigon. Mr. Victor picked me up at KL Sentral - Kuala Lumpur's central train station - and drove me to their home in Kepong, about 25 minutes by car from Kuala Lumpur.
These two characters are adorable in this article.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
Mr. Lum Victor, 65 years old, a Malaysian of Chinese descent, is currently a biology lecturer at Mahsa University in Kuala Lumpur. Although Malay, Mr. Victor enjoys listening to Vietnamese music, even though he doesn't understand the lyrics. He has an entire album of 150 Vietnamese songs by singers like Elvis Phuong, Ngoc Lan, Minh Tuyet, and Cam Ly. He particularly likes Pham Quynh Anh's "Hello Vietnam" and has many Vietnamese friends on Facebook, even though he's never met them.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
Emily Cheong, the wife of Mr. Lum, 63 years old, is retired and a stay-at-home housewife. The night before I returned to Ho Chi Minh City from Kuala Lumpur, Emily stayed up until 2 am to prepare the ingredients for the Barley dessert she would cook for me the next morning. The dessert has a light sweetness and contains barley, ginkgo nuts, quail eggs, and thin sheets of tofu. This dessert is very effective in cooling down in the summer.
I met Uncle Victor on Facebook two years ago, occasionally commenting on his photos. The first time we met in person was on New Year's Day 2017. They took me sightseeing in Kuala Lumpur that afternoon before I went to Ipoh. Since they don't have children, they treated me like their own daughter.
Tour itinerary:
Day 1: Depart from Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highlands. En route, stop to visit Kuala Woh hot springs, Lata Iskandar waterfall in Perak state, have tea in Cameron Valley, and visit a cactus garden. Dinner in Tanah Rata town.
Day 2: Visit Boh Tea Sungai Palas tea plantation, butterfly garden, and lavender garden. Have dinner at Water Cress Valley.
Day 3: On the way from Cameron Highlands back to Kuala Lumpur, visit the Teluk Intan leaning tower (Perak state).
This is my personal experience.
Day 1:
Explore Kuala Woh hot springs, Lata Iskandar waterfall, Cameron Valley tea hills, and the cactus garden.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
Cameron Highlands is little known to foreign tourists, mostly visited by Malaysians during major holidays. This isn't because it's too far, but rather because there are only two ways to get there: by car or by bus. The first involves a six-hour drive along winding mountain roads. The second option takes four to five hours by bus or two and a half hours by ETS high-speed train from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh, the capital of Perak state, followed by a two-hour bus ride to Cameron Highlands.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
At 8:30 a.m., Uncle Victor and Aunt Emily drove me to Cameron Highlands. This is one of Malaysia's largest resorts, with vast tea plantations, strawberry gardens, flower and vegetable gardens, and honeybee farms. Located at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level, Cameron Highlands enjoys a cool climate year-round, with an average temperature of 23°C during the day and 16°C at night. It could be described as the "Malaysian version of Da Lat."
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
The plateau is named after the British explorer William Cameron, who put it on the world map in 1885. However, George Maxwell actually mapped Malaysia between 1920 and 1926. Following in his footsteps were Chinese farmers cultivating tea and vegetables, and British colonists seeking cooler lands to escape the heat. Two factors that set Cameron Highlands apart from other parts of Malaysia are temperate fruits and old English-style mansions.
On our way up to the plateau, we passed through Perak state and stopped at the Kuala Woh Eco-forest, exploring the hot springs and the wooden suspension bridge spanning the stream. At midday, water from the underground spring flowed through the crevices of large rocks. Due to the rock formations absorbing heat from the sun, the water around the rocks became very hot. Uncle Victor joked that the water was hot enough to boil eggs perfectly soft-boiled.
The granite slopes and the small stream below Lata Iskandar waterfall create a magnificent symphony of nature.
Located 15km from Kuala Woh is Lata Iskandar Waterfall – one of Malaysia's 10 most beautiful waterfalls. It stretches from Tapah to Cameron Highlands. The granite slopes and the small stream below the falls create a magnificent symphony of nature. When visiting the waterfall, I was reminded of Datanla Waterfall, nestled on Prenn Pass – one of the most picturesque mountain passes in Da Lat.
Tea House
We continued our journey for another two hours before stopping at Cameron Valley tea plantations. We went into the valley to the Tea House, and sat on the balcony overlooking the distant tea hills. What could be better than enjoying steaming cups of fragrant tea, breathing in the cool highland air, and gazing at the lush green tea hills? The clean air and fertile soil have allowed the tea hills in the highlands to thrive. In addition, the diligent farmers carefully prune the leaves and shape the tea hills, creating a neat and beautiful landscape.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
Cameron Highlands is also home to many rare cactus species from around the world. We felt like we had stepped into a cactus world (Cactus Point), located between Brinchang and Kea Farm, where we could freely take pictures of potted plants ranging from small to giant. The small, charming potted cacti, about the size of a teacup, were neatly arranged in rows and categorized by type. Particularly striking was the courtyard with its red and yellow cacti, and impressive were the larger pots containing round, spiny cacti growing in clumps.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
Cameron Highlands, formerly a British colony, is heavily influenced by British architecture. Visiting here, I felt like I was in the English countryside. The plateau has three major towns: Ringlet, Tanah Rata, and Brinchang. Most people choose to stay in guesthouses in the bustling Tanah Rata, due to its many shops and restaurants, or in apartments in the Brinchang area. In the evening, we enjoyed a delicious seafood hot pot at a Chinese restaurant in Tanah Rata.
Day 2:
Enjoy tea, pastries, and admire the lavender fields on Cameron Highlands.
In the morning, we visited the most beautiful and famous tea plantation in Cameron Highlands, BOH Tea Sungai Palas, located in Brinchang, about 2km from Kea Farm Market. To reach the BOH Tea factory at Sungai Palas, Uncle Victor drove along a narrow road winding around the tea hills. The site is open to visitors free of charge from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM, except on Mondays.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
BOH Tea is Malaysia's largest tea brand, with three farms in the Cameron Highlands: Sungai Palas, Habu Ringlet, and Fairlie Estate. Boh Tea Sungai Palas is the newest of the three, comprising a full tea plantation, showroom, tea factory, cafe, and tea product shop.
We toured the factory and watched the tea processing stages. Then we went to see the area selling various types of tea such as black tea, herbal tea, peach tea, lemon tea… At lunchtime, we sat and enjoyed mint tea, milk tea, and pastries at a tea shop perched precariously on a tea hill. This is a traditional British cultural aspect still preserved in Cameron Highlands.
Boh Tea Hill has two rows of walkways lined with round wooden logs where visitors can write or draw whatever they like. Most people enthusiastically write greetings and their names to leave their mark on this beautiful tea hill in the highlands, and I was no exception.
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
The afternoon was the perfect time for us to visit the butterfly garden and lavender garden, Cameron Highlands' delightful attractions. At the butterfly garden, we could play with the brightly colored butterflies, but we weren't allowed to catch them. Without going to Europe, I could see, touch, and breathe in the fragrance of lavender right here in Cameron Highlands. Besides growing flowers, they also sell lavender-related items like perfumes and essential oils for tourists.
That evening, Uncle Victor drove us to Water Cress Valley. At first, when we got out of the car and stood in front of the valley, I thought it was a watercress farm for tourists to visit. But as we descended the steps, I realized it was both a vegetable farm and a restaurant. Water Cress Valley's specialty is a drink made from watercress and dishes prepared with this vegetable. Living in Saigon, I'm very familiar with watercress used in soups and salads with beef, so I was quite delighted to see it used here to make a refreshing drink.
Day 3:
Perak also has a Leaning Tower of Pisa!
Photos: Ngoc Hanh, Lum Victor
On our way back to Kuala Lumpur from the highlands, we passed through the town of Teluk Intan in Perak state, where we had a friendly lunch with the family of Uncle Victor's childhood friend. The town is famous for its leaning tower, Teluk Intan. Locals compare it to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.
The 25.5-meter-tall wooden tower, built in 1885, resembles an eight-story pagoda from the outside, but actually only has the three lower stories. Initially, the tower was constructed with a large water tank inside to store and supply water to the town and also for fire prevention. However, the tank's capacity was too great, and the loose soil caused the tower to tilt. Since then, it has ceased to be used for water storage and instead serves as a clock tower. This is an interesting place to visit in Perak state to admire a structure worthy of being considered a "world wonder."
After the trip, I felt truly happy. Because what could be better than having kind locals as guides to learn about the life and unique culture of a new land and fully experience the beauty of Cameron Highlands?
Additional information:
+ Journey:
Air Asia frequently offers discounted fares for round-trip flights between Hanoi/Da Nang/Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur. The airline lands at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA 2), the airport exclusively used by Air Asia.
+ Transportation:There are three ways to get from KLIA 2 to the center of Kuala Lumpur (called KL Sentral).
-The bus ride takes 75 minutes if there is no traffic, and costs 12 RM (64,000 VND).
-KLIA Transit train costs 55 RM (290,000 VND), stops 5 stations (KLIA, Salak Tinggi, Putrajaya & Cyberjaya, Bandar Tasik Selatan, KL Sentral)
- The KLIA Ekspres train takes 33 minutes, costs 55 RM, and stops at KLIA and KL Sentral.
You should choose the third option (KLIA Ekspres train) because the travel time is faster.
+ Accommodation:You can choose to stay in guesthouses, hotels, or apartments in the towns of Tanah Rata or Brinchang. Double rooms range from 600,000 VND per day. During holidays, room rates in Cameron Highlands start from 1,200,000 VND and up.
+ Sightseeing:Popular attractions you shouldn't miss include Cameron Valley Tea Hill in Bharat Tea, Boh Tea Hill Sungai Palas, the cactus garden, the butterfly garden, the strawberry garden, the honeybee farm, the lavender garden, and more.
+ Activities:Remember to enjoy afternoon tea in Cameron Highlands and have dinner in Water Cress Valley.
