Cooling Down in Malaysia's Cameron Highlands

Let’s be honest for a moment, no punches pulled – the searing heat and cloying humidity in Asia is awful. It gets under your skin, wears you out and makes the Eskimo way of life seem surprisingly appealing.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. If you fancy a short respite but can’t spare the time to pull on your sealskins and head for Alaska then the Cameron Highlands is a great halfway house.

Just three hours from KL, the largest hill resort in Malaysia is situated 1,800m above sea level in the mountainous central state of Pahang. This is a place to leave your shorts behind and revel in the need to wear a jumper as the weather in the Cameron Highlands is temperate to cool all year round, ranging from a minimum of 14oC to a maximum of 25oC. Rain is common throughout the year although the monsoon season is from November to February.

If you really want to feel chills, the coldest time of the year is between December and February where the temperature can drop to 10oC at certain places.

But the Cameron Highlands has much more to offer than just the temperature. The area was named after British surveyor William Cameron who discovered it in 1885 during a mapping expedition. Little is known about Mr Cameron, except that he appears to have been appallingly bad at his job. Despite finding what would become one of Malaysia’s most popular travel destinations, he failed to actually mark the location on his map.

Despite failing to understand the vary basics of the mapping expeditions, Cameron told others of the area and other groups set off to find it.

In 1925 a chap called Sir George Maxwell visited the highlands and decided to develop the area as a hill station. He formed a development committee which functioned until 1931. During this time, the winding road up to the highlands was constructed, a long and arduous process completed entirely by manual labour.

Once the road was constructed, wealthy residents and British government officials started building retreats for themselves on the slopes of the highlands. Some even settled there permanently and a business community developed, with farming emerging as a key activity. A permanent British army base was also established soon after that and the highlands as we know them today were born.

Over the years little has changed. The area retains the charm of its early beginnings and the visual influence of the British officials who wanted to recreate a slice of their home country in the cool air.

Fortunately, one area has seen a marked improvement. The new highway from Simpang Pulai makes the drive to the Cameron Highlands much more pleasurable than the original route from Tapah with its hair-raising hairpin bends.

Despite the easy access though, the highlands with their three main townships of Brinchang, Tanah Rata and Ringlet are still relatively untouched. The gentle old-world feel is relaxing, and life goes by a few paces slower than the rest of the country.

There are some beautiful old houses about, and as you drive from one town to the next, look out for the mock Tudor architecture. Ye Olde Smokehouse is a good example, and so is the recently-refurbished Cameron Highlands Resort. The lovely Moonlight Bungalow, which used to be owned by Thai-silk king Jim Thomson who famously and mysteriously disappeared after he went for a walk in 1967, is still there, lonely in all its deserted splendour.

It’s the sort of place to go with other families, as, when evening draws in and the weather cools down significantly it’s nice to settle down and entertain yourselves with some games and a drink (or two). Apart from eating out and the weekend night markets, there’s not much else to do in the evenings, which is exactly what you want in a retreat.

During the day, however, there is plenty of activity to keep the whole family happy. The cooler weather is perfect for golf, and the public 18-hole course (+605 491 1126) is relatively cheap and empty (RM52.50 weekdays). The rose and butterfly farms, cactus valleys and jungle walks will ensure everyone sleeps well at night.

However, there’s one attraction that it’s impossible to ignore… tea plantations. Tea is grown everywhere in the highlands, but nobody owns more bushes than the Boh tea company. Started in 1929 by John Archibald Russell, the son of a British administrative officer, the company now has four tea gardens – Boh, Sungei Palas and Fairlie situated in Cameron Highlands; and Bukit Cheeding in Selangor – constituting a total land area of 1200 hectares.

With a production capacity approaching 3,000kgs per hectare, the company produces 4m kgs of tea annually or the equivalent of 5.5m cups per day. In short, they shouldn’t be found wanting if you turn up at their factory asking for a brew.

Everyone heads to the main Boh tea plantation, so one good tip is to avoid the crowds and head to the Bharat Tea Estate instead. Located along the main road from Ringlet to Tanah Rata this is a good spot where you can stop and enjoy a scenic view of a tea plantation. There is ample parking along the road and there is also a small tea shop where you can quench your thirst.