I check into a cheap room above at the Downtown Cafe. It's fine except for the moldy carpeting which eventually makes me sneezy. Then I take my usual aimless ramble about town to get my bearings.

Tanah Rata is small, so before too long I'm extending my perambulation to its outskirts. I spot a foreign (Dutch) couple clutching a guidebook and walking with purpose. After talking with them I learn that one of the paths leading into the jungle is nearby. Although I'm not really prepared for trekking, I decide to plunge right in.

Turns out this is one of the easiest jungle tracks, numbered 9 and 9A, these lead past Robinson Falls and then through some level jungle, popping out near some picturesque vegetable farms, terraced with clever irrigation channels. I hike for a way down a road and then decide to turn around before I get too lost. On the way back I run into the Dutch couple again and learn that the large Boh tea plantation is down the road in the other direction. We all walk there and have some tea on their terrace at the visitor's center. Then we take a mechanically delivered tour of the factory and climb to a viewpoint for a spectacular view of the lovely tea covered mountains.

The Dutch couple asks if I want to share a taxi back but I tell them I always trust to fate on the road for a ride. My confidence fools them (little do they know!) and we head back down the long road back despite the threat of imminent rain. However road magic wins out over my seeming instinct to get into trouble and we soon get a ride to the junction on an empty bus and from there can hitch-hike into town, just as the storm hits.

Now that I know where the jungle paths are, I can't seem to keep myself away from them. I spend almost all of my time jungle trekking. I'm completely entranced by these muddy tracks through the lush jungle mountains. Every time I come across something new: bizarre sounds (once I could have sworn an alien spacecraft was about to land on my head), incredible plants and insects, lizards and birds, heady smells and jungle streams and waterfalls. After days of hiking over most of the marked paths and several unmarked tracks, I met only two couples, both close in and with guides. There are lots of stories about hikers getting lost for days on these trails, which are well marked close to towns but become more confusing the further out you go. I found it quite easy to get lost for a bit but also simple to find my way out to some kind of road.

Finding the start of some of these trails is tough, at least if you are mapless like myself. I have to ask for directions to several starts. As a basic rule of thumb, the more climbing the trail does, the tougher it is to follow, especially at this time when the paths are invariably slippery. So, anything that leads up to a "gunung" is challenging, such as trails 8 and 9 to Beremban, 14 to Mentingi, and 6 and 10 to Jasar. I didn't take trail 1 to Brinchang, but I would assume it is no walk in the park. The other trails are fairly easy. One beautiful route without too much climbing is the circular 5 to 6 (marked as 3 on some maps I saw later, but I saw 6 on the trail) to 4 route (or reverse).

One exception is trail 2 to Sam Poh Temple. I was expecting this to be a cakewalk but it has lots of eroded ups and downs. Plus it is very difficult to follow, surprising because one would think this would be a popular route. I was quite a muddy mess when I finally emerged above the interesting Sam Poh Temple.

The Cameron Highlands were almost a dream destination for me. I could quickly get out of town by foot and into some serious jungle trails, where I could hike all day in a true wonderland before staggering back to a shower, a dry room and good meals at night. I found it to be amazingly uncrowded with tourists, at least outside of town, but that may not always be the case since it is rainy season now. I think you are bound to get wet and dirty here no matter when you go so early September was a perfect choice.

I'd come back here, but now, on to Penang!