Road trip 3 ( Cameron Highland - Gua Musang )

We were not sure what should be our next stop, since we never tried taking the highway from Kampung Raja to Kuala Lipis, we decided to take that route. Years ago, the highway did not exist, it was an unpaved trail through the highland jungle, only hard core 4x4 enthusiasts traversed the trail all the way to Gua Musang.

Today, the highway has enabled the clearing of land for agricultural purpose along the highway. Sadly, it is done in the hap hazard manners, there are no planning, no proper governance. The method of farming is destructive and clearly unsustainable.

The highway extended beyond the farmlands and into the jungle, very soon we find ourselves to be alone on the highway for kilometers. Signs of human settlements are few and far in between, it is such a contrast from the crowded cities. Without any maps or GPS to guide us, we have to trust the road signs as there were no one around to ask for directions! So we just drove on.

Road Trip 3 ( Pantai Senangin - Cameron Highland )

On our way from Pantai Senangin to Cameron Highland we decided to take a short detour to the famous Kellie's Castle at Batu Gajah. There has been many articles written about this half completed and half ruined mansion, but for myself and my family, this is our very first visit. It is odd to see an European style mansion in the middle of plantation estate land, but it was an impressive sight with its commanding location on a small hill.

The building was designed to include an electric lift to be housed in the tower on the right, which would have been the first in Malaya. The lower flat rooftop is actually the floor of an unfinished indoor tennis court, which means the final structure should be taller in order to enclose the tennis court. The main rooms in the first floor have hidden exits and narrow stair ways that would provide an escape route for its inhabitants should some intruder tried to attack from the room's front door.

After we were done with the castle, we moved on and drove towards Cameron Highland via the Simpang Pulai way. This is the first time I am taking the campervan to climb up a hill, I expected the campervan to struggle due to the weight of the body and the stuff we were carrying. To my surprise the 1.8 litre engine was able to pull effortlessly without having to down shift too often, it will never win any drag race but it has the grunt where it counts.

From Batu Gajah, we took the Simpang Pulai way to reach Cameron Highland, this is the so called "second link" in addition to the route from Tapah. The road is wider and less winding compared to the old link from Tapah. The weather at Cameron Highland was cloudy and rainy when we reached Tanah Rata, we parked our campervan at the car park of the forestry campsite behind the golf course. This site is managed by the forestry rangers and they usually charged nominal RM10 per tent for the campers who camped there. The rangers were perplexed to see our campervan, but since we did not pitch our tent there but we merely parked our vehicle at the car park, we got to camp there for free!

There forestry campsite is probably one of the best kept secret in Cameron Highland, it is secluded and tucked away between Tanah Rata and Brinchang and yet the both the town center is within walking distance from that site.