UK Van Lifers Discover Malaysia’s Highlands

UK Van Lifers Discover Malaysia’s Highlands

This road is mad, it’s actually  getting smaller, it’s getting a lot smaller! Driving around the world in a 19-year-old  camper van may seem a little mad, but that’s exactly what we’re doing, and here we are 4 years after leaving the UK exploring Malaysia in the middle of its annual Monsoon,

So the last thing we needed was to have a leaking roof, so we dropped Trudy off to get her fixed before we start the drive north towards Thailand and beyond! Life is either a daring Adventure or  nothing at all! – Helen Keller

Good morning this morning we are back at the RV shop and I just  want to show you the work they’ve done. Look at this, so they’ve redone this roof for us, they’ve  rebuilt all of the inside here,

And made it look all lovely they’ve repaired the uh the crack in  the roof here a little bit, they’ve reattached the arm – that looks great! They’ve also put a box behind here to protect the electrics, because if you remember we had damage to the electrics,

And we actually had a fire in the van from a short. We just had a fire in the van! there  were Flames!

Here we go, how’s it going? hey it’s okay! good job – so we we’re just having it explained why we have leaks! And it turns out that the installers weren’t that great!

So Syams installed this white cover to stop it bending, before that wasn’t there. And also the brown cover over there below that window it didn’t actually have that protective thing there, so before we leave we just topping up the water,

These guys did a great job on the van thank you very much my friend! Great – it looks amazing!! He said he did  his best job, and I said that your best is good enough! Thank you!! Right the Adventure continues! oh that’s a great job done!

We’re back at the polo club and  one thing we want to do … we still got another day here in KL chilling in fact we’re going out tonight, to a special location! But we’re going to get Natasha to stick the Malaysian  flag on the van ! There we go no pressure!

It doesn’t matter if it’s not straight,   Chris always gets bubbles so it’s going to be fine! woo hoo !! Oh I got bubbles! ssshhhh  we won’t tell anyone! a that’s so lovely! Natasha not only put our  sticker on, but she’s had one printed for us!

Check this out – look she’s got a special Tread the Globe with the Petronas Towers, and I love the Tread the Globe Lah!! Which is a real saying over here, oh so it’s a cool cut out sticker and I think the front’s going to peel off?

That is amazing! Look at that – I absolutely love it ! That’s so clever the way it’s just left the actual printed part, that’s amazing, thank you very much guys!!

Okay so because it’s one of our last nights here in KL, tonight we  wanted to take Natasha and Peter to a bar that we think is probably the best bar in KL, or at least has the best view, and is probably the best kept secret too! Exactly – shh don’t tell anybody!

Although looking at the weather it’s looking a bit cloudy and it’s an outside bar! Oh somebody’s all dressed up smart! all Aboard! We’ve just arrived it’s Thundering, but  we’re going to go up grab a drink before it starts raining! Okay up we go, level 34!

We were recommended this bar last time we were in KL and not so many people know it’s here, even Natasha and Peter hadn’t heard of it! And they live here, so we were excited to share it with them.

Okay so then you got this dark Corridor, it’s 100 ringgit each to go up, but it’s worth it! let me show you! These guys are like where are you taking me?

As the name suggests the heli bar is actually located on a helipad on the 36th floor of an office Block in the heart of downtown KL, by day the area is actually still used to land helicopters and at night it’s transformed into what has to be one of the best viewed bars in KL,

With its 360° view over the city, it was the perfect way to thank Natasha and Peter for their kindness, and I think even they were impressed by  the views, but being an outside bar your experience is dependent on the weather and as we sat enjoying our drinks the grey clouds started to roll in!

The staff quickly covered everything up but it wasn’t  the end of our fun, as we headed inside to their Lounge Bar! The rain started, to finish off our drinks! We’re just waiting for a a taxi and we’re going to go to Jalan Alor, which is one of the main food streets here in KL,

Good plan? so we’ve now come down to Jalan Alor and it’s a crazy place, if you come to KL you have to come here. The rain has nearly stopped, but there’s food everywhere, lots of food and lots of smells…. look at this! it’s just such a cool place,

This is one of my favourite places in KL! There are loads of seafood, seafood sticks, normally you can’t move down here.  but because it’s raining it’s a lot quieter than normal! All these different foods and smells  are absolutely amazing, and you get hassled everywhere, to go in, oh no thank you very much,

Suda makan – that means I’ve already eaten, it’s a good thing to say to them. They have got crabs, Okay so then this is our favourite place on Jalan Alor, WAW restaurant,

This was a recommendation for Peter and Natasha and the food here is absolutely amazing we’ve been a few times since we’ve been in Malaysia, if you’re looking for this restaurant is actually at the bottom of Jalan Alor, just keep walking down the hill,

I just love the noise, the atmosphere it’s just a really really really cool place to sit and have dinner. Cheers! Hold on, Marianne why is my glass like that and your glass like that? Just saying! Something has definitely gone wrong there!

We got some greens, some Marmite chicken, yes believe it or not they have a dish with Marmite and chicken! It’s amazing, even if you don’t like Marmite, it’s amazing! chicken satay, we got some clams, we got some noodles and there’s lots more coming! Good choice guys!

Good morning it’s our last morning in Kuala Lumpur, how much are we going to miss that view? But today we start the long journey  North up towards the north of Malaysia and beyond, but first we have to go and pick  Trudy up, who is parked up at the Polo Club over there!

The good news is there’s absolutely no  water on the table, or on the bed yeah which means, the repairs worked! Yay thank you guys !! So before we hit the road this morning we’re going to get the map on the side of the van, to show you the rest of the plan for Malaysia!

So we’re here in Kuala Lumpur and then today we’re heading up to the Cameron Highlands here, to spend the night there, and then the next day we’re going to go across to Ipoh and then head across to the coastline, to Taiping, Kuala Sepitang and then we’ll be heading up into Thailand! Good morning Natasha!

I like the sticker, Big Boss Natasha!! Yes there is Pony Club Camp! the time has come to say goodbye, yeah we’re off, Natasha and Peter, we’ll see you next year, we’ll  see you next year for sure! for sure, she’s crying, no crying, you can’t cry, you will set me off!!

Right you ready to go north, I am indeed! Let’s hit the road! Bye, so sad leaving those guys… KL has been like our base here in Malaysia with these guys, they have really looked after us, thanks again to  everybody at the polo club for letting us park Trudy here, and we will be back one day!

Thank you very much! Okay so the drive up to the Cameron Highlands is about 3 and 1/2  hours, so sit back relax and enjoy the Malayan scenery! A beautiful sunny day here, no rain  in sight today, so it should be a lovely drive!

So our time in KL was just as amazing as I  remember it, it’s such a cool Capital City, one of the friendliest in the world, and yeah  it’s just one of our favourite City stops,

So if you do come to Malaysia make sure you spend a few  days hanging out in KL, eat some food and enjoy it!

It was sad leaving KL it really feels like home, one of our happy places, but if you don’t have the sadness of saying goodbye and leaving, you don’t get the excitement of going back. Heading north we’re excited to see what other Adventures we  would experience on our long drive back to the UK.

The architecture here is really pretty  amazing, a lot of these highrises have these like linkways between the blocks, which I was thinking would be really cool if there’s a fire you could actually go up and get into the next block, rather than go down,

I’m not sure whether that’s why they built it  but it’s a good design, it makes sense doesn’t it? it does. We have got to make sure we get in the  right lane, What is that noise? is that a bird?

That’s a really weird noise…. that noise, what is that? the weirdest noise ever ! Maybe it is a bird? We have got to stick to the queue on the left so we can get through the toll booth all the rest of them got height barriers,

So we’re joining the trucks, it’s a bit like the Wacky Races! So over here, we’re using the waze app and the guy’s accent is really quite funny! Keep right! So where we’re heading, the Cameron Highlands, is actually up in the highlands, so it should be cooler. It’s the main tea growing region of Malaysia,

So we hoping we should be able to get a nice cup of tea and see some very cool tea plantations as we as we head north, rumour has it they might even do a British afternoon tea?!

I’m up for that one! A bit of cake Marianne? oh you can never beat a nice scone! scone? Can you imagine getting scones in Malaysia?! In fact do you call it a scone or a scone? You can see the mountains coming into sight in the distance, and they are high!

It’s funny because all the times I’ve been to Malaysia, we’ve never been up into the mountains here, so I’d never really imagined that they had really tall mountains… but yeah it is looking pretty hilly up there! I love how the motorbikes weave in and out and then just like undercut on the hard shoulder,

You can’t do that back home !! army truck Ambulance – Marianne just undercut an  ambulance? You have to drive like a local   and respect their rules!   Exactly, and there are none, and everybody’s undercutting the ambulance because it’s road hogging!!

Okay we’re coming off the highway, now starts  the long Winding Road up into the hills…. Bit of a bumpy road,  the call to prayer … Natasha and Peter were saying that they’ve actually built a new Highway to the Cameron Highlands that runs from Ipoh East into the Cameron Highlands,

But we’ve decided because we’re coming up from the  south we’ll take the old road, it’s going to be a bit more windy but probably more interesting  and then tomorrow when we go to Ipoh, we’ll take the newer road out as we continue North.

We’re in the jungle! We are definitely in the jungle, but I love, I actually prefer these small little windy roads, so much more character! It’s lovely going past all the traditional old houses.

Wow it’s amazing winding through, there are some little shops and it’s just such a cool place, the views are really starting to open  up as we climb. I hae got a feeling it’s going to be pretty spectacular when we get to the top!

I always say how much I love the seaside but actually I love mountains equally. Oh wow look at this place got loads of crafts and stuff and there’s this massive waterfall on the left as we’re driving through, Wow that looks very cool.

I don’t you going to get any parking for Trudy here, but it is nice! I love these roads! I really love these roads, You can smell Durian …. really strong smell of Durian!! I love the smell of Durian I think it smells great!

We just had a loud donk on the roof of the  van, I think there was an overhanging tree that we just hit, it’s like Vines hanging down, so yeah you got to have your wits about you because cars do come around the corner over the white line,

And and there are actually big coaches that take tours up here as well, so it’s not a road that you can do fast, that’s for sure. Just driving through Ringlet, suddenly we got a big town look there an amazing Temple, yeah this is a a big interesting Town look, mountain  town here in Malaysia,

A lot of 4x4s, and a lot of motorbikes! So we’re nearly there, and we’re just getting our first glimpses of tea through the bushes on the side of the hills there the whole Hills covered in tea plantations. and it’s not far from the town where we’re staying tonight, and it’s cooler it’s definitely cooler!

Very Grand looking hotels up there! is that where we’re staying? That’s not where we’re staying! 80 M turn left here, and then just around the corner, so we did actually book a guest house so we’re going to see if we can check into the guest house,

Make sure it’s got parking for Trudy, should be here somewhere? Oh there a Temple there! Oh there, they have got loads of parking good call Marianne! that is why I chose this place !! that’s great so this is where we’re staying tonight

That is great, this is where we are staying tonight – Fathers Guest House, it’s about another hour’s drive to the Tea Plantation so I think what we’ll do, is  we’ll get up and go there early in the morning. so we’ll park up here,

And see if we can go and  find some nice lunch. Nice just what we need, perfect got a view of a temple right there, look out the window! It’s a comfy bed that will do! it’s bouncy, we have a bouncy bed!

And a toilet and shower, yeah perfect! I can’t believe the windows are open and it’s cool ! It is definitely definitely much cooler up here, so much cooler!

The the ladies on reception said that it is actually peak season, school holidays and it’s just that time of year, so expect it to be busy as we drive around! Okay so we’re just heading out for some late lunch, and if you’re wondering why we’re walking around at bare feet?

It’s because there’s no shoes allowed in the hotel, and I love that that’s so cool, and the the ladies on reception said make sure you bring your shoes in at night or put them away because and night the dogs take them, which is absolutely hilarious

Well they never take both, they always take one in our experience! Of course they do ! The hotel doesn’t do breakfast but they did say there’s like a little communal area I love this,

Look, it’s like a container, which is like a kitchen with one table, and they’ve got a  kettle with coffee and mugs, oh and then they’ve got something here that says eat me I’m free! what is it? some snacks! chocolate snacks!

The girls on reception highly recommended a couple of places to go and eat. so the first place we’re going to go to is a strawberry farm, yes believe it or not they do actually have strawberries here!

So we’re going to go to a strawberry farm and  grab a nasi lemak which is a famous local Malay dish, and then we’re going to go on to another place  where apparently you get biryani cooked in bamboo?! Which is a new experience for me so I thought we  should try both!

So if you’re in any doubt that the Cameron Highlands is a tourist trap people come here to escape the Heat and look at the tea…. look how many coaches there are here! Wow, these are all apartments and hotels, there’s a dormitory,

There is such a different feel like isn’t it compared to the rest of Malaysia? Yeah I just feel like I’m like in a Swiss mountain – there’s pine trees! it’s like it doesn’t feel like Malaysia now, it’s like Swiss chalets?! There’s a sign advertising nasi Lemak, that’s where we’re going!

So we’ve come into this restaurant where  they serve nasi Lemak, but they have a strawberry sambal! So it’s going to be interesting to taste that. There’s a very cool restaurant all of the roof is covered with this this lovely plant  growing over it,

And all down here you can see all the strawberry plants growing! Cameron Highlands has got the the perfect climate to grow strawberries and tea, which is nice and it’s so cool ! It’s surprisingly cool, it’s like the perfect temperature! This makes me feel like I’m back  home all these strawberries growing,

Hundreds of them, I used to grow strawberries back home and back where my mum and dad live in Somerset is   like famous for strawberries, so yeah it’s nice  to see them growing here in Malaysia as well, oh wow look at that!

Thank you – so here you go this is nasi lemak, not sure why the rice is bright green? oh but it tastes lovely, and we got two types of sambal here, this one looks a little bit like… let’s see I think this may be the  strawberry one?

Oh it’s really good it’s sweet and hot, but it’s not too sweet! and then they got a normal sambal, oh that’s really good! be careful Marianne it’s a little bit spicy that one will kill you!! I don’t want to die! What about that one? that one, try it ….. that’s the strawberry one,

Will that kill me? It’s spicy, but it’s not crazy spicy! Oh that is good! That is hot !! Really? it’s good though and then it comes with an egg, Marianne’s got the traditional peanuts with her chicken one, this one is a lamb one,

But really nice and we got like these drinks that blend into the table we got a hot and a cold strawberry drink, yeah which is delicious very sweet! like a syrupy like a strawberry syrup, but it’s good! When you eat the nuts these little things here are like little salty fish,

Little ikanbilis which just adds a little saltiness to the nuts, so good so good! Sitting under this plant reminds me of when we were in Turkiye, do you remember? I do! Ben and Chesca at the Kiwi Farm! Yeah we went to a lovely kiwi Farm just North of Gasipasa,

So yeah Ben and Chesca if you’re watching… this reminds us of that!! Well it’s an afternoon of eating! So we’re now heading to try and find a bamboo Biryani !! We might have to share that one I think!! We want to try the bamboo Biryani Please. This is where the magic happens?!

Wow it’s a seriously big pot! Oh they’re all steaming inside look at that! Is that the best one? Oh wow that looks amazing! Now this is probably one of my favourite dishes in England, I always have a Biryani and it’s always mild, it’s probably going to be a little bit hotter but hey ho!

The mutton is just falling apart, that is delicious! A great looking plate with coleslaw, a bowl of Curry, flavoursome rice, it was absolutely delicious! My mouth is on fire, but it’s beautiful! Really really flavourful, nice spicy curry, lots of aromatics, good job something different!

Delicious and for one biriani which we shared, two iced coffees, it was £6 28 amazing! Good morning, well we had a fantastic  night’s sleep at this hotel, and I can’t believe how cool it is this morning! I’ve actually got long trousers on! that’s the first in Malaysia!

But we’ve used their kitchen, we’ve made a coffee, and we’re going to hit the road and go and find some tea! Right, you ready to go find some tea? I am definitely ready for tea and scones!! scones for breakfast!! There’s a thing! It’s the perfect time to leave this morning, because the sun is out

It’s bright and early in the morning, and the tour groups haven’t arrived yet, Peter and Natasha told us that this region gets super super busy, particularly at weekends, so that’s why we’ve chosen to come on a weekday, and that’s why we’re headed to this Tea Plantation early,

And when it’s quieter it’s always nicer isn’t it?! There’s lots of tourists that come here to do hiking up in the hills, because it’s one of the best places to hike due to the temperature.

You can see all the Land Rovers ready to take the the tours up on the little trips to the tea plantations, and that’s because some of the roads are pretty small up in the mountains as you was would expect,

So we’re hoping that going to this Tea Plantation, we were warned that the road’s a bit small and maybe we should take a tour, but we’re going to do it in Trudy, we did the Tea Plantation in Turkiye if you remember, and that turned out all right, just! Good job !

Yeah nerves of Steel, honestly that was  one of the freakiest drives we’ve ever done, but it was one of the enjoyable drives! And  one that we’ll remember forever! There are loads of big Resorts and Posh looking hotels, and there’s still building Lots there’s lots of construction going on as well. There’s a golf course!

There is a golf course, and there’s also a picture of a giant strawberry! No air con, long trousers, and the windows are open! Take note, that is a rare site in Malaysia!! although I said about blue skies it’s looking immensely cloudy up in the distance, but up in the mountains it can change very quickly.

It feels like weather from back home now! It really does it’s really blowy you can tell from the flags! We got the mist just touching the tops of the hills there. Okay the road’s got smaller, we’ve just turned off, we got a few miles down a much smaller Road that’s going up into the Tea Plantation.

You never really know how small these kinds of roads will get, and often once you start there’s no space to turn around, so fingers crossed we don’t meet a bus coming the other way! There is a very big drop, oh woopsie – there is a dog !

It’s a beautiful drive, it literally feels like we’re going through plantations doesn’t it? Look at the banana trees! look at the banana trees! oh it’s fantastic look at that view!! flipping heck, wow! I can’t look too much! it should be a spectacular view at the top

You can see all the tea now, we’re driving  through the tea plantations. What a fantastic view, I’m loving this! So we’re heading up to the Boh Tea plantation, and if you come to Cameron Highlands you should definitely head up this way, it is absolutely stunning views this morning, wow look at it!!

Wow this road is mad, is actually getting smaller! it’s getting a lot smaller ! Wow some of the road it’s a little bit pot holed, but the views over the tea plantations have been amazing and I’m expecting a very good view, drive carefully on this narrow road, that’s my plan!

It’s not narrow, it’s a bit dodgy, it’s a bit bumpy I’ve got flashbacks to Georgia actually! at least we’ve got here before the  tours, I’m not sure where the coaches are, I don’t think coaches come up, mini buses maybe. Look at the tea, that’s wild, that’s beautiful! This is probably the parking here, yeah,

Just down here? Ah, so we park here and walk down, It’s busy already! it’s only been open 10 minutes! well after driving up that narrow road, there’s a coach that’s gone to the  top of the hill, which will be interesting because that means we might actually meet coaches on  the way down,

That would be interesting! So it is actually drizzling but look  look at this tea, what a fantastic view! We had to get the umbrellas out! The rain is coming we’re going to walk up to the top of the hill, and there’s a covered area, so we should be  able to see the tea,

Hopefully grab a cup of tea, and rumour has it that we might even be able to get a strawberry scone! A Taste of Home! I’m loving these flowers look at that tree! What are they called ? Aren’t they the poisonous trumpet flowers? I don’t know? we saw yellow ones in Turkiye that look just like that.

There you go guys if you know what that is put a comment below, and we’re going up, up the hill! So if you haven’t watched any of our earlier videos on the tea plantations in Japan and Turkiye, this is what tea looks like when it’s growing!

Look at that! That’s where you get your brew from back home! All beautifully manicured! But this one’s got banana trees planted in between! Yeah, because this one’s in the jungles of Malaysia! Spanning over 465 hectares the Boh Garden is the largest and oldest of the Boh Tea Gardens.

Its tea Factory was built in the 1930s, and it’s  the perfect place for that Cameron Highlands tea experience. There you go you can just see Trudy  parked up down there in the car park, surrounded by tea! Can you imagine the amount of work it took  and takes to maintain this Tea Plantation?

So we’ve made it up to the main entrance here, it is very busy I think maybe the tour bus drive up here, especially when it’s only just opened. There’s a few more tea places to put on the on the list, Malaysia and Turkiye we’ve done, Indonesia – Indri if you’re watching? We’re coming!

Kenya, Bangladesh, Argentina, Japan we’ve  done, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India and China! That’s another excuse to travel! So we’ve just joined the queue possibly the longest queue to a t- shop you’ve ever seen. And we just spotted a menu so we got to tick what we want before we get there, it speeds up the service!

It’s funny what you miss when you’re travelling for long periods and we were excited at the prospect of having a little Familiar Taste from back home. So when an Englishman’s been traveling for 4 years, seeing that there’s a scone and a cup of English tea, is something that you have to take advantage of.

I’m not sure it’s going to live up to a Cornish scone with a clotted cream and jam, but hey ho it looks pretty good! it looks very good and with that view! views over the Tea Plantation what more do you want to start the day.

So I’ve made mine like a sandwich, it’s  got to be strawberry jam first, but the cream… the cream is like …. oh it’s nice actually,  it’s not clotted cream, is it like chantilly cream? Yeah it’s nice though. Controversial Marianne’s putting the cream on first!

And I’m also not making a sandwich, I’m going make my last forever! Going in for a bite! oh it’s good! it’s good and for the tea I went for a local Boh English breakfast tea, Cheers! Cheers ! Just look at how wide that tree is? I think that’s the widest tree I’ve ever seen?

It’s mad! at the side of the  restaurant they got this amazing looking balcony, perfect for that view ! Look at that! what you reckon? I just love it! I love it, and I love that Trudy’s just there. Trudy, you can see Trudy – oh and the car Park’s filled up now! Yeah

Okay we definitely came at the right time because there’s people walking up the steps all the way in the distance. Right you ready to go to Ipoh? I’m ready, I’m loving it! Make sure you subscribe and join us next time  because things didn’t quite go as we planned! We got stopped by the police how exciting!

Yes we did, I should probably get our paperwork.

We’ve seen lots of places driving around Malaysia in our UK van but today we head into Malaysia’s highlands for the first time.

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Travel vlog 626 | Filmed Dec 2023 | Malaysia | Country 37/197

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