The Diary
We did a jungle walk and ended up about 10km from Tanah Rata by the lake. Very hungry by this time, we spotted a place that could have been Ye Olde Smokehouse's twin brother - with prices to match. So we ordered a taxi back to town and we were surprised to find how much more direct it was through the jungle than along the road. We spotted a few people that could have been Jim Thompson but....no, he'd be 25 years older.
Back in town we had an Indian special lunch which turned out to be a great chicken biryani and at a fraction of the cost of the previous nights meal. We were just about to set out on another jungle walk when it began to rain so we headed back to Balas. We'd been joined in our dorm by a very pretty German miss, the first time we'd had to share since Katherine. Our evening meal was a very good, very cheap chinese.
2012
Jim Thompson - more of him in Bangkok.
The Diary
Caught the 8:30 bus to Tanah Rata and the Cameron Highlands. The rooms in Balas Holiday Chalets turned out to be pretty grotty but at least it was cheap, M$7 each. Malaysia is far more advanced than Indonesia but the standard of accommodation has been much lower so far. Nothing like the Ibunda Inn or the Metro in Yogya.
The Cameron Highlands felt like a warm summers day in Europe. None of the humidity of KL and almost a nip in the air. Some of the buildings could have been from England or continental Europe. We wandered to a Chinese Buddhist Monastery and went down past the golf course and waterfall to the town and back to Balas'.
In the evening we went to Ye Olde Smokehouse, a hotel in Tudor style. The decor, inside and out, was really well done and even before we were greeted at the door we felt a little under-dressed. We sat down in the bar and had a drink and ordered a meal. It was very expensive but we decided to go for it. Best meal for ages but also the biggest bill by miles. M$73 or 5 nights at Balas' or USD30. The most expensive accommodation was the Mata Hari at Kuta - USD22 for 3 people. A big hole in the budget.
