Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Sunday, April 20, 08
A steamboat, that's what the Cameron Highlands restaurants are known for. That's what they try to sell, anyway. It consists of a pot, two sections, one chicken broth and the other a tomato base, on a camp stove at the center of the table. Meat, tofu, bean curd, fish, sprouts, lettuce, mushrooms and other things are scooped in and cooked for two minutes. Yes, I said lettuce! We serve ourselves. John and I both agree we would have rather had sweet and sour chicken. But, this will do.
Security - John has his pants secured with a safety pin against pickpockets. That is a smart deterrent. Finding some large safety pins, John and I split them between us. My money is in my cargo pants behind a zipper and Velcro. Through the zipper, I have pinned the safety pin. It would be difficult to get through that without notice. Smaller amounts are kept handy in my shirt pockets.
John leaves at 1:00, and I walk to the Century Plaza Hotel and Resort, taking pictures and talking to the management. Back at my hotel, I attempt to use the internet, but it's too slow.
At the bus station I talk with a Chinese man, who earlier sold me a ticket back to Georgetown, and also buy a tour for tomorrow. Boarding the local rattle trap bus, this is the low end, metal seat version, I ride for .80 ringgit the 3 km to Ye Old Smokehouse Restaurant and Hotel. Again, talking with the management about the history of the hotel, built in 1937, I have free access, except the rooms. This place is built in traditional Tudor style and is considered one of the first permanent buildings erected in the new Cameron Highlands Hill Station. During WWII it was used as an officer's mess by the Japanese Imperial Army. Dalat International School students were boarded upstairs during the several years that the school took up residence here, after evacuating from Vietnam. Presently, Dalat is outside Georgetown, Penang. To the students who boarded here, Mks from many countries, I raise a pint of Tiger beer in the bar area, and sit by the fireplace looking out at the rain beginning to lessen - a grand old building with tremendous atmosphere. Having remembered my umbrella, I decide to walk back rather than wait for the Regal Transport Co. bus. It rains the full distance, but my heart is full of the beauty around me. This has been a relaxing day; cool, nothing pressing, back on my own.