Cameron Highlands

Hati kami merasa gementar ketika menunggu pintu nombor 12 di buka. Bas kami di jadualkan bertolak pada 11 Mei 2014, jam 8.30 pagi dan kami tiba awal bagi mengelak daripada timbul sebarang masalah. Perasaan gembira, teruja, kelam kabut silih berganti kerana aktiviti kami kali ini agak jauh dan seperti biasa kami tiada pengalaman ke sana sebelum ini. Destinasi pilihan kami pada kali ini ialah Cameron Highland.

Cameron Highland merupakan destinasi pilihan penggemar strawberi di Malaysia kerana suhu tanah tinggi di sana memberi persekitaran yang sesuai bagi penanaman buah strawberi. Selain itu, pengunjung juga dapat menikmati permandangan ladang teh. Pengunjung dari selatan semenanjung mempunyai 2 pilihan untuk ke sana sama ada melalui Perak atau Pahang. Kedua-dua jalan mempunyai daya tarikan dan cabaran yang tersendiri. Bus yang kami naiki memilih untuk melalui Perak. Tidak banyak permandangan menarik yang boleh kami ceritakan kerana kami hanya di sajikan dengan pokok-pokok sepanjang perjalanan dan ada kalanya kami tertidur. Ketika memasuki Tapah, kami berasa teruja kerana bus kami melalui Lata Iskandar. Melihat air terjun yang mengalir dari celah-celah batu membuatkan kami berasa seolah-olah mahu mandi di situ tetapi malangnya kami menaiki bus dan sudah tentu kami hanya mampu berangan.

Kira-kira jam 1 petang, kami tiba di Tanah Rata, Cameron Highland. Kami tidak tahu hendak ke mana kerana tidak pernah berkhemah di situ. 

Dengan mengharapkan cerita dari rakan-rakan, kami cuba mencari tapak perkhemahan. Ketika sedang mencari-cari hala tuju, kami bercadang untuk bertanyakan kepada seorang kakitangan di sebuah sekolah di situ. Malangnya pekerja itu tidak tahu lokasi tepat tapak perkhemahan tetapi dia menyatakan memang ada tapak perkhemahan berhampiran. Ketika itu, kami mengambil keputusan untuk singgah di masjid dahulu untuk menunaikan solat dan berbincang mengenai hala tuju kami. Usai menunaikan solat, kami berehat berhampiran pintu masjid. Tidak lama kemudian, kami di tegur oleh seorang lelaki yang lebih berusia daripada kami. Beliau kelihatan teruja menegur kami. Bermacam-macam perkara yang kami bincangkan dan di penghujung perbincangan kami, beliau mencadangkan kami tapak perkhemahan yang pernah beliau lawati suatu ketika dahulu. Katanya tempat itu memang sesuai untuk berkhemah kerana mempunyai sungai yang bersih.

Setelah bersiap, kami menuju ke destinasi yang di bincangkan tadi. Kami tidak jelas dengan arah tapak perkhemahan itu tetapi masih mahu meneruskan perjalanan. Tidak jauh dari kawasan masjid, kami terlihat sebuah papan tanda menunjukkan kawasan perkhemahan berhampiran. Kami terus menuju ke arah kawasan perkhemahan tersebut. Perjalanan yang mengambil masa lebih kurang 2 jam membawa kami ke tapak perkhemahan Sungai Pauh. Sebelum sampai ke tapak perkhemahan, kami di bantu oleh sebuah lagi papan tanda yang menunjukkan lokasi-lokasi yang boleh kami kunjungi pada keesokan hari. Kami bercadang untuk mendaki Gunung Berembun yang berada tidak jauh dari lokasi perkhemahan kami. Ketika sampai di tapak perkhemahan, hanya sebuah khemah yang kelihatan dan ini bermakna ramai pengunjung telah pulang. Kami mencari tapak yang paling sesuai untuk mendirikan khemah. Kelengkapan di situ agak memuaskan kerana ada tandas, surau, sumber eletrik, lampu dan sebagainya.

Ketika mencari tapak perkhemahan yang sesuai, kami sempat berbual dengan seorang pengunjung yang sudah beberapa kali ke sini. Beliau merupakan seorang bekas askar dan sukakan suasana hutan. Kami memanggil beliau Abang Aris and beliau mencadangkan agar kami mendirikan khemah di pondok agar terlindung dari hujan. Abang Aris sempat bercerita tentang pengalamannya semasa berkhidmat dulu. Beliau juga sempat mengajar kami tentang cara hidup semasa di dalam hutan. Paling kami tidak boleh lupakan ialah semasa beliau menjamu kami dengan jagung rebus. Kebetulan pula pada masa itu hujan gerimis, saat menjamu jagung panas memang terasa nikmat dan tidak boleh kami lupakan. Kemudian kami mendirikan khemah dan mengemas barang-barang kami. Pada masa yang sama, Abang Aris mengemas barang-barangnya untuk pulang.

Pada malam itu, kami tidak kemana-mana kerana mahu berehat dan hanya kami berdua sahaja yang berkhemah di situ. Suasana sepi melanda dan kami menyediakan makan malam kami. Menu kami pada malam itu hanyalah roti, biskut, sup cendawan dan kopi. Usai makan malam, kami merebahkan diri di dalam khemah dan berbual. Kemudian, kami berdua hanyut dalam kedinginan malam Tanah Rata. Pada pagi 12 Mei 2014, kami bangun agak lewat kerana di buai kesejukan semula jadi. Ketika kami keluar dari khemah, matahari sudah menyinar. Pada mulanya kami agak keberatan untuk mandi kerana air terlalu sejuk sehinggakan gusi kami terasa membeku ketika sedang memberus gigi. 

Kemudian, kami ke khemah untuk bersarapan. Menu kami pada pagi ini sama seperti semalam, cuma ada penambahan iaitu bubur segera. Menu yang ringkas tetapi mengenyangkan. Selepas itu, kami mengambil keputusan untuk mencuba kedinginan air sungai di situ. Kami tidak tergesa-gesa pada pagi itu walaupun sudah bercadang untuk mendaki Gunung Berembun yang berketinggian 1 840 meter. Ini kerana niat kami datang ke Cameron Highland adalah untuk berkhemah dan bercuti, jadi kami tidak mahu tergesa-gesa dalam membuat sesuatu perkara. Paling penting bagi kami adalah menikmati percutian kami.

Tatkala menjejakkan kaki ke dalam sungai yang agak cetek, kedinginan air terasa hingga ke ubun-ubun. Jadi, sebelum memasukkan badan ke dalam sungai, kami bercadang untuk mendalamkan sedikit sungai tersebut supaya kami dapat memasukkan badan sepenuhnya ke dalam sungai dan pada masa yang sama, kami dapat memanaskan badan. Setelah semuanya selesai, kami bersedia untuk mendaki Gunung Berembun. Lebih kurang jam 10 pagi, kami memulakan langkah. Kami menikmati permandangan flora dan fauna sepanjang perjalanan kami. 

Kami sampai di kawasan yang di panggil Hutan Lumut. Kawasan itu di gelar sebegitu mungkin kerana tumbuhnya lumut di serata kawasan termasuk pada pokok, batu, dan tanah. Kami seolah-olah berada di set penggambaran Hollywood kerana keadaan sedemikian boleh di tonton di dalam cerita-cerita seperti ‘The Lord of the Ring’, ‘Hobbit’ dan ‘Chronicle of Narnia’. 

Kemudian, kami tiba di persimpangan antara jalan untuk keluar dari kawasan kaki gunung dan jalan ke puncak gunung. Alang-alang sudah sampai ke Cameron Highland, kami membuat keputusan untuk mendaki Gunung Berembun. Walaupun langkah kami tidak pantas tetapi kami tidak kisah kerana tiada apa yang kami mahu kejarkan. Untuk ke puncak Berembun, kami terpaksa melalui denai yang curam. Ketika sedang mendaki, kami terpegun dengan kabus tebal yang menyelubungi kami. Kami bergambar seketika dan tiba-tiba kami terdengar bunyi bising. Bunyi itu semakin hampir dengan kami. Lantas, kami membuka poncho berwarna kuning kami untuk melindungi pakaian dan barang-barang kami dari kebasahan. Pendakian kami terpaksa di hentikan kerana bimbang kawasan laluan kami mungkin menjadi anak sungai kerana hujan makin lebat. 

 Sepanjang perjalanan kami ke kaki gunung, hujan tidak berhenti. Kami tiba di MARDI kira-kira jam 5 petang dan kami kecewa kerana MARDI sudah tutup. Jadi kami hanya bergambar dan berjalan pulang. Dalam perjalanan kami mencari-cari kawasan untuk kami makan kerana kami hanya bersarapan pada jam 8 pagi tadi. Tidak jauh dari MARDI, kami jumpa kedai makan dan kami bersyukur. Selesai mengisi perut, kami bergerak ke tapak perkhemahan. Kami sebenarnya tidak tahu jalan untuk ke tapak perkhemahan kami tetapi hati kami kuat untuk memasuki kawasan perkampungan berbanding melalui jalan besar. Kami amat bernasib baik kerana jalan pilihan kami sememangnya jalan yang menghala ke tapak perkhemahan kami.

Setelah sampai, kami membersihkan diri dan bersiap untuk berehat. Pada malam itu, kami hanya membancuh air untuk menghilangkan dahaga dan memanaskan badan kerana kami masih kenyang. Kira-kira jam 9 malam, hujan turun renyai-renyai. Pada 13 Mei 2014, kami bangun awal kerana mahu bersiap awal. Kami telah membeli tiket dari Tanah Rata menuju ke Stesen Bus Pudu pada jam 12.30 tengah hari. Selesai bersarapan, kami melipat khemah dan turun ke sungai untuk mandi. Sebelum pulang, kami bercadang untuk singgah di gerai cenderamata untuk membeli sedikit buah tangan untuk keluarga. Setelah membersihkan diri, kami menuju ke MARDI kerana di sana terkenal dengan jualan hasil-hasil tempatan. Lagipun, jarak antara MARDI dengan Stesen Bus Tanah Rata tidak begitu jauh jadi kami boleh berehat setelah membeli barang. Selepas membeli, kami menuju ke Marrybrown yang terletak berhampiran stesen bus. Kami makan di situ sementara menunggu jam 12.30 tengah hari. Kemudian kami bergerak pulang apabila tiba masanya.

(ditulis oleh Aqif)

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While waiting for the gate number 12 to be opened, our heart beating so fast. We already bought the ticket on 11^th May 2014 and the departure time was on 8.30 am, the earliest ticket on that day. We arrived on the Pudu Bus Station early to avoid any bad things happen. Happy, excited, clumsy feeling keep changing while waiting for the bus because our destination for this time quite far and we don’t have any experienced go there before. Our destination for this time was Cameron Highlands.

Cameron Highlands is a famous place for strawberry lovers in Malaysia because the temperature there gives the suitable conditions for strawberry plant to grow well. Besides that, the tourist can enjoy the view of tea farm while take a cup of tea. Tourist from south Peninsular Malaysia has two options to get there which travel though Perak or Pahang. Each path has its own attraction and challenges. Our bus takes path from Perak and not much that we can share about our experienced on the bus because there is only lot of trees and sometimes we fall asleep. Before get to Cameron Highland, we went through Tapah and there a famous waterfall those beings call as Lata Iskandar. The view of fresh water comes out from the rock make us felt want to jump into it but we can’t because for sure our bus will not stop and wait for us.

On 1 pm, we reached Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands. Actually, we don’t even know where to go because we never camping there before. We just follow the guide from our friend who been camping here before but we don’t know the exact location of campsite. While searching for the campsite, we found a school there and decided to ask worker there. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know the campsite location but he mentioned that there is a campsite nearby. At that moment, we decided to go to the mosque nearby to perform prayer and discuss about our future plan. While take a rest, we were asks by a man about our activity. He seems excited to meet us. He said that there is a campsite nearby and he suggests that we go to that campsite. He said that the campsite is in good condition because there is a river nearby.

Then, when we were ready, the journey goes on. We decided to go to the placed that the man talked about just now. We were not clear about the direction of the campsite but still want to carry on. Just nearby the mosque, there is a signboard that gives direction for the campsite nearby. We thought that the campsite was just around the corner but we were wrong. It took about 2 hours for us to reach Sungai Pauh Campsite. Before reached the campsite, we were guided by another signboard that showed the interest location that we can visit. We decided to hike for Berembun Mount which located nearby our campsite. On the campsite, there was a single tent and it means that lot of visitors were already gone back. We search for the suitable site to build our tent. The facilities there quite impressive because there is a toilet there, prayer room, electric sources, lamp and others.

While searching for the suitable place, we meet a guy who already been there few times before.  He was a soldier before and nature lover. We call him as Abang Aris and he suggest that we build our tent on the gazebo to avoid from rain. He told us his story while still in army and tough us how to survive in the jungle. The moment that we cannot forget was the moment when he gave us the boiled corn. Coincidently at that time, there was drizzle and the moment we ate hot boiled corn was graceful. Then, we continued to build a tent and setup our apparatus. At the same time, Abang Aris packed his stuff to gone back.

On the night, we won’t go anywhere because want to take a rest. Besides that, only both of us were on that campsite so it quite dangerous to go anywhere in the dark. We were sitting duck in the silent moment and to break the awkward situations, we make a dinner. Our menu for that night was only few slices of bread, biscuits, mushroom soup and coffee. After having a dinner, we just lie down and start to have some conversations. Then, both of us were fall asleep in the cold condition of Tanah Rata.  On 12^th May 2014 morning, we woke up late and we know about it because we can see the sunshine. Initially, we don’t want to take a bath because the water temperature was so cold and causing our gum numb while cleaning our teeth. Our menu for this morning was same like yesterday but we have additional on the list which it is an instant porridge. After taking the meals, we decided to take a bath. We were not in rushing even though we decided to climb Mount Berembun (1840 meter). For us, this camping was more on holiday mood and we don’t want to miss any great feeling there.

The cold water stops us from entering the river so we decided to do something to warm up our body first. The river was not depth so we decided to take out the sand to make the river become a little more depth than normal so we can put our body into it. Then on 10 am, we started our hiking to Mount Berembun. Our journey was companied by tons of flora and fauna view. We reached a place called Mosses Forest. Maybe that place being called that way because there are mosses everywhere including trees, stones and ground. Its felt like we were on the Hollywood set like in The Lord of the Ring, Hobbit, and Chronicle of Narnia movie. After that, we reached the junction where the option was to escape from the Mount Berembun or, climb it and we decided to climb it. We don’t care about the time taken to reach the peak because there is plenty of time and we were not rushing. To reach there, the trail was completely difficult because the slope seems no end.

While climbing, we been surrounded by the fog and we were amazed. Suddenly, we heard loud noise nearby and getting near toward us. Then we had to wear our yellow poncho to cover up our cloth and equipment. Worried about our safety, we had to turn back. The rain accompanied us along our journey. On 5 pm, we reach MARDI and sadly it already closed. So we took a few photos and went back to our campsite. On our way, we decided to find any restaurant nearby because our body need energy so badly. Our last meal was on 8 am and luckily we found restaurant nearby. After filling our stomach, we move towards our campsite. Actually, we don’t even know the way to the campsite because we took the different way from yesterday. Our instinct told us to take the village road instead of using main road. We were lucky because the road we took were the right way.

At the campsite, we clean up our body and ready to rest. On that night, we just drink a hot water to wet our throat and warm our body because we still full. About 9 pm, rain started pouring. On 13^th May 2014, we woke up early and packed our stuff. We already bought the bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur on 12.30 pm. After taking our breakfast, we rolled the tent and get to the river. While still at Cameron Highland, we decided to buy some souvenir for our family. We went to MARDI because that place is popular with the local product. Besides that, MARDI located not far from the Tanah Rata Bus Station so we can take a rest at the bus station. While waiting for the 12.30 pm, we take a lunch at Marrybrown first. Then we get back home when the time has comes.

(written by Aqif)