Our entire trip, I've been worrying about our luggage. I figured that in the course of a year, we would have at least one luggage-related disaster. But our bags have survived Cairo taxis, Indian bus luggage compartments, and Thai songthaews, without once falling off the vehicle onto the highway. I'd finally started relaxing about my bags, and thought that Malaysia would be the last place that anything would go wrong . . .

About two hours into the four-hour bus ride from KL to the Cameron Highlands, the driver pulled to the side of the highway and stopped the bus. He climbed off the bus, then came back on with a panicked look on his face, yelling "Baggage! Baggage!" We'd put our bags in the storage compartment on the side of the bus, so I was immediately worried. Cathy thought maybe the bags had caught on fire, or a durian (VERY stinky fruit) had exploded on them, or something like that . . . I went out to see what was going on, and our bags, along with the bags of three other people were gone!

The bus driver's English was minimal, so it took awhile to get an explanation from him. The bags had fallen out on a turn, and another vehicle noticed, and flagged down the bus to stop. Rather than trying to help us recover the bags, the driver was more interested in trying to shift the blame from himself -- "You no close door nicely! Must close nicely! You no close nicely, bags fall!" A Canadian passenger and I promptly exploded "No, you're the bus company! You're responsible! The company needs to make sure the baggage compartment is closed nicely!" Meanwhile the Swiss guy whose bags were also dropped just stood quietly, as if having his bags fall out of the bus was the most routine thing in the world.

Cathy was still inside the bus and could see me and the Canadian getting angry, so she came out to intervene. She was able to divert us all from arguing over who didn't "close door nicely" to ask where the bags were. "Can we walk back and get them?" she asked. "Yes, can!" replied the bus driver. He vanished to the other side of the bus, and reappeared with a motorcyle which he commandeered from a passerby. "Baggage!" he shouted. The Swiss guy leaped on the back of the motorcyle, and the two of them raced off down the wrong side of the divided highway to find the bags. Cathy, me, and the Canadian followed on foot. Luckily, the bags were only about half a kilometer away, on the shoulder, and were intact. We dragged them back to the bus, made sure the baggage compartment was closed nicely, and finally arrived in the Cameron Highlands without any further excitement . . .

We've had a nice, relaxing time in the Highlands. The weather is very cool. After the burning heat of the last few months, it's nice to have to wear pants and a long-sleeve shirt for a change. We're staying at the Cameronian Inn in Tanah Rata, which I would definitely recommend to anybody coming here. They have good service, lots of travel information, cheap (if unexceptional) food, a variety of rooms, a tv lounge, a quiet and comfy reading lounge, and the rooms and grounds are spotless and well-maintained. There's a huge construction site next door, but the noise isn't too bad.

On our first day, we went on a half day tour that visited one of the tea factories (tea is a huge business here), as well as various tacky tourist traps like a butterfly garden, rose garden, strawberry farm, etc . . . The next few days we went hiking. There's a network of "jungle paths" through the forest. The first day, we went on a hike with a guide from the hotel. This was a lot of fun, as he was able to point out interesting plants along the trail. The next two days, we went hiking on our own. The trails are muddy, often steep, and not very well maintained, so hiking is something of an adventure. Somehow we avoided getting lost, and got out of the jungle with nothing more than muddy pants and sore legs.