Tanah Rata

My first real memory of Tanah Rata goes back to 1985 on a school trip from MRSM. We travelled from Terendak overnight on a Friday, arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning and remembering how cold the place was when we alight at a local mosque to pray and look for breakfast.

The rest of the day went by like a blur. I did not even remember much about the drive up the hill, how winding it was. I was sure it was pretty bad back then as it was on our last trip.

The place has certainly changed, and maybe the clime remains the same, but I did not feel the cool temperature. Tanah Rata itself appears like a proper town, with Starbucks and all. Many hotels and inns were catering for all around the area. All the amenities are available, and people can reside here comfortably without making regular trips downhill.  We only had brief stops at the place to transit into our other destinations. 

Tanah Rata remains the main administrative hub. The main attractions for Cameron Highlands remained scattered around the township, with most of the traffic building up further uphill towards Brinchang. As visitors prefer to use the newer route from Simpang Pulai, the congestion becomes less of a problem when you reach Tanah Rata. The regular bus services from Ipoh also stop at this town.

We went to Tanah Rata to do some light shopping at the pharmacy there and to be honest you can get most things in the town. We also had lunch at Smokehouse, not far away, and our hotel was about a 20-minute drive from there.