Waiting by the Roadside for a Bus Which Never Came
As I have mentioned several times, it is not easy to get around in Cameron Highlands if you do not have your own transportation. You have several options though, you can hire a cab to get from one place to another, another option is to hire a cab for the whole day if you intend to go from one place to another quite frequently, this is especially worth it for groups of four, the maximum number of passengers the cab can carry. You can also walk as I did earlier, since Cameron Highlands has a very pleasant climate, this may not be as bad as it sounds.
Entire Mountainside has Been Cleared for Farming
Finally, you can take the local bus. Unfortunately, there is only one bus company which services the Tapah – Tanah Rata route. The Regal bus company operates a fleet of a few delapidated buses to and from Tapah. I intended take this bus back to Tanah Rata, as I have no intention of walking back up the mountain. The sun was quite hot that day and it wasn’t very comfortable to be hiking in this weather.
I stood by the roadside waiting for the bus as I did the previous day. But no bus came. I probably waited an hour and a half for a bus to come by but I only saw tourist buses which don’t stop for anything. After a while a European couple joined my by the roadside we were all waiting for the bus which never came. In the end we hailed a passing cab whose driver couldn’t speak English. Fortunately, my Malay is just good enough to understand what he was trying to say. MYR 5 per person. We quickly hopped in an drove off. The driver even picked up another passenger along the way. Apparently this is common practice but I still have may reservations doing it this kind of this on a regular basis.
My biggest beef would be with the Regal bus company. In my whole time waiting by the roadside, there was no Regal bus passing by either way. Maybe they only have a single bus operating the entire route, bus this is no way to be a bus “service”. The local government should really look into improving this important link to the lowlands.
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