Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Things haven't exactly gone to plan with this blog for a while now. I wanted to update a lot more often but I never seem to find the time. I do have some pretty good reasons, though - I've had a couple of translation assignments to do, which have been very welcome as extra £££ is very much welcome at the moment. Christmas is so expensive, even if I try to be careful.. :/

I've had these Malaysian cards for quite some time now, I thought now would be the appropriate time to post them. A friend of mine from our Aikido group recently moved back to Malaysia. She finished her studies here and couldn't find a job here so she couldn't have afforded to stay here. I really miss her, I hope she'll get to visit here some time. She lives in Kuala Lumpur now. I need to make a post about the city at some point... Meanwhile, these two cards of Cameron Highlands will have to do.



The Cameron Highlands is one of Malaysia’s most extensive hill stations. It covers an area of 712 square kilometres. To the north, its boundary touches that of Kelantan; to the west, it shares part of its border with Ipoh. Situated at the north-western tip of Pahang, the “Camerons” is approximately 200 km from Kuala Lumpur.

During the day, the temperature seldom soars above 25°C; at night, it is the opposite: the temperature can sometimes drop to as low as 12°C. The hill station was first developed by the British in the 1920s. It has a population of more than 34,000 people comprising Malays, Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups.

The card above shows Orang Asli Village in the Cameron Highlands.



Here you can see the Orang Asli (aborigines) preparing a meal - baking rice/tapioca root in bamboo tubes. Orang Asli is a general Malaysian term used for any indigenous groups that are found in Peninsular Malaysia. They are divided into three main tribal groups – Semang (Negrito), Senoi, and Proto-Malay (Aboriginal Malay). The Orang Asli are further divided into 18 sub-ethnic group according to their different languages and customs. The Negritos are usually found in the northern region of the peninsula, the Senois in the central region, and the Proto-Malay in the southern region.



The stamp on the right is a definitive issued in 2005 in a set of 8 stamps, depicting birds. The other stamp I'm not sure of, although I do wonder if it's a definitive as well as I remember seeing it years and years ago on letters from penpals I used to have in Malaysia.