Views from the Chinese graveyard in Papan

Continued from What happened to this stop at the Simpang Pulai route?.

Upon reaching Simpang Pulai I immediately headed for the small town of Gopeng followed by Batu Gajah. A number of places were visited before I went to Papan where I caught this view.

This might be unerving as I was enjoying the scenery from a Chinese graveyard.

Then again its location up a hill with few trees blocking gives way for a very wide vista to get things in perspective.

Actually I came to hear to look for a Muslim burial ground. I seems I took the wrong way but no regrets. I think this is the best place to view the surroundings of Papan, a very small town which was one of the major hives for mining activities in the state of Perak. For the record this is the 1010th in this blogspot.

What happened to this stop at the Simpang Pulai route?

Continued from Town of Kampung Raja from its mosque.

From Kampung Raja I left Cameron Highlands via the Simpang Pulai route only to find the sorry state of what was a quite popular stop.

As far as I could surmise this stop provides the best view on the route. But  on this 13th August visit it looks abandoned.

Thank God the view is still superb. It was just the stop which looks ruined.

Looking at the evidence I could only surmised this place has been hit by a landslide. Try comparing it during the time it was still a popular stop. Look at the article The highland stop 17km from Kampung Raja made over a year ago.

Town of Kampung Raja from its mosque

Continued from Summit of Mount Brinchang from its viewing tower.

After Mount Brinchang I went to the town of Kampung Raja and stopped at its mosque. Its position at a higher ground provided vantage views of the town.

Once upon a time this northern-most town of Cameron Highlands hardly received visitors.

Then, it was considered far from tourist attractions as visitors could only reach the highlands from the southern route in Tapah.

Since a decade ago or so, the Simpang Pulai route from Ipoh was opened providing access to Cameron from the north.

From that route and the later opened Gua Musang route which meets the Simpang Pulai route 3 km from here everyone must pass through Kampung Raja to get to the tourist spots thus boosting development of this area.

Summit of Mount Brinchang from its viewing tower

Continued from The perimeter fencing at Mount Brinchang.

Outside the fenced area there is a viewing tower.

It is often frequented by tourists brought up here by jeeps operated by tourist agencies.

After a batch of tourists have climbed down its time for me to go up.

There. This should be a view towards the north.

I like to sample views from every angle by turning slowly anti-clockwise...

The summit of Mount Brinchang lies to the south.

A look down.

Turning again anti-clockwise to cover the eastern angles...

Back to looking at the north.

Zooming in...

And you could see the staircase leading to the mossy forest. Look at the article The Mossy Forest of Cameron Highlands. 

Video showing better the views...

The perimeter fencing at Mount Brinchang

Continued from The Mossy Forest of Cameron Highlands.

Soon I arrived at the summit of Mount Brinchang.

However most of the summit area is off-limits as it houses a telecommunications centre.

But you can follow a foot-path around it.

Going anti-clockwise I found the foot-path going up albeit not so steep.

It leads to this corner.

Then it practically goes down.

Upon reaching the next corner I could definitely surmiss the previous corner is higher.

The signboard here puts things to perspective. The marking "G. Brinchang 0.19 km" means that the proper summit and highest point of the mountain is 190 metres away. "Brinchang 2.77 km" in turn refers to the distance to the entrance of the jungle mountain climbing path close to town. Look at the article A morning look at the town of Brinchang.

The distance 2.77 km is by foot climbing up through the jungle path. By motor vehicles you must travel 4 km to get to the right junction before climbing up another 7 km by a small road to reach the summit. Look at The road up Mount Brinchang.

I followed the perimeter fencing again to complete a round.

The next corner is situated even lower.

Soon I could see where I started, in front of the gates of the fenced area. Having completed a round it looks to me that the corner first mentioned in this article is the highest point around the perimeter. But the distance of 190 metres from the signboard at the next corner seems to indicate the actual summit elsewhere. Never mind. The time I spent around walking at every high ground in sight should cover that...

The Mossy Forest of Cameron Highlands

Continued from The road up Mount Brinchang.

About  a kilometre before the summit of Mount Brinchang there's this clearing.

There's a staircase leading to something called the Mossy Forest maintained by the Forestry Department.

As I climbed up the stairs I could see the summit of Mount Brinchang.

Then there's a wooden walkway which sits very near to the border between the states of Pahang and Perak.

Notice the moss on the trees.

Later did I found out the walkway follows the ridge connecting Mount Brinchang to the higher  peak of Mount Irau 2.35 km to the north-west.

Along the way is the Mossy Forest. I started noticing other visitors.

I don't know what they were up to, I just wanted to enjoy the views...

Slightly further I could see the summit of Mount Brinchang again.

If I remember correctly this is the only mountain in Cameron Highlands and around with telecommunication towers.

Looking back at the other visitors I could then see they were taking wedding pictures.

On to exploring the forest...

Here I should be on the Perak side.

Do note that the walkway is situated 2000 metres or 6,561 feet above sea level!

There are places where it goes down.

There are places it went up.

Then I reached a point where it just went down. Time to get back to my bike and continue the journey up the summit of Mount Brinchang...