32. The blue of the sea, the yellow of the moon and the green of the tea, in Malaysia

By Filipe Morato Gomes	Where is Cameron?
I entered modern Malaysia and headed straight away to the paradisiacal Perhentian Islands. Perhentian are two islands with an incredible beauty, aimed for divers and non-divers, and the place where I re-encounter my own language. I then travelled to the green lands of Cameron Highlands, in Central Malaysia. Malaysian first impression was promising to become a highlight of the all trip.

It was seven o'clock in the morning when the minibus arrived. I was on my way to Malaysia and a pair of travellers was already sitting on the seat in front of the one I was given. After a few minutes chatting in English we realised we were all Portuguese. I could hardly believe. The opportunity to speak in my own language had finally arrived, after several months travelling around. Unfortunately, we had different routes so we split up half way the minibus trip. But we manage to setup a meeting point in a couple of days time, in Perhentian Islands.

A beach at the "big" Perhentian Island

We arrived at the border between Thailand and Malaysia when the clock was about to display nine o'clock in the evening, and the customs office was about to close. On the Thai side there was a typical, non-appealing border town. It was crowded with well armed soldiers, and the many checkpoints we had to pass through were an unpleasant bonus. Flashlights were pointed to the car trying to identify someone unwelcome among the passengers. It was a totally different atmosphere from anywhere else in Thailand.

It was a sign of the problems Thailand was facing to control a few rebellious movements settled in the country. For me, as well as for an occasional Swedish travel mate, staying in that place overnight was out of question and so it was important to keep on travelling and enter Malaysia that night. As soon as the minibus stopped, we rushed towards the only officer still on duty on the Malaysian side of the border. Efficiently, two stamps and just a few minutes later, and we were in modern Malaysia looking for transport to the nearest city, Kota Bharu, the main gateway to the aimed Perhentian Islands. Some instants afterwards the border got closed.

The Perhentian Islands are famous for their beautiful white sand beaches, as well as for the excellent dive sites one can find around the isles. However, many diving centres had not opened yet, the beaches were semi-desert and the restaurants had not that many clients. The low season was still ruling and tourists would start visiting the islands in a few weeks. So it was time to enjoy the quiet atmosphere, scuba-dive and relax.

Underwater, visibility was not the best during that season, but anyone who adventured at least to go snorkelling would be rewarded with the sight of a rich and varied fauna, including cute turtles and harmless reef sharks. At night some bars tried to attract the few tourists on the island with cheerful music and fireplaces on the sand. It was full moon night when I met again Rita and Bruno, the Portuguese couple, at one of the beach bars; they were excellent companions for my birthday evening, nice people to talk to, have some beers an dance during the most partying night of the moon cycle. Besides, after so much time without seeing or listening to other compatriots, even the most obscene words pronounced in Portuguese would sound well. I was having a great time but the next day, frustrated by not being able to dive due to an irritating cold, I left Perhentian Islands, on the eastern Malaysian coast, and headed for the tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands, in Central Malaysia.

Tea plantations of Cameron Highlands, Central Malaysia

After the tropical heat of the last weeks, arriving in Tanah Rata, a small town in Cameron Highlands, was a strange change. Very low temperatures and heavy and sudden rainfalls were a constant presence. But, after the blue of the sea and the yellow of the moon, it was time to appreciate the vast hills painted with an exuberant green, which make Cameron one of the regions in the inner part of Malaysia more people visit.

I hired a motor-bike and rode freely along the narrow, steep and bendy roads of the region. Tea plantations one's sight could not entirely see, with the trees turned into bonsais to make treatment and harvest easier, covered all the surrounding mountains. In some plantations, male workers, most of them Indonesian, collected the younger leaves of the bushes so that later, in the factories, tea could be dried, cut, fermented and packed. They came from Java and Flores islands, in Indonesia, with signed contracts for between three to five years, without their family, and lived in a sort of basic prefabricated houses built near the plantations. Malaysia is extremely modern and developed and the higher salaries attract the Indonesian workers for a job the Malaysian people do not want to do anymore. The result of their hard daily work is the tea I was about to taste.

After a couple of delicious cups of Boh tea coming from the homonymous plantation in Cameron Highlands, it was time to leave the region and try to meet the remains of the Portuguese past, looking for the Silvas, the Pereiras and other surnames from descendents of Portuguese people on the western Malaysian coast. By then I was wondering if there is still anyone who can speak Portuguese in the historical city of Malacca.

(originally written in Portuguese)

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