(Daniel) This morning I woke up at 6am, I didn’t have to pack much after only taking out a few things yesterday so I was out and on the road by 7am. At first I headed for the town that Aleyna had mentioned, Kuala Berang, this town marked the entrance to the new East West highway, a short drive to the south. I started to remember Kumin saying something about another town and just to be sure I stopped at a payphone and called him. Just as well as I discovered that he had asked me to meet him at Kuala Besut, about 120kms to the north from here! I turned around and fuelled up before driving up the coast to Kuala Besut. As I drove Kumin called me several times, just at the wrong moment, and I started to get a little frustrated as I missed three turnings because he called to make sure that I didn’t miss them! Just before I got to the town itself was a long stretch of road where I accelerated to around 120km/h and just spotted the police behind the bush in time to hit the brakes and cruise past them to the next bend in the road where Kumin met me.

Kumin was a likeable chap with a big yellow and blue Land Rover 109. He asked if I was hungry, and didn’t show any sign that he had noticed me getting stressed on the phone. I told him that I could eat some food, and followed him to a cafe around the corner. Inside he introduced me to his wife, who was originally Thai, and was most pleased that we could communicate as she didn’t speak any English! We ate a modest breakfast of rice and some fried vegetables in tempura, then headed to his house to collect his family. When we arrived the first thing that Kumin did was introduce me to his wife. No you are not misreading, it turns out that Kumin has three wives, and this was number two! He seemed very proud of the fact that he was able to keep this polygamous relationship going, and certainly everyone seemed very happy! While at his house he fitted the Wolf with a radio so that we could talk on the way. As my radio may not be legal here in Malaysia! He took his youngest son and wife in the 109 and i took his older son, about 12, in the Wolf with me. I called him my co-pilot, which he seemed to understand, and made him the radio operator

First we stopped for fuel, as Kumin wanted to test the economy of his Toyota diesel powered 109 against my 300TDi. After filling up we drove west to the highway, and then down to a place called Gua Musang, about 300kms away, where we stopped for lunch before filling the tanks again. We watched as Kumins vehicle required 24 litres to fill again, imagine his surprise as my vehicle only took 21! What Kumin didn’t realise was that, as fuel is so expensive in England, we have an uncanny ability to get good economy from our vehicles when we need to! I had been driving as carefully as possible, with my new co-pilot, sleeping in the back! He didn’t seem to appreciate my more modern music. But seemed to like the Blues Guitar Heroes album which I played!

After another hour on the road we started to climb up into the highlands, and started to see some other land rovers. At first I was exited to see these old series vehicles driving around, but after the 20th vehicle chugged by I realised that Cameron highlands is the secret Land Rover retirement home of the world! During a stop I asked Kumin about the vehicles. He told me that there are up to 6000 Land Rover vehicles in Cameron Highlands. Far from being carefully restored, these vehicles, mainly ex military, arrive in Cameron, and have the engine removed and replaced with a Japanese drivetrain, usually Toyota, then they have steel bars welded onto the panels, for protection from the harsh jungle. Only then are they ready to go to work on the farms of Cameron. As we drove into the main town areas I saw the huge clear plastic hydroponic growing tents, which no doubt would be lit up at night by the bulbs which hung in rows inside. Cameron is a huge producer of Flowers, fruit and vegetables, all of which grow well in the cool climates and heavy rain, unique to Camerons high altitudes.

We arrived in a small place called Brinchang, and then drove through to a big house on the other side of town called Rose House. Here there were a few others who had already arrived, they were setting up a couple of Gazebos. I introduced myself and then helped with the preparations while a few others started turning up, in Land Rovers of various shapes and sizes. After a few hours, about ten of us drove down to the town to have dinner. Here I got a chance to meet everyone properly and find out who they all were. There was Vricky, the current president of the club, and then some of the Ladies from the club, and the local contact. Also a guy called Lawrence, who had apparently just returned to Malaysia, after living and working in Caterham for the last four years! This was a real co-incidence, as Caterham is less than a mile from the home where I grew up in Woldingham! After dinner I found a Wi-Fi zone in the street outside a cafe, and did a quick send and receive before going back with the others to Rose House.

When we got back, Aleyna was just arriving, and was glad to see that I had arrived in one piece, it was now around 9pm, and was actually cold! I was so happy to be able to put a jumper on. The effect of the extra altitude here in Cameron! I decided to give Zi a call then, Vricky agreed to act as a translator for me. I called her, and got the usual group of people around the phone, but through saying what I wanted to Vricky first and then repeating what he said in Malay down the phone to Zi, I had a surprisingly fluid conversation! She asked me to come back to Batu Rackit, which I hadn’t intended on doing, but was tempted! I told her that I might come, and she asked me to bring her some flowers and Strawberries when I did. I finished the conversation, feeling torn between carrying on to Thailand after this, or turning back to Batu Rackit for a few more days.

I helped Aleyna with some setting up then, and ended up spending ages blowing up balloons with the compressor in the truck! I kept thinking that they’ll take my Landie away if someone sees me blowing up purple and yellow balloons with it! We used the work lights from the Wolf to light the whole area as people worked tirelessly until late. After getting the place pretty much finished, we all got stuck into the beers and chatted about the plans until late at night when I opened up the rooftent and fell asleep inside. The main subject of conversation, had been the charity drive which we were going to do on Sunday. One of the local guys knew a route, which would take around an hour, and not be too taxing on the vehicles, some of which were factory spec Freelanders. The cool temperatures meant that I had an excellent nights sleep, waking up only to pull another blanket over my sleeping bag.

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