Up Gunung Brinchang on a Misty Day

Last Saturday, despite some discomfort from food poisoning that I had the day before, we drove up to the Cameron Highlands for some fresh air - well not exactly fresh with the traffic jams everywhere due to Le Tour de Langkawi passing by (didn't know until we were trapped on the way down from Mount Brinchang because the morning way up was quite clear despite signs and traffic police everywhere). The drive up Brinchang Mountain was as tracherous as ever - some parts are getting narrower despite some recent repairs done, not to mention some less-than-competent drivers who decided to brave the slopes without prior knowledge of the place or their cars' sizes in correlation to the environment!

As we arrived, the place seemed to be packed with cars at the entrance to the Mossy Jungle trail but it turned out that those people probably went trekking far or camping somewhere near as no one was in sight for the whole duration of our stay up there. The temperature was well below those I knew of this place and for once, I have to wear a jacket over my long-sleeved polo...the actual pretext was to observe a few birds but the cold mist didn't really help (I heard not a single chirp). Undeterred (for the fact that I had to endure the tough drive up with some minor complaints from my Home Minister), I decided to snap some photos of the plant life, seeing that the last time I was here was almost 2 years ago...

a common tiny flower usually found en masse from a medium-sized tree found commonly at higher elevation.

flowers from a dangling creeper in the mist...

a Straits rhododendron

lowland roadside plants up in Mount Brinchang.

the mist...

an acorn-bearing small tree at the foot of the observation tower on Mount Brinchang

wild raspberries

Firecracker plant ( a creeper) growing on an exposed rock boulder...

The commonest heath rhododendron around- Rhododendron malayanum, found along the trail up the tower.

same flowers with flash on the camera...notice that the stamens are actually yellow in colour.

another variety of heath rhododendron in the same spot.

Gossamers in the mist

Pink buds of a tree rhododendron at the entrance of the Mossy Jungle trail.

the delicate blooms...

tiny creeper berries...

at the Mossy Jungle Trail

Begonia lowiana, a common hairy begonia on the shaded mossy slopes of Gunung Brinchang.

the Mountain Balsam, Impatiens  oncidioides

at the Sungei Palas Boh Tea estate