When my wife and i went to the Cameron Highlands, which is a mountain resort in Malaysia, we were planning to only stay there for three days.
Well, we ended up staying there for three months.
And the reason we stayed so long is because Covid-19 started spreading when we first arrived,
and the country went into a complete lockdown and banned interstate travel.
So what is it like to live in the Cameron Highlands as a foreigner?
That is what I'm going to tell you about in this video.
I'm going to take our quality of life, break it down into 10 categories,
and tell you which categories I think were better in the Cameron Highlands,
and which in my opinion are better in our hometown of Charlotte in the United States.
When we arrived in the Cameron Highlands we checked into the Bricks Hostel.
But once we realized that we were going to be in the Cameron Highlands a lot longer than we expected we moved into an apartment that we found on Airbnb.
The apartment had a nice large living area, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen.
It was located in the small town of Tanah Rata and it was about a ten minute walk from the apartment to get to the main area of town.
Our Airbnb host was fabulous and made sure we had all of the supplies we needed during the lockdown.
The cost to rent this apartment was about US$630 per month including all utilities, internet, and the Airbnb and cleaning fees.
We saw apartments advertised for around 1500 ringgit or US$350 per month, but that would be for a long term lease and wouldn't include utilities or other fees.
Our tow home back in Charlotte was about the same size as our apartment here in the Cameron Highlands,
but the cost in Charlotte including a mortgage, utilities, taxes, fees and insurance was about double the price than it was in Cameron Highlands
So if we compare housing in Cameron Highlands with Charlotte in the U.S.,
in my opinion i think Cameron Highlands wins this category.
We'll talk about food next and Cameron Highlands has a very strong tourism industry, so there are some really good restaurants.
Unfortunately most of the town including the restaurants closed after the movement control lockdown was issued, but there were some that we were able to enjoy.
We really liked the Pizzarella restaurant.
Great pizza and Italian food, they use fresh ingredients, and the people who run this restaurant are so friendly.
If you want to know how friendly they were check out this video in the top right corner of the screen there.
We also really liked The Lord's Cafe, which is a bakery and a great place for a light meal, and again a very friendly owner.
And Mossy Forest Cafe had great specials during the movement control order where we got some great Asian dishes.
But because of the lockdown we did most of our own cooking,
and i have to say that one negative Tanah Rata being a small town is that there is no large supermarket,
although there are plenty of mini-markets that are well supplied.
So which is better, Cameron Highlands or Charlotte?
We loved the food we had in Cameron Highlands, and the produce there is very fresh,
but because there was no large supermarket,
I have to call this one a tie between Cameron Highlands and Charlotte.
Now for shopping you have to remember that Tanah Rata is a small town so if you need to buy supplies you are going to be a little bit limited.
But there is a Mr. DIY store where you can buy kitchen items, hardware, office supplies and the prices are very good at that store,
but if you need to buy something a little less common it might be hard to find in Tanah Rata,
and for that reason we think Charlotte is better for shopping than Tanah Rata.
We'll move on to activities now and Cameron Highlands has a lot of tourist attractions to keep you busy.
Probably the most popular activity is visiting one of the tea plantations.
Not only is it informative to see how the tea is grown and produced, but it is also very scenic and picturesque.
And Cameron Highlands has many strawberry farms where you can buy fresh strawberries, strawberry dishes, and even pick your own strawberries.
There is a really nice park in town where you can go walking.
Now again Tanah Rata is small so you're not going to have big movie theaters or cinemas.
Overall I give Cameron Highlands and Charlotte a tie score when it comes to activities.
Talking about transportation now, the traffic in Cameron Highlands can be congested on the weekends.
But we don't drive so that doesn't impact us at all.
There are many buses to and from other parts of Malaysia from the Cameron Highlands.
Tanah Rata is small enough that you can walk anywhere you need to go within the town.
There is no need for transportation other than your own two feet, and we love being able to walk.
So for the transportation category, Cameron Highlands is the winner.
Let's talk about healthcare now, and we were very very impressed with the health department in the Cameron Highlands.
Some members from the health department came to our apartment every day to make sure that we were healthy,
and after 14 days they gave us a document that stated that we were free from all covid symptoms.
Tanah Rataa has pharmacies that are well stocked with medication.
Some medicine that we bought here would have cost over $300 in the U.S. but it was only $4 at the pharmacy here.
The health care system in Malaysia is very highly rated for both quality and affordability.
Tanah Rata is a small town it had just one small hospital,
so I'm going to rate healthcare a tie score here.
For safety we had no issues with security here.
We felt safe in Tanah Rata at all times.
There is no debate here, Cameron Highlands is definitely safer than Charlotte.
We'll talk about the climate next, and oh wow the weather in Cameron Highlands is perfect.
It never gets too hot during the day, never gets too cold at night, so there is no need for air conditioning or heating at any time of the year.
It can rain a lot at certain times of the year, and even though we were there during one of the rainy periods the rain was always in the afternoon and the mornings were almost always dry.
In our opinion the weather in Cameron Highlands is not just better than Charlotte,
but it is some of the best weather in the entire world.
For the environment there were no issues with air quality in the Cameron Highlands
The air in the mountains is crisp and clean,
and overall we think the environment is better in the Cameron Highlands than it is in Charlotte.
Let's talk cost of living now.
Cameron Highlands is a touristy resort community and because of that it does cost a little bit more to live here than in other parts of Malaysia.
Our total spending on housing, food, and transportation averaged $918 per month.
And this would have cost much more in the U.S.,
so once again the Cameron Highlands wins this category.
So there you have it.
We absolutely loved our three months in the Cameron Highlands.
We thought the weather was just perfect, the mountain scenery was just beautiful and the people there are just so nice and friendly.
We would love to come back and live in the Cameron Highlands again someday.
I just want to emphasize that these are just my personal opinions, there is no right or wrong answer here.
You may have a different view on how I ranked these categories,
so please leave a comment below if you'd like to discuss this,
and also be sure to take a look at our website at snailtravelers.com to find out more about our world travel adventure.