Robinson in cheongsam

There are several safe walks that can be explored in Cameron Highlands without a guide but two of the commonest among them lead to the Parit Falls and the Robinson Falls. I gave the former a miss because of the adverse publicity on the Internet. The Parit Falls, it seems, is nothing but a big drain. So when I was at Cameron Highlands recently, I decided to visit the Robinson Falls instead.

The road to the Falls wasn't hard to find. The junction was right in the centre of Tanah Rata. We drove to the end of the road, parked the car, crossed the pedestrian bridge and took Walk No: 9 which was a well-maintained footpath passing by about five or six old houses. Always on our right, we could hear and catch glimpses of the rapids and cascades. After a leisurely 10-minute walk, we arrived at the Falls itself.

The Robinson Falls was impressive enough but there didn't seem to be any well-trodden path down the slopes to the raging river. So my wife and I had to be contented with admiring the waterfall from afar before walking back to the car.

Here's a photograph of the Robinson Falls. Sexy falls, about 100 feet high by my very rough estimate, and looking very much like a woman in an alluring cheongsam.


Its grandeur, however, has been marred by pollution from careless development around Cameron Highlands: the water muddied by earth washed down from exposed hill slopes. See what I mean? Everything goes down into the river: earth, waste and rubbish.