Starstruck in Cameron Highlands

/ May 30, 2014
Sky Full of Stars

Sky full of stars (Photo: Damien du Toit @ Flickr)

Special moments create special memories, especially when we travel.

I had one of this special memories on my trip to Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

Being a city girl, my concept of stars in the sky is pretty much limited to seeing the few scattered lights blinking in the sky. I would think them pretty and stare as much as possible while trying to walk. Cameron Highlands was my first experience being up in the mountains.

Have you ever experienced a sky full of stars?

That night, as I stood in the cool of the night, I had my face turned up against the sky and my mouth wide open, gaping in amazement.

That night, the sky was a FIELD of stars. There didn’t seem to be any gap in between any of the stars, they were so close to each other.

Since the lodge was on top of a hill, the sky seemed so close I could just reach out to touch the stars. I could not stop watching, even with the crick in my neck.

And then, it happened in a blink of an eye, I almost missed it.

A star dropped from the sky, just like that.

My first and only shooting star.

Isn’t that just an awe-inspiring memory? I was too late to make any wishes though. It was seriously gone with a blink! 🙂

Have you ever seen such a sky full of stars? Have you ever experienced such a special memory on your travels? Please do share!

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36 thoughts on “Starstruck in Cameron Highlands”

  1. agreed, stars are magical and really dont see many around singapore or KL even. However, if you’re ever in the desert, thats when you see so many you just had no idea they were out there. Sleeping under the stars cant be beat for that. If you ever get the chance, say if you come to Australia see if you can find a tour to Uluru that sleeps outside. I did one like that, and there are millions you can see. its awe-inspiring! 🙂 great post!

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    • ahhh, yes. I have that trip to Uluru in my maybe list. I’ve been wanting to go through the outbacks..that would be so awesome to sleep under the stars…I hope I get a chance to do as you suggest….I’m slowly going through Australia but I still want to conquer the East coast before the northern territories though! Haha…:)

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      • By all means go to Uluru but think of a trip across the desert such as the Tanami Track where you camp and there are no other lights and you can sleep in a swag outside. Magical.

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    • Haha…yes, that was a surprise for me too! If you had come to Malaysia, you would be in the jungles right? Your view would mostly be of trees though! Haha…:)

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  3. What a lovely post Sha! I used to live in a small town in Galicia and one night, my husband and I sat in the back garden at my in-laws to watch the sky so full of stars while listening to crickets. I saw a couple of falling stars…amazing!💫

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    • Oh wow, that’s so amazing! In your own backyard – that’s even more amazing!! It’s just too bad that we don’t really get to see such things here in Singapore isn’t it?

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      • Yeah, it’s a shame, Singapore has become an urban jungle and it’s always cloudy. I left Singapore over 24 years ago and everytime I go back to visit family, there’s always new buildings!

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      • True..but sometimes the sky clears up enough for me to see the stars…not the whole sky but some…then I get happy just watching the stars from my living room window…cos my floor is pretty high…:)

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      • I know, I am running out of ideas to cook to satisfy my hankerings haha! I crave a murtabak and satay and nasi lemak and…and..and vadeh and briyani!!! 😩 Sounds like a plan! 👍

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    • Hello, yes, it is. Cameron Highlands are high up and have a cool climate so it’s known for the many tea plantations there. I have not really read her book though, you managed to catch this part! 🙂

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  6. Sha I grew up on the Canadian prairies where there is hundreds and hundreds of miles of open space. The sky looks likes this all the time. Very isolated but beautiful due to the lack of artificial light.

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    • Wow Sue, that is such an awesome thing to look up too every night. You are so lucky!

      Unfortunately,here in Singapore, it’s full of lights in the city so it’s very hard for me to see that. This trip was my first time seeing a whole sky filled with stars. I had no idea the sky was supposed to look like this in the first place! Truly an awe-inspiring sight for me! 🙂

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  7. I think anywhere without light pollution like Singapore is good haha. My best was probably on Mount Rinjani in Lombok… pitch black with stars brightening up the mountain, even a wee bit. It was also good in Perth and Philippines! This is a photo I took on Rinjani during the hike! (but it is very amateur haha)

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    • wow! that looks good too! I agree that anywhere away from the city would be good but since I was high up, the stars seemed really close. Such a surreal experience really, I hope I get to have more encounters away from here!! Haha…:)

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  8. NIce post! Nature, when observed carefully, has solutions to a lot of our problems, and I certainly don’t mean that nature has two hands and two legs and it’ll run errands for us 🙂 When you talk of stars and when you observe them beautifully, you find peace, don’t you?

    I’ve seen skies full of stars on several occasions, but the one night I can’t forget is when I was in a desert in Rajasthan, a state in the western part of India. As part of the package, after the camel safari, we had to spend the night on sand dunes under the open sky, and the darker it got the better the stars looked – and there were shooting stars too – and I made several wishes, one of them was for the camels, that were resting not far away from us, to stop their loud and violent farts.

    But camel farts was an experience too (we laughed our hearts out the whole night!) – not taking the nature for granted! Thanks Sha for the post! 🙂

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    • Haha…camel farts!! That’s funny!! I suppose it’s something to experience as well…but the idea of sleeping under the stars are awesome…and you are right..we actually spent the time watching the stars and we hardly talked much….so it was a peaceful and magical time just watching the night sky…thanks for sharing! 🙂

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  10. I’m planning on doing this. I know exactly what mountain to go. Question: what’s the best time of the year, month or season to do star-gazing? By stargazing, I don’t mean looking at myself in the mirror. Bwahahaha 😆 Sorry I had to slip that in. 😀

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    • LOL…rightttt…couldn’t resist adding that huh? Hahaha…

      Which mountain are you going to for this?..I have no idea when is a good time actually, this happened out of nowhere but I imagine good weather is an important factor. Are you planning to spend the night under the stars? That would be super awesome and I imagine your photos would turn out brilliant.

      I kinda wish I had spent more time building up my photography skills when I was younger and when I had time. Now I’m slowly relearning these skills…hahaha…

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  11. beautiful post Sha 🙂 I only last month so my first falling star – it was so surprising/shocking/beautiful/awe inspiring I will never forget it – your writing definitely reflects that!

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  12. May I know which part of Cameron Highlands you were able to see the stars? As the towns in Cameron are quite bright. I’m really hoping to see a sky filled with stars.

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    • Hello! Sorry for the late reply, been offline for a while. I was at Cluny Lodge which is at the top of the hill and away from the town area. It was a really nice place although I believe it should be quite old by now though..haha…

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