Walking on Fire in Tanah Rata.

The Cameron Highlands is usually introduced as the softer side of Malaysia.

People come for the tea plantations, the strawberry farms, the cooler air, the mossy forest, and the feeling of being somewhere completely different from the heat of the lowlands. Tanah Rata, where I stayed, has that familiar hill-station atmosphere: practical, misty, slightly old-fashioned, and built around travellers passing through for hikes, tea, and a break from humidity.

But for few nights, during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Tanah Rata became something else entirely.