Cameron Highlands

We certainly packed lots of sights and experiences today and learned much about Malay life, attitudes, history and culture.  Our excellent guide and driver, Anwar, arrived promptly at 7.30 and we set off up the main highway north out of KL.  An excellent road so we made good time and turned off after about 1 1/4 hours to climb up to 1500m above sea level.

This road is incredibly windy and progress slowed down considerably giving us lots of chances to look at the miles of rain forest and the ranges of mountains stretching away.  We stopped to look at a waterfall before taking tea at a teahouse on a plantation- our first sight of teabushes and the amazing landscape they make, miles of short bushes snaking over the steep hillsides.

We dropped in on a rose "garden"- hundreds of flowers all grown in tiny beds packed into a small area of hillside.  This method of cultivation was also used at  butterfly  and strawberry "farms";ia very intensive use of land.  The flowers are exported to Hong Kong, Australia and even UK-there were lots that I had never seen before and all looked healthy.

Stingray fish plant



Green rose







 leaf insect



We toured one of the earliest tea gardens, established by the  son of an English civil servant -acres and acres of bushes carved out of the rainforest by manual labour.  The factory in use is the original one.  It only takes 2 days from bush to drinkable.  We bought some of the tea we liked most and then found it was the 1 left in our hotel room supplies!


Then it was lunch which we chose to eat like the locals with our hands (it wasn't rice!) and the long drive back. A street market was fascinating with fruit and vegetables unknown to us.  Everyone we came across was exceptionally friendly and this despite tipping being uncommon here.

The only low point was the traffic in KL on our return.  It took over an hour to reach our hotel from the outskirts.

Anwar and Bob bonding over-tea





BOH tea garden workers' village