Cooked Breakfast pancakes and banana for me. Scramble egg, toast and sausage for Frank. Both with proper mugs of tea. Get in!

We booked a full day tour the night before and our guide for the day was Won, he picked us up first. Then Steph (from Manchester) and then Matt and Suzi (Germany). Our first stop was out to the tea plantations. Tea BOH, short for 'Beauty Of Highland', own the tea plantations in the highlands. Won explained which parts of the leaf are used in different types of tea. And how a worker could cut 400kg by hand or 600kg by machine. 1kg of tea leaves equals 27cents. That's a lot of work. Most workers come from Bangledesh or Northern India (3weeks one time)? and the government pays for the workers homes and electricity bills. If they don't work they don't get paid. And it would be a slim living indeed.

Next up to the Mossy forest, 6,667ft above sea level/high. It's so high that there are no mosquitos. Or lions, tigers and bears - oh my! (Sorry, got that in my head). Just monkeys and birds up that high. And superb heavenly views.

Down the bumpy, precarious narrow road, we pulled over and Won showed us the Tigerbalm plant used in the rub. It's a dark plant and it smelt the very same.

Whizzing down the, well, unmade road we stopped at the BOH tea factory/shop/cafe. Where we were able to meander through the small factory watching the work in progress on the other side of a giant perspex screen. Into the shop, we bought a small 10 tea bag packet for a treat and then a MUG of tea (whahoo!) in the cafe. Sweet.

Next, to the Butterfly farm. A small stepped garden with a menagarer of insects of all kinds (and some small mammals too). Frank had a stick insect put on him whilst I snapped away on our camera. Very funny to watch, especially as it began to prod his nose.

Onwards to the Strawberry farm and a treat of strawberry ice cream was for me. Yum yum yum.

A quick lunch stop of Vegetarian Nasi Goreng for both Frank and I, Steph also joined us.

Next on our tourist hit list was a Time Tunnel, i.e a building dedicated to the history of the area and its fame including the mystery of Jim Thompson and the history during the Japanese invasion during WW2, along with trinkets from daily life in Malaysia. A rather interesting stop indeed.

Not so intresting was Cactus point. Which is essentially a small garden centre, full of - you guessed it, Catcti. Only you couldn't buy any !?! More bemusing, we were given 45 minutes to look around! We got ice lollies instead. Then to the Sam Poh Temple, up a quiet serene hill overlooking the next small town already in mid development. Last stop was to be dropped off for a short trek to the Parit waterfall. Rather slippery here and there, once we arrived at the waterfall, meeting Won, we were all deflated to find that the waterfall didn't quite match up to the picture. Particularly due to the abundant amount of rubbish filling the lower pool. Oh well, back early enough for a quick walk around town and some more photos.

Back to The Twinn Pines Hotel booked tickets for Penang and sent postcards. Another walk round town, got a coffee and saw the French couples from the bus, we spoke for a few minutes then parted. We also saw the Muslim couple that were on the bus the day before. We told them what the Chinese driver did when we arrived, as they both managed to get on his bus.

Back to the hotel, showered. We ate 2 dinners - not intentionally. Looking forward to the only reasonably price beef burger we found what we ordered was more of a sample of a burger with a rumour of fries. Looked for something else and ended up back at the curry place. Met Matle and Ledia again for a brief chat before we headed home.

Weds 27th
Breakfast and tea - same as the morning before. Twin Pines is small old place, it's a couple of ground floor buildings that reminded a lot of the old school huts at my primary school. The same musty, almost damp smell, the plastic/ lino table cloths, I'd say even the rain conjured up old break time memories of having to stay inside rather then getting drenched. All those childhood memories seeped back to me. So, although this budget accommodation wouldn't suit all types, I became quiet fond of the place. Joe also helped aid this soft spot as he was a very informative and easy going old chap, who softly spoken put you at ease. He talked us through our onward journey to Penang (and even the one after to Thailand) - once off of the bus we change at Butterworth (isn't that a lovely sounding name?) to get the ferry for Penang.
Just before we left we found out the Emy and Athira had welcomed their baby girl, Nur Arisya Rose, into the world. Wonderful news.
On the bus were Steph, Matt and Suzi from yesterday and some other faces we had recognised around town.
While sitting on the bus I noticed there are a lot more dogs roaming around, with collars on, and not as many cats as there had been in other places across Malaysia.
On the journey coming down the highlands we saw more traditional looking Malay houses, on stilts, nestled in amongst the hills and trees. In the lower lands, when we stopped for a toilet break the temperature was way up in the high 20's/early 30's again. Phew.