Thursday 9th August

An early wake up and a hike to the bus station where we were on time yet the bus was late. We both fell asleep on route to the Cameron Highlands. I read that the buses in Malaysia like the AC on cold, cold doesn't describe it. I felt like I had been locked in a freezer! Luckily I had my jumper and wrapped myself up! It felt odd wearing a jumper when it was 30 degrees outside!

We made good time to the Highlands stopping once for a toilet break and enjoying the scenery when we got closer. The road to Tanah Rata (the main stop off point for the Highlands) we saw many farms and tea plantations which are all on the hills. I also saw a hell of a lot of pick your own strawberry signs! I must do this!

We arrived in Tanah Rata and had no booking since we weren't sure where we the bus would stop. Luckily it is a tiny town that has plenty of hotels and guesthouses. We tried a couple which did not meet the inspection or were full up. We ended up in a quite nice guesthouse, a bit expensive but it was suited for our needs.

The noticeable thing here is the temperature, we knew it was going to be a cooler but didn't expect it this cool! I actually put on a jumper and trousers today! We went out to venture for some food were we found an Indian restaurant and got a platter plate and some naans! It was very tasty! We ordered too many naans so we got a 'doggie' bag and took it home.

We had a look around the town which was small and busy with a lot of through traffic and tour vans going through.

We booked our bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur as we need to be on time since we have booked our flight, another early morning bus ride for us! We also went to the tour office and book a half day tour to visit the tea plantation and mossy forest.

We returned to the hostel were we fell asleep for a few hours! We awoke to the sounds of our bellies and went out for dinner. We found another Indian restaurant where the power seemed to be out.

We read our menus and ate in candle light until the power returned. The food was good; Stu had a banana leaf banquet of different food, rice and naans! Everything tasted good. The was an American next to us complaining about that the chicken wasn't boneless like the menu stated and refused to eat it. I felt like throwing it in his face and tell him to man up!

We returned to the guesthouse via the bar to watch some Olympics and got talking to an older couple from the UK on holiday.

We decided we should go to bed around 11pm since we had an early wake up (again!).

Friday 10th August

We woke up and ate our breakfast of naans before heading to the tour office to get picked up. We had a white jeep and six other passengers joined us. We headed up to the mountain and stopped off at the tea fields. Our guide talked how tea is grown and picked, it was all very interesting since I had no idea how tea is made full stop! The hillside was covered in tea trees all at hip heights. The trees can grow to 16 meters tall, but they keep them short as the best leaves are the fresh shoots and if the trees are too tall they can't pick them! They used to have a lot of Indian workers here as it was cheap and they had the experience from the tea plantations back in India. But now as they younger generations now move to the city for work they use machinery to cut the leaves. The tea grows better at 1,500 meters above sea level which makes it perfect here. The tea is not exported here like India as the Malays like the tea just as must as the English do.

We went on up the mountain, the tallest point in the Highlands at 2,031 meters, to the view point which gave some impressive views from the top across the mountain valley. We spent a bit of time take pictures and enjoying the view before heading down a bit further.

Our guide stopped the car and we had a little walk down the road where he explained and showed us some of the local plants which were beautiful! We then walked a little off road into the mossy forest which survives due to the clouds always pass over the forest keeping it moist enough for the moss to grow, which grows on everything! It was all over the trees, rocks and floor! It was a weird site to see but very cool! We also saw some wild orchid in the forest which is rare as locals pick them and sell them on.

After leaving the forest we went on to the tea factory and our guide explained how tea is made into tea! Unfortunately the factory was closed so we had to use our imagination on how it worked!

After the tea leaves are picked they dried upstairs in the factory and then are rolled using rollers which twist and break the withered leaves, distorting and rupturing its internal cells exposing them for fermentation. The enzymes in the leaves are exposed to oxygen and they turn from green in colour to a coppery colour. This stage usually takes 1.5 - 2 hours, during which the characteristic flavour and aroma are developed. The process has to be carefully controlled for optimum results. The fermented leaves are fed into machines through which hot air is passed at temperatures nearing 100 degrees Celsius. This halts the fermentation action, reduces the moisture content to less than 3% and crystallizes the juices, thus converting the leaves into its familiar crisp black form. The drying process is completed in approximately 20 minutes. After drying, the made tea is graded according to particle size by passing it through a series of vibrating sieves. Stalks and fibres are also extracted. Each grade of tea has its own density and flavour characteristics. The tea is then carted off to Kuala Lumpur to get packed into tea bags and packed for sale!

We went to the tea house and enjoyed a cup of tea, which was very tasty! I also had a strawberry tart and Stu had a sardine puff, which looked disgusting!

We had one more stop at the butterfly farm, which only cost 5 ringgit, so we thought why not! It was a hell of a lot better than the one in Chiang Mai with only one butterfly! They had hundreds here and they were huge! Their wings were longer than my hands!

We went back to our car and headed home, we decided to stop off at the town before Tanah Rata, Brinchang, to try the Chinese food as there was a large Chinese population here. I had lemon chicken and was mega tasty! We then made the short walk to the Big Red Strawberry Farm, where I enjoyed a tasty bowl of fresh strawberries with a giant pile of squirty cream! It was so good! Stu had the last strawberry cheesecake going which he was pleased about!

After stuffing my face with strawberries we started our walk home. It was a long walk which when the sun was out got quite hot with us wearing trousers! We made it back to Tanah Rata in 40 minutes and went back to the guesthouse.

We bumped into Matt who we met in Langkawi and we had a few beers before going out and grabbing some food with him and his Malay friend, who I can't remember her name! We had some more Indian food and visited the bar again.

We decided to go back as we had to get up early, but not too early to get our bus!