Taking tea in the highlands of Cameron

The day after we stayed up late playing ring of fire with the other guests was a day of rest and recuperation, by the time we surfaced half of the others had already made tracks and left, we know this because we heard them clearly packing up and leaving, through the paper thin walls. Heavy clouds were already hovering above and by the time we had wound a few coffee’s into us the heavens opened. So regardless of if we wanted to or not we were stuck up at our guesthouse for most of the day, we made the best of it though and slobbed out until the evening when a short break in the rain allowed us to make a dash into town for more amazing grub.

I’m still having trouble dropping off at nights and a heavy lie in really didn’t help matters, a midnight feast on some freshly made banana balls and curry puffs however did help… A lot!

This morning came round a bit soon for my liking. We had an alarm set so we were in good standing to finally go and see a tea plantation… Weather permitting of course, but when I dragged myself out of the pit and up to reception to sort out some coffee’s the weather was not looking too sharp. Grey clouds were scratching their full bellies on the tops of the nearby hills and there was an almost cold feel to the air… The coffee was promptly followed by a gentle rain shower.

By the time the coffee’s were gone luckily so was the rain and the blue sky started to peek through, quickly before the weather had a chance to change we set off into town to find some transport to the Sungei Palas Boh tea plantation about 6km out of town.

We knew a bus ran quite frequently up to the plantation entrance but we also knew that from there it was a fair walk and seeing as we had both woken up feeling a little queazy, the walk seemed far too much like hard work. As we strolled down the main street we checked all the travel agents but none offered a bus right to it so we settled on a taxi, glad of it we were to. Our driver was a small Indian chap, probably close to 60 with leathered skin, a really gravely whisper for a voice and a pukka Kangol flat cap. As we chugged around the narrow winding roads he interspersed the stunning views with interesting facts as best he could.

The first thing we did on arrival at the plantation was head for the open sided tea room, we had tea and scones while sitting out on the terrace and tried to take in the sprawling green hills, but the view was so big that it couldn’t be done with a mere look it had to be enjoyed slowly just like the cup of gold blend steaming away in front of us.

Next door they have a small factory which processes the tea and gets it ready for drinking, it’s all very industrial and the heat and smells pumping over the glass were enough to make an Englishman go mad with desire.

We headed back to our taxi (or teksi as they’re called here) only to find our driver hunched over sound asleep at the wheel, all that tea had brought out the Britishness in us and as is the British way we didn’t want to disturb him so we went for a short wander down the hill through the tea bushes. When we got back he was still fast asleep, but we were ready to go back so we gave him a little knock on the window and he woke with a start! He seemed a little disorientated but a shake of the head helped and away we went.

While in town we had a little look see at bus times and prices because tomorrow we leave the lush cool hills of the Cameron highlands for the hopefully warmer/dryer beaches of the Perhentian islands…

The rest of the day has been very wet with an almighty thunderstorm rolling in, it scared the b’jesus out of the tiny dog that lives at our guest house to the point where it was actually vibrating, not just shaking but a constant almost humming vibration of fear…

Some lovely hot showers and yet another curry sees us done for the day and out of the rain relaxing at our guest house before we have to pack our bags once again.

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