Tea and Trees

This morning I got up at half 7 to go on a half day tour. 6 of us were picked up at 8:15am from our hostel. Two of them were at the bar last night so they were familiar friendly faces. The other 3 were 3 really nice guys who are studying medicine at Dundee University. It was raining, but thankfully I had been aware of this and had my raincoat on. We were picked up in a land rover by our guide Appu who was really nice.

We drove towards the mossy forest, stopping for photo opportunities on the way, at which point Appu turned into a photographer directing a photo shoot. As we drove Appu told us some stuff about the Cameron Highlands, like how 40% of the tropical forests will probably be gone in 5 years. Apparently there's a lot of development going on.

The mossy forest was our first proper stop. Appu claimed it is the oldest forest in the world, older than the amazon. Apparently most of the trees have medicinal properties and there are 80 species of wild orchid, including the rare white orchid in it. It sits at 1800m above sea level and there no mosquitoes and no leeches, unlike other forests in the area. And of course, as the name suggests, all the trees are covered in a thick moss. We walked through a small section of the forest on a wooden platform, zigzagging over state lines. We were the first people to arrive and it's good we arrived when we did, as there were many many cars there when we left. 

Next we drove down towards the tea plantation cafe and factory. We stopped at the side of the road for a beautiful view over the fields where the tea was growing where we had another mini photo shoot. Appu told us all about the tea and how it's made, the process it goes through. 

Apparently it takes 6 months and only one type of tea plant makes black, white and Chinese tea; it just depends on the oxidisation process. It apparently takes 6 months for the tea to be ready, and this tea is better than others as it's grown at a higher altitude. It's picked these days using a machine, as the new generation of Malaysian workers refused to work for the tiny wage being offered and immigrant workers were too slow. We saw some people using the machine, kind of like a hedge trimmer, on the way to the cafe.

The tea cafe was part of the Boh Tea company. You could order different types of tea; I didn't have one but the other guys did. We had a very quick walk round their deserted factory as well. Not sure if it was  one they still use, as there were no workers but plenty of machines.

Our final stop on the tour was a strawberry farm. Here you could do pick your own strawberries. We didn't but we had a look at where they were growing and got some strawberry milkshakes. They tasted kind of like petit fílous yogurts. I didn't drink all mine and gave it to one of the Scottish dudes who loved his.

Our tour guide then dropped us off in a town where we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant before heading for a hiking trail back to the hostel. It was an optional hike but everyone took part anyway. We hiked for around 2 hours and 30 minutes through the forest, climbing over and under and round tree roots, until we got back to the road. I was surprised I didn't slip over or hurt myself at any point. It was quite hard on the uphill parts but the rest was good, although the views were limited; all we could see were trees.

We made it back to the hostel around 5 and I got straight in the shower as it had been hot hiking through the forest. I got dressed and then one of the girls from the bar last night came and asked if I wanted to go with them for dinner. About 13 of us went to an Indian restaurant for dinner where I had a buffet meal, before we returned to the hostel to get ready to go to the bar.

A group of us went around half 8, where we met the boys from the tour in the morning, and we were later joined by more. We stayed until midnight before heading back to the hostel and retiring to bed.

Quite a few of the people I've been hanging out with the last few days are leaving tomorrow which is a shame. Maybe I'll catch up with them in Penang.