Cameron Highlands

January 11, 2024

On Thursday, we had breakfast at our Kuala Lumpur hotel located in the KLCC district, and then took a short walk outside of our hotel to try to get a better view of the Petronas Towers. Once we got there, the sun was at a bad angle and the front patio was closed for an event. We returned to the hotel and met our driver who would take us to our next destination, Cameron Highlands.

It was a three hour drive, leaving the big city and initially driving through relatively flat areas with lots of palm tree farms. Then we took a narrow and very windy road up into the mountains, passing many stands selling fruits and vegetables, the most common of which was durian. As we climbed higher into Cameron Highlands, we entered a beautiful, dense rain forest. We soon saw a large tea plantation, just before the town of Tanah Rata. Our hotel was just a bit farther along the highway.

We checked in and had lunch in the Jim Thompson Tea Room in our colonial era hotel. After unpacking and relaxing for a bit, we hired a taxi to take us to the next town, Brinchang. There we visited a flower garden on a steep hill, accessed by a four wheel drive pick-up truck.

On the drive between our hotel and Brinchang, we were surprised that most of the strawberry and other farms grew their produce in pots and not directly in the ground. After visiting the garden, we returned to our hotel for a nice dinner.

January 12, 2014

On Friday, after a light breakfast at the hotel, we were driven in a van through the town of Brinchang, into the tea plantations. We drove up a big hill on a dirt road and parked at an overlook where the hotel had set up an area for a picnic. Before dining, we strolled up the hillside to a nice vantage point where we could view several surrounding tea farms. We saw plantation workers and were surprised that they were using hand held machinery to harvest the tea leaves. We were told that after being harvested, replacement tea leaves grow back in about two months.

This photo shows a bit of the path on which we walked.

We then returned to the picnic area and enjoyed a brunch picnic including a salad made from local ice plant lettuce as well as local tea, strawberries and finger sandwiches. After finishing our picnic brunch, we drove back down the hill to the BOH Tea Center, where we saw some exhibits and a tea store among more tea plants.

The picnic area and views from around there.

View at the Tea Center above, and close-

up of tea plants, below.

We were then driven back to the hotel where we relaxed on our balcony for a time before we took a guided tour around the area (about 1.75 miles in about an hour and a half). We were given interesting information about the disappearance of Jim Thompson whose photo was displayed throughout our hotel (and whose Bangkok home we visited in 2004) as well as local buildings and plants. We saw one native tree that produced a kind of cherry, and to our surprise the blossoms were pollinated by ants and not bees.

After the tour, we relaxed a bit and took a ten minute walk to the local night market. It was in full swing by 5:45 p.m., with a few clothes stands, but was ninety percent food products—some to eat there and some to take home. Corn was a surprisingly very popular item, being cooked several ways, some on the cob and one on a flat grill with cheese. The night market was very crowded and the sun was still up.