Tea Plantations

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I cannot really think of a worse journey to do with a hangover (other than maybe the road from the border of Cambodia to Siem Reap discussed earlier) than the journey to the Cameron Highlands. Being located in the mountains meant the roads meandered and my head was repeatedly banged against the window of the bus for a good 3 hours. Still, upon arriving, the lush rolling hills and cool air were a nice contrast to the past few weeks, and the accommodation at 'Fathers Guest house' was nice, clean and wildlife free, very welcomed.

Having booked ourselves on the half day tour with what seemed like everybody else at the guest house we set off for the tea plantations. We had a great tour guide who took us on a trek through the jungle and taught us some pretty interesting things, however, for me this bought back memories of school trips, since Ben and I at the back, spent most of the time figuring out how to get the most ridiculous and childish photos we could in this beautiful setting. Following this we stopped off at the tea factory before heading back to the guest house via the strawberry farm.

It turned out that if we were going to get to Ao Nang in time to meet the others we'd need to leave that night, so off we went....to Thailand.

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Photos

Cameron Highlands
Quite a contrast from the beaches of the past couple of weeks.

T- Unit!!
Rolling mountains covered in tea.......with three morons ruing the foreground.
By now you may of also noted my new replacement hat.....ridiculous isn't it.

Ben Posing
The first in a series of ridiculous poses as we begin our nature trail.

Plant
Now this plant may resemble a used condom hanging from a tree, but it's actually an amazing plant....so amazing in fact, that I've forgotten the name.
Anyway, they can grow up to a foot in length and they store water in them, bugs and animals crawl in, drown and are then broken down by an enzyme in the water, providing sustenence for the plant. It's considered a carnivorous plant because they have found rats and snakes dead in some of the larger ones. They are also a fundamental part of the food chain since birds often rely on them for sustenence by pecking a small hole in the base and draining the liquid. See, learning can be fun ;)

Tour Guide
Our indian tour guide was really good and knew his stuff. We learnt that bamboo grows 1m in a day and was used as a form of torture during the way by planting it under victums. We also learn't how to avoid plants that are poisonous, which plants can stop bleeding, plants that repel mosquitoes and some other stuff i've forgotten.
Anyway, they can grow up to a foot in length and they store water in them, bugs and animals crawl in, drown and are then broken down by an enzyme in the water, providing sustenence for the plant. It\'s considered a carnivorous plant because they have found rats and snakes dead in some of the larger ones. They are also a fundamental part of the food chain since birds often rely on them for sustenence by pecking a small hole in the base and draining the liquid. See, learning can be fun ;)

Tea Factory
We got to see how the tea was processed....

Tea Factory 2
....sampling the finished product.