Tea and Trekking in the Highlands

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In need of a break from the heat, Brookes and I headed up to the Cameron Highlands for a few days of cooler weather and a change in scenery. The highlands are knows for their tea plantations and offering great treks. I signed up for a combo of both..Brookes wasn't quite up for such strenuous activity though so I was on my own, until i met the other members of my group the next morning...this was bound to be an adventure.

In my group there was a young english couple, a german girl, myself, and a group of 3 friends one malaysian, one austrailian, and one vietnamese. the 3 guys were on a half day so we had to re-arrange the normal itinerary, no nig deal at the time. We set out in the bus (7 of us in a huge bus!) because there was emissions testing on the roads that day and our old land rover was hiding in a parking lot down the way for us to change into after the bus passed the test, ha. So we piled into this old land rover and off we went for a little drive to the trailhead. Our guide actually tried to drive into the trailhead but decided against it when he saw how heavy the truck was and how wet the mud was from the rain the day before. So we set off on foot with a local guide we had picked up along the way. The driver, our english speaking guide, did not accompany us on the treck, just a non-english speaking guide! Good thing we had a malaysian in our company or our questions would have gone unanswered. So the purpose of the trek was the see the Rafflesia flower. One of the niggest flowers in the world it lives in the jungle and lives only for 9 days then it starts to stink like dead meat to attract flies who mate on it. Then it closes up like a cabage and withers away only so a couple new ones can bloom nearby. It has a rubbery texture and the one we climbed up hill for an hour for did not stink quite yet, although the flies were buzzing around, it only had 2 days left! Back down we went in the sweltering heat, so much for a cooler climate! We met the landrover and went to a little settlement where our local guide taught us how to shoot a blowpipe. It is a long bamboo pipe with a hole down the centre big enough for a long toothpick type stick coated with deadly poison. He told us it would kill a person in 10minutes! We took turns taking shots at a cardboard box that was placed on the hood of the truck. I hit it, but I looked funny doing it! Next we drove along the winding roads to another trailhead where we treked a kilometre to a waterfall. Well in need of a swim we all plunged into the cold cold water--ah refreshing! After our swim and rest we hiked through an aboriginal village where I saw pinable plants for the first time! Did you know the pinapples grow upside down? Back in the truck we stopped for a late lunch and a tour of the tea plantation grounds. The tea here is fabulous and I indulged both mornings for breakfast.

Back at the hostel Brookes and I met up with 2 English guys who taught us a fabulous card game which we played late into the night!

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Comments

[Mom]

Love the treks
Hi Bec! Amazing nature - hope you took some pics of that flower, I'm curious... do the people use it for anything? Can you pick it for a bouquet...fertilizer!...prize for a card game... So, is your new weapon of choice the blowdart? All that spitball practice in Mr. Delve's class has paid off? The tea sounds like a nice treat... much different from the tea here? Great to hear of your adventures!