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Thursday, May 14th

It had rained the entire night and we were resigned to spend the day in bed instead of hiking. Lucky for us the rain subsided and after breakfast we took a taxi north to the Sungai Palas BOH Tea Estate. The plan was to hike through the estate moving up, and over, Gunung Brinchang, a hill above the estate, and then all the way back to Tanah Rata. The drive up the winding main road took a long long time and we got a little worried. We might have been a bit optimistic in our planning. It felt very far.

The taxi dropped us at an intersecting road in the middle of the estate. One road lead up to Gunung Brinchang, while the other lead down to the tea centre & factory. A security guard called us over and suggested that we go down to the tea centre and strongly urged us not go up to Gunung Brinchang. He said it was too far to walk (9km to the summit) and the trail down the other side was too rough. He was very insistent so we walked down to the tea centre. It was quite a hike down-hill and Ferdi took tons of pictures in a desperate attempt to capture the amazing beauty of the tea plantations. No photo could capture these gorgeous rolling hills, covered in row upon row of brilliant green tea plants, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
At the tea centre we enjoyed a cup of tea, sitting on a deck jutting over the tea plantation. What a beautiful setting for a “spot of tea” on a misty mountain morning.

We decided to hike up to Gunung Brinchang regardless of the guards warnings (since we see this as training for Mt Kinabalu). We retraced our steps back to our starting point and beyond. The hike was intoxicating. Every few meters we had to stop to take pictures. Everywhere we looked there was the opportunity for a beautiful photograph. In this stop-start manner we made our way slowly up. At one point a small car passed us and accidentally drove into a drainage culvert next to the road while trying to find a place to turn around. The car ended up resting on the front part of its chassis, its left front wheel hanging in the air. Just as we got there a flustered Asian man helped his pregnant wife and little boy from the car. We assessed the situation, saw that it could easily be remedied, then told the man what to do. He got in, turned the wheels in the direction we indicated, engaged reverse, and with a push from Ferdi he was back on the road in a jiffy. They offered us a lift but we declined and continued hiking up the hill.

Soon we were out of the tea estate and as we got higher the cool mist closed in all around us. We walked and we walked and about two kilometers from the summit passed a guy who had come up the other side, bringing reports of “swampy and difficult” conditions. We were actually encouraged. If people could make it up that route, surely we could make it down.

Just before lunchtime we reached the summit, huge telecom towers disappearing into the low clouds above us. On a cloudless day the view from up here is said to be amazing, but today there was only whiteness in all directions.

After a break for a snack we continued down the trail. Soon we were scrambling on all fours, trouser-legs rolled up, cameras packed away, trying to navigate the very “swampy and difficult” trail. We made painfully slow progress. Each hand and foothold needed to be tested before we could commit our weight to it, slippery roots and vines just waiting to send you face- or butt- first into the muck. It was great fun though! Every now and then we had to take a breather and just look around. It’s gorgeous in the jungle, especially with the mist everywhere, but when you concentrate on each footstep you miss a lot. During the first hour we had only covered a kilometer, but as we went on the trail got a little easier and our tempo improved.

Finally we were out of the jungle on a secondary road leading to Brinchang, a town a few kilometers north of Tanah Rata. Our feet soon got tired walking on the asphalt and we stopped to wait for a bus or taxi. After sitting for ten minutes with no luck, we decided to keep walking and before we knew it we were near the place we ended up after yesterday’s hike. We decided to walk the same route home as yesterday, so we headed of the road and into the jungle once more.

By the time we got back to Tanah Rata it was nearing 4pm, we smelled terrible and were starving (we only had a few nuts for lunch remember). We stopped for some delicious Indian food, and then went for a well deserved shower.

We got new books to read and spent the rest of the afternoon reading. We were still stuffed from our late lunch so we just had tea and dessert (Banana & honey- and Strawberry & honey roti canai) at the Indian restaurant. Mmmm…

Today's highlights:
1. Walking through the tea plantations
2. Scrambling through the mushy rainforest
3. Arrived hungry and devoured Naan & curry.
4. Dinner, a sweet dessert affair.

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