Time for tea

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Avid readers of this blog might have realised by now that I quite like a cup of tea. So when the opportunity to visit a tea plantation presented itself, I would quite literally get an overnight bus then sit for 7 hours in a bus station starting from 3am to get there. Fun times folks, real fun times. The things I do for a brew.

Suffice to say, I was pretty shattered when I got to Tanah Rata, the main tourist town in the Cameron Highlands, and spent the remainder of the day napping. I awoke just long enough to have a bit of a natter with a few of my fellow inmates at the hostel I'd chosen, and found some folks that also wanted to bit of a hike to a tea plantation the next day. Sorted.

And so the big day arrived. I awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed, and waited impatiently while my fellow walker (I think my overexcitement put off the others) finished their breakfast, and then we were off! It was quite a cool walk through the jungle, then we rounded a corner, and the fields of tea revealed themselves. Mile upon mile of glorious glorious tea, We wandered through these for a while until we arrived at the Boh tea estate, where I had a coffee. Hah! You didnt believe that for a second did you? Tea and scones all the way here, and I've got to say, Boh is a decent cuppa. No Yorkshire Tea though mind. The scones however, came without clotted cream, which left a very sour taste in my mouth. What is a scone without cream? Pah!

The next day, I tagged along with a Dutch guy who was climbing the biggest hill in the area. It was a really cool jungle hike, with plenty of scrabbling around climbing up vines and somehow avoiding muddy bogs. Just how I like it. Unfortunately, it was bloody misty, so when we reached the summit the view was little more than a bit of mist. Every cloud has a silver lining however, as the walk back took us through another of the region's tea plantations. It would have been churlish to pass by without popping in for a cuppa, I even treated myself to a pot of loose leaf tea. Yummy. A nasty rainstorm threatened to ruin the rest of the day, but a cheeky bit of hitchhiking saw us back in Tanah Rata safe and try... and dare I say it, in time for tea.

Caffeined up to the eyeballs, it was time to continue. Next stop Penang.

Stewart

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