tues day 39

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Had an early start today with alarm going off at 07.30 - not sure how easy its going to be returning to work with 04.30 starts!
Anyway, got picked up at 08.45 by a friendly tour guide in an old faithfull land rover that was gonna be our transport for the day. One man from Rotterdam, Yoko from Japan and a couple from India joined me - and off we went. The first stop was to a tea plantation, to have a short talk and take some pictures. The plantation was vast with pictures not really doing it justice, with the tea trees flourishing in the most acute of angles - down valleys and up and over ridges. It really was fascinating to see. Next stop was up to the highest peak in the highlands - the land rover doing all the leg work. On the top is a tower (as if its not high enough!) so, with my fear of airy heights I made it to the top of the tower - snapped a few pics - and straight back down again with my feet hardly touching the ground! Next we were off to see the mossy forest - a small area with, well,lots of moss - able to grow as its so much cooler at height. 3 different types of orchid and some interesting flowers later and we were back to the tea plantation, this time for a tour of the factory and to sample the drink itself! After purchasing some tea bags and trying it ( it was very nice) with a piece of cake - what else!? And chatting with Yoko we were off to a butterfly and insect sanctuary. After getting the wobbles about being close to spiders, snakes, scorpions as well as many others we then had beautiful butterfly's fluttering about us - not being shy about having their photos taken.
The next visit was to a strawberry farm, like the plantation it was vast - the strawberry milkshake was recommended - and like the tea it was very nice. The 8th visit was to a market selling local produce, so after buying some snacks - strawberries - we were then off to a museum to learn about the Cameron highlands - full of interesting information - but brains feeling slightly frazzled by the long, hot day and possibly not taking it all in, we were then driven to our last stop. This was to the oldest Buddhist temple in the highlands - full of gold Buddha's, but not seeming hugely different from all the other Buddhist temples in south east Asia - very nice all the same.
It had been a great day, meeting Yoko and swapping names to be friends on facebook and seeing all the attractions with possibly the tea plantation being my favourite. As drinking so much tea at home and seeing how its actually made was really interesting. Back at the hotel had a chilled evening.

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