Tea Plantations and Fresh Strawberries

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This might be my favourite place thus far. I'm only upset by the fact that all I have are my Crocs as they are insufficient for hiking through the numerous trails available. Some of which are supposed to lead to beautiful waterfalls and hot springs. Some girl I met in Singapore said that if I decided to go to Cameron Highlands to stay at Father's Guesthouse. Her recommendation was excellent. This place is so homey. The dorms are made of the semicircle greenhouses buildings that are easy to set up. The hosts are super nice and accommodating. The views are amazing. Unfortunately, it is the beginning of a holiday for Malaysia (summer for school perhaps) so there is an abnormal amount of commotion in the little town. Still, it's NOTHING compared to hectic streets of KL.

I took the local bus up to the base of the tea plantation with this fellow I met here. He's from England and here doing his masters. Collecting insects and identifying them and sorts. It's funny because we walk along a bit and then his 'bug' eye catches a little catepillar here or there. We first went to a bee farm and I watched a swarm of bees collectively warn a wasp to stay away from their nest. It was really cool to see. They were practically swaying the wasp (or hornet..?) just hovered. The entomologist was explaining how the wasp was probably scoping out the joint and would soon report back to home base; where they would then come out as an army and decimate the little bee home. That was some cool commentary I must say. Then it was a 2km hike to the tea plantation where we saw how it was processed. After the tea plantation, we went to the butterfly farm which also had a small collection of GIGANTIC beetles, a bunch of scorpions in an OPEN cage and snakes. The butterflies were quite pretty as well. Lastly, we went to the strawberry farm where I got some vanilla ice cream (only flavour available) with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. VERY yummy. I opted to not pick my own strawberries as it was relatively expensive and I'd have to get a minimum amount.

Well, it's raining now making the air even more cool. I use TWO thick blankets to sleep here. Some of the girls are using three. Anyone who has just recently travelled SE Asia is not used to this sudden drop in temperature and humidity! I really love this place. It's amazing.

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