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Published: January 23rd 2016
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Saturday 23 January
After a long night with the Chinese Funeral music going on into the early hours, we awoke bruised and limping, so our already limited options for trekking were now a complete no go. So, struggled up showered dressed and went out to see what the day would present. Light breakfast nearby the Hotel, decided to get a Taxi to Tanah Rata, which we had been told were frequent. Half an hour later, still waiting, a Taxi Driver we had talked to on Friday recognised us and although not working, stopped for us and took us to Tanah Rata. En route, he gave us information on the Trekking routes and local gossip as to the fate of Jim Thompson, the Silk King who mysteriously vanished here whilst trekking in the 1980's ? Many interesting theories about this. He was accredited with the revitalisation of the, then dead Thai silk industry, as he provided all of the silken cloth required to produce costumes for the entire cast of the first Stage and Film production of 'The King and I'. Our driver, whose name was Velu, a Hinduh, born here, had excellent English, and educated at the Local British School,
run by Irish Catholic Nuns. His story was nostalgic, but sad, as the current ruling party are really pushing Islamisation of the region with positive discrimination and are even trying to remove the crosses and symbols from the original school emblem, which given Malaysia's ethnic diversity must be a worry to all non ethnic Malays. We thought this well educated Driver, who took the OxBridge entry exams and passed, but couldn't go for financial reasons, would be our ideal guide for the limited options we had for visiting the region. We enjoyed speaking with him, and asked if he would be free to take us out to the most famous of the Tea Plantations, BOH. As we were incapable of trekking, we thought the next best option was to enjoy our only full day in this region, sampling and learning about tea production. Well, visually we weren't disappointed the area is Mountainous, lush,tranquil and very green and the plantations, their processing plants and worker's villages really compliment the area. we were told Malaysian Tea is mostly for domestic use, rather than for export,and sampled some very good Black Teas, deciding, upon sampling, that we would buy two canisters of Cameronian
Gold Blend Leaf Tea. Interestingly, the majority of Workers on this Plantation were either Sri Lankan or Indonesian, not Malay. Our driver showed us both Tea bushes and large Tea Trees, yes, left to themselves, they grow to quite a size, and the flowers on the mature tree are quite pretty. We were also shown some Coffee bushes planted there as an experiment, but apparently, Coffee doesn't suite the climate. Incidentally they boast that despite the American push to coffee, Tea is second only to water as the most popular drink on the planet. Velo returned us to the township of Tanah Ratu and left us with recommendations for a cold beer and tasty Indian curry, of which we partook from the Cameron (aa) Curry House. Three hours and RMY 188 later (£30) we were well fed and watered and taxied home to Brinchang, and bed.
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