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Workers on the tea plantationWhen writing our last blog we have left KL and started backpacking. The backpacking has changed a lot since the last time I was in Asia (about 6 years ago). Nowadays every hostel has a wi-fi and almost every backpacker has a smartphone or/and a laptop with them (us included). Its a funny sight, walking in to the dorm room and seeing everybody on their smartphones, people texting and using apps to call home for free. In a way it defeats the point of traveling as you spend so much time tapping on your keyboard, when we should all be meeting new people. Which is what it is all about.
I am trying to behave, trying. But I use writing of this blog as an excuse to fire my netbook up.
We still met a lot of people in the last couple of days. Mainly from Germany and France. And of course we already met the first Slovenians. We really are everywhere.
But once you start chatting to other travelers the routine is still the same. The questions like where are you from; how long are you travelling for; where have you already been are asked straight away. But it
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Workers housing is not uncommon to talk to somebody for hours or even for days before getting to the most basic question: what is your name? Oh well, just the way it goes. Not complaining.
Back to the trip, from where we left off the last time around. We spent the next two nights in a guest-house in Cameron highlands, named after a British guy who discovered them centuries ago. We stayed in a small village about 1.500 meters above see level. This is the number one spot for local tourist and a must see for anybody else coming to Malaysia. Susan was here just a few days before. You can see the impact of tourism straight away. Hills are covered with hotels and apartments but tourism is only the second most important income for the locals. The first is agriculture. The hills are covered with strawberry, vegetable and bee farms and of course tea.
According to our guide the local population is just about 30.000, but around 250.000 people come to work here, from all over the region, where the standard of living is lower than in Malaysia.
We joined our first organized tour of the trip visiting
most of the attractions in the area.
We were lucky with our guide, he spoke great English and knew how to keep us entertained with a combination of facts and jokes.
We sat in our old 4x4 Landrover and headed for the tallest peak in the area (just over 2.000 meters). Funny enough, a quick look at the map showed that there is actually a higher peak just next to it, but you can not access by road. So, for marketing purposes (i guess) they call it the highest peak.
The hill is covered with mossy forrest. As the name suggest moss is everywhere, but there are loads of other plants there, thousands of species. The guide pointed out a few of them which can be very useful if you ever get caught in a forrest. Just recognizing a bamboo tree (grass) is enough for a supply of food and water. We walked through the jungle for hours a day before and didn't recognize any of the plants, knowing how to use them was even further away. City kids, what can I say.
Later on we visited a tea plantation and a tea factory. The whole estate is
owned by a Scottish family for generations. Wonder who they got it from. Surely it was from the Malaysians. Workers are paid about 20c Malaysia (4p £) for a kilogram of tea. At least they are giving housing. healthcare and their kids education is paid for as well.
The next stop was a tea factory, where enough tea is produced per day to fill up 200.000 cups. Damn! On our trip we also visited a time tunnel (history museum of the area), a rose farm where I was playing around with my camera, trying to apply the knowledge I got from the book about digital photography Polona bought me for my birthday. Thanks hun, hopefully the pictures show it was a useful gift.
We ended our tour on a strawberry farm. Like most of the other crops, these bloom all year around. The guide did warn us its very commercial, but I didn't expect this. From the moment you enter it you can see posters for all the things you can buy to eat or use. They sell everything, from soap, doormats and if you look really, really hard even strawberries.
All in all, it was a
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Mossy forrest day well spent. We both enjoyed our trip, went for dinner with a French couple, packed our things and got ready for an early morning bus. Well before that I spent hours trying to load photos on
Facebook . Carrie, thanks for your help...
We arrived at George Town yesterday and had a stroll around. I will let Polona write more about this. And today? We did nothing. I had a sleep in for the first time since our first day in Malaysia. But that will end tomorrow. 5AM bus to Perhetian islands. People tell me its a paradise! Hope they are right.
More later!
p.s. After Ramsey scores a hat-trick, last one through Shawcross legs and Arsenal destroy Stoke, I hope Chelsea beat Man U today. Back to back football matches in the evening. Poor me.
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Umar
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Arsenal destroy stoke
What game were you watching?!... you must be feeling woeful about the football? - or maybe not giving a damn because you get to mooch about the world and not do any work! ;-)