As recommended by our host we decided to visit Cameron Highlands, where located are the famous Tea Plantations. We set off early in the morning as we had about 5 hours of bus journey ahead. Part of it we managed to sleep over, but the last 50 or so kilometres we stayed wide awake. The road was very winding, going up the hills. The driver was of the adventurous kind, going quite fast, honking on the road bends to warn oncoming cars. We were going higher and higher and all around was a jungle with some small villages.
When we arrived at Tanah Rata, our destination, we were surrounded by the people trying to convince us to choose their hotels. It was a little chaos at the bus terminal, people going in and out, and people advertising accommodation and bus tickets. Firstly we booked our return tickets to Kuala Lumpur for the morning next day. Then, by chance, we managed to book the tour to tea plantation. We had 35 minutes left before our tour started, and we still needed to find some accommodation.
In the town centre there were many hotels, motels and guest houses. While we were walking the main street looking for something, we were approached by a lady who asked if we were looking for some hotel. We said that we wanted something cheap, so she pointed a Guest Lodge in one of the side streets. We went there and booked 2 dormitory beds for 40 MYR. Then quickly walked back towards the tour pick up point, stopping in the shop to buy some snacks we could eat before our tour. That was a quick and very successful action. Within 40 minutes we booked bus tickets, arranged a tour, found and booked beds for the night and managed to eat something.
With another couple in the minibus we set off on our tour. First we went to the BOH Tea Plantation. We had 30 minutes to see the place and do some photos. Sadly, we hadn’t time to visit the factory, but we found out, how they pick up the tea leaves nowadays. Next stop was Bee Farm, where we were given half an hour to explore and buy some honey products. The Rose and Orchid Plantation was our next destination. There we had to buy entry tickets, which we weren’t that happy about, because we all thought that the tickets were included in the tour price. We went for a Jungle Walk and to the Gardens and saw some plants and flowers from this side of the world.
After that we stopped by the Butterfly Garden, but together with our tour companions decided we didn’t want to see it, as there were entry tickets to buy. We moved on to one of the Strawberry farm, which are so many in the area. We stayed there only for few minutes, as we for all of us strawberries weren’t that exotic thing to see.
Further, we were taken to the Veg and Fruit Market, where we could see and buy anything that locals had to offer. Our choice was fried chicken, as we both were very hungry not eating properly that day. The chicken was very good, although bit spicy. We also had a chance to see a bit of everyday life of the local people and feel the atmosphere of a busy Malaysian market.
The last stop on our tour was Buddhist Temple. It wasn’t very big, but very peaceful and quiet. With this visit we ended our tour and the bus driver took us back to the town. The tour, taken into account that arranged in 5 min, was a very good experience, we saw and experienced different things and nicely spent the day.
Before we settled down for evening we stopped at one of the local restaurants and ate proper dinner. That was very long and fun packed day.
