Good morning Christiana, rise and shine in the highland of Cameron, where the temperature is chill and the air is fresh. We all had a rejuvenating sleep. Nana woke up cheerful and enliven our room with her excited squeal. We came down from the hotel and had light Malay breakfast, no colonial English breakfast with tea or whatsoever.
Peter Jackson's next film location
Sungai Palas BOH Tea plantation
However, we visited a tea farm nearby, its called the Sungai Palas BOH Tea plantation. Situated at Brinchang district, Sungai Palas BOH Tea plantation is one of the 3 tea plantations owned by the BOH company, the others are HAbu and Fairlie Tea Garden. All 3 combine to form a total of 8000 acres of tea planted land, making BOH the largest tea plantation in Southeast Asia.
Route to the tea centre brought us through narrow winding tar road along the hill slopes. The view of lush green rolling hills with neat organized rows of tea plants is a wonder to behold. It looks from far like an extensive field of carpet grass, just feel like jumping out of the car and running into it. The splendid sight was nothing we've ever seen before, as if a scene taken from Shire, the Hobbit's land. Therefore we highly recommend Cameron Highland tea estate as one of the must see places when visiting Malaysia.
A clear stream running through the vast hill of tea plants.
When I'm on papa's shoulder, I believe I can fly
Mummy, do you prefer coffee, tea or me?
BOH
Plantations was founded in 1929 by J.A. Russel, a British businessman
during the British colonial era in Malaya. He was optimistic of the tea
plantation business due to huge demands despite of the world-wide Great
Depression at that time. As a result of the potential, he applied for
and was granted a concession of land for his first tea garden in Habu,
Cameron Highlands.
Today, BOH owns 3 tea gardens - Habu, Fairlie Tea Garden and Sungai Palas Tea Garden. To ensure the
freshness of its tea products, BOH Plantations set up a packaging
factory near its main garden. Its tea products are then distributed both in
domestic and international markets.
Behold, the BOH tea cafe on a balcony overlooking the panoramic hills.
Dad's gonna squeeze me if I don't keep quiet, better pose nicely (gulp..)
The scenic drive along the extensive tea plantation lead us to the Sungai Palas Tea Centre, a manufacturing factory cum tea shop and cafe. The cafe has a balcony that overlooks the enchanting grand mountainous view of greeneries, clear blue sky with misty clouds hovering over the horizon. Its the sight of mother nature well groomed and well taken care of, non-violated and unpolluted, an example of human appreciating the treasure entrusted to them for their future generations.
The balcony is the perfect place to sip refreshing tea, taste croissants and cakes while enjoying the cool ambiance and paranomic view this highland brings. At the back of my head i envy the people here who lives a healthier lifestyle, care-free, slower pace of life, with unpolluted air and fresh food. Far away from the buzz of KL city which makes it an ideal holiday retreat, Cameron Highland is a paradise on earth.
This is an unadulterated image capture of Cameron Highland (impressive isn't it).
Why are you cranky Nana? Tummy ache, hungry, tired, needa poop, or all of the above?
I don't want to be carried, I know how to walk myself..
The Sungai Palas
'ummph!' BOH TEA Plantation offers a free guided factory tour of how
tea leaves are processed. Judging from the old machinery probably dating back to decades old, I think BOH partly still applies conventional tea processing techniques. A visit to the BOH shop shows refined exquisite tea products with quality that varies. Since this caffeine-rich drink has other medicinal value as well, it makes a good gift to both young and old.
Inside the BOH souvenir shop.
Nana wants to hold the camera for a selfie shot.
Good thing they weren't both wearing green too.
We strolled down the tea estate by foot. Given the enormous tea plantation project being carried out, we failed to detect any plantation workers in sight. We were picturing estate workers carrying huge rattan baskets pacing around the land plucking tea leaves but that was not the case. Perhaps the leaves are not ready to be harvested? They certainly look ripe to me.
The plants were just leafy without any flowers. The morning dew descended on the leaves like it had just rained. The surrounding air was fresh as of an unchartered new world, as how one would imagine a land flowing with milk and honey. The soil below our feet was soft and certainly fertile, promising anyone they would reap what they sow on it.
Never occurred to be strawberries are planted like orchids.
The strawberry "wildlife" reserve.
The big local celebrity of Cameron Highland.
We paid Rm40 to pick our own strawberries, as much as a styrofoam board can fit, as long as it didn't exceed 3kg (I think). Later we found out it was much cheaper being sold at the market. Upon entry, it was understood no one is allowed to indulge in any free flow strawberry buffet! Not being a sour grape, but local strawberries are hardly sweet and most of the time sour like citrus fruit. Which makes plucking strawberries a lil' overrated for an adult.
More strawberry waffles with whipped cream, relished together with fresh pure strawberry milk shake.
A local nursery stall.
Dry market at Brinchang adjacent to trunk road. Traffic could be heavy and parking difficult.
I know, I just couldn't resist another round of strawberry waffle and its fresh milk shake. Besides, how often would one drive up 1000m above sea level to enjoy the experience a highland retreat could bring. So anyway, on our way back from the Sungai Palas Tea Plant to Brinchang we stopped by the Brinchang day market. There we bought a bunch of corns the locals named "Pearl Corns" aka Jagung Mutiara. They even demonstrated to us it could be eaten raw. (What??).
We walked around seeking souvenirs, of which one of them would look good on our fridge. You guessed it, magnet! We came across few souvenir shops and got Nana's winter ear cover from there, and you guessed it, it was strawberry shape. Otherwise, the market was a typical vegan paradise, with extensive selection of fresh vegetables to choose from. There were simply enough plants and sun to fight zombies (what am I talking about?).
Other items tourist could find from the market are fruits stalls and flower plants for sale. The types of flowers being grown in Cameron are quite an eye-opener. Like I said earlier, some are climate-sensitive and a little research ought to be done before adopting the flower plant home.
A bee farm that wasn't quite what i expected.
Nice cozy miniature huts for the bees.
There was an isolated bee farm along the way. It looked quite mediocre from the outside. Knowing that honey is widely sold in Cameron which means bees are breed here for commercial purpose, we randomly stopped by this bee farm expecting to see bee hives hanging from trees. However, we were greeted with small huts which were their man-made habitat. I suppose these friendly small species didn't sting, therefore their conservation were left exposed in open space.
A place not to be missed by the avid plant lovers.
A feast of visual sensation for the little infant.
Evening approaches, on our way back to Brinchang, we came across this place with a very big banner which reads "Cactus Point". From the sound of it, I deduced it was another nursery, probably one which pride itself in variety of cactus. As we stepped in, the place appears to be a wide cultivation centre of colourful plants in flower pots. The overlying roof is made up of netting which screen the amount of sunlight and rainwater the plants receive in order to optimize their growing condition.
It was quite impressive how much dedication and manpower needed to produce this vast array of colourful exhibit, what more when it involved nurturing plants. Must be rewarding for the planters to see their product of such hardwork blooming so healthily, even more so when visitors throng this retail nursery to purchase the plants. As much as i love to admire these flower plants, i couldn't possibly have what it takes to attend to my own garden.
An ancient token toy car easily as old as me.
Mummy, are you resting me on top of your baby bump?
I supposed cost price of sought after flowers like roses are very cheap, what more when they blossom easily in Cameron Highland. To think of the same roses being sold for exorbitant price on Valentine's Day is totally absurd. I disagree with forking out extra for the marked price hike on roses that cost only Rm7 per flower on any other day. But if I don't, Karling would kill me and make me suffer a hundred death. Truth is, she likes flower but appreciate the chivalry more.
And that I can say with confidence, apply to all women. Just to help out all the Romeos wannabe out there, be very certain of the meaning in regards to the numbers and colours the flower bring. You don't wanna regret sending to that wonderful girl the wrong message that can't be retracted back.
Flowers being sold at the night market..
Different colour roses.
Vegetables can be obtained at a good deal.
I supposed one could live in Cameron Highland and easily be a vegetarian for life. I have known people who claim they were vegan (do not consume egg and their by-products) since childhood and have grown to be healthy (happy?) young adults with no signs of malnourishment or stunted growth. Can a child be strictly vegan and rely on second class proteins from plant products to sufficiently meet his dietary requirement for growth? There are people who can't take meat (and fish) simply because they are allergic to it who still grow up pretty healthily.
A visit to the night market in Brinchang brought us to a vegetarian haven, an eye-opener to the many types of healthy vegetables one could survive on. One doesn't have to be a good cook to enjoy delicious vegetables. Easy to prepare, Chinese love to stir fry it, otherwise steam, stew, or eat it raw ala Western style.
The hybrid orange and Pearl corn (jagung Mutiara).
A vegan paradise.
I particularly love Cameron's hybrid orange. Its big, juicy and sweet, taste even better than the Chinese Lokam which only arrive on Chinese New Year. We love the baked corn (Jagung bakar) too, would taste even superb with butter and salt.
Every food taste nice when we're hungry, and when the weather is chilly, we get hungry easily. The popular dish in a cold Cameron Highland is the charcoal steamboat, though we didn't have the priviledge of trying it. Nana at this tender age is not suitable for much of solid food yet, but we made do with some dishes at a local Chinese restaurant, subsequently fed Nana more milk after that.
My strawberry girl dictating the dinner menu.
Me and Karling enjoyed Nana's company very much, such a thrill to
take turns carrying her in our arms as we explore Cameron together. This
trip almost felt like it was meant for Nana. When I was younger i would
cross out Cameron Highland in a heartbeat as a holiday destination thinking it would be boring. This time though, i relished the adventure with my cuddly little daughter whom like me,
walked the highland of Cameron for the 1st time.. And we shall have more of it tomorrow.
