Day 45: in which JQ discovers the delights of the tea plantation

Today we decided to go explore the area via an organised trip. We'd seen enough DIY trekking action to last us a lifetime, so today's activities were strictly tour territory. Having organised one of the standard half day tours, we were in reception at 9am, ready for pick-up. The itinerary was to take us around some of the highlights of the area, focusing on the agriculture for which it is famed.

First stop was the rose garden. Although there are a lot of roses and other flowers grown up here, these places seem to be little more than ornamental gardens set on the hillside, and for RM 5.00, that's quite a racket they have going. To put it in context, the main museum in Melaka, with four extensions included, cost the same price as this place, so it's easy money from tour groups. It's only about £1 to us, so not a huge expense.

It turned out to be quite a fun place. As the climate is so much cooler, they can grow plants much more like Britain, and as the area is an old British hill station, you can see how places like the rose garden were started. It was quite a big place and in amongst the plants, there were some very odd statues and constructions, hence the photo's here. JP was able to pose with Snow White, whilst I look lovely with two Chinese "weebles".

After the rose garden it was on to see a strawberry farm. This place was a bit odd too, but for different reasons. All the farm offered was a small covered area of four rows of strawberry plants on raised platforms, and then a shop selling strawberry-themed gifts and items. Why they take you there, I'm not really sure, other than to try to part you from more cash, but we dutifully had a milkshake and then it was time to continue our tour.


Next was the butterfly farm. The space allocated to butterflies is tiny compared to the space for the gift shop, or even for the random assortment of creepy crawlies and reptiles. Why there were snakes and beetles in the same place is a mystery, but it was quite entertaining. Again, RM 5.00 was the entry fee, so there is a definite killing to be made if you have a random idea for a tourist sight in these parts.

Onwards to the highlight for me - the tea plantation. This was the real reason I wanted to go on this tour, as transport up here is a bit of a pain, and an organised tour makes it simpler to get to it. We went to the Boh tea plantation, and as Boh tea is like PG Tips back home, this is a good place to see. They had a proper visitor centre and a factory tour, plus a tearoom which overlooked the fields, hence me sipping tea on the veranda :)

After the tea tour we then had a visit to a buddhist temple, a bee farm and then back home again. A very random morning, but entertaining nonetheless. The only other noteworthy highlight was me completing a very difficult sudoku in the afternoon. As I don't usually give the easy ones a go, this represents a major achievement for yours truly and well worth the prestigious award of a photo in the blog!