Cameron Highlands 18/06/06

Ok so we had decided yesterday to do a half day adventure 1 tour so we were up for breakfast at 8.15, had some yummy scrambled egg with toast!
Kristine, Alissia, Kelly, Urvi, Rene, Nancy, Nadine, a Sri Lankan couple and an English couple boarded our mini bus for our exciting tour.
Our first stop was to see some of the many, and I mean many, tea plantations. The plantations were owned by Boh Tea which itself is owned and run by a Scottish family. Apparently they own the most acres of tea plantations in the Malaysia, as usual I don't remember the deatails, but none of the tea in Malaysia is actually deported. There are 2 other tea plantations in the area.
The workers are bought in from Indonisia (sp?) on a 2 year contract and they are supplied with accommodation which is in the highlands, they are blue house which we actually saw quite a few of. They also get paid by the KG although they do not hand pick anymore and have been supplied with a machine which picks all the young tea - grows out the top.
Our next stop was the highest point (maybe 200m above sea) on the Cameron Highlands. There was a small watchtower, with steep steps, which we climbed and took photos from.
Once everyone had finished checking things out there we were driven a short way to do a trek. It was only a short trek but was wet and muddy and mossy. It was good but could have been dodgy if you put a foot wrong. Needless to say everyone got slightly muddy. While on the trek we saw wild orchards, which were tiny, and a picture (sp?) plant (insect eating plant).
We all came back at our own pace, wiped our feet on the grass and jumped back into the bus. We were then taken to the tea factory. It was quite interesting to see how the tea is prepared. Ground down, heated,sieved - I think. We went to the tea room and I had a hot chocolate, while the others had tea obviously, and an apple pie. We sat on the balcony with stunning views. We were there for around 30 minutes.
Then our guide, Robbie (no not Williams Emma!!), drove us to a strawberry plantation and so off we went to buy our fresh strawberries. They were yummy, although I thought a bit sour..
Next stop was the butterfly farm, we grabbed our tickets and went down. Robbie was putting butterflies on people and they'd just sit there. There were so many beautiful butterflies. They also had leaf insects, stick insects, beetles, gheckos, snakes, camelions, scorpions, rabbits and a few other things. A few people held alot of the insects, even the scorpion, I had no need to touch anything. Was happy to watch. It was really good at the butterfly farm and well worth visiting.
Well that was the end of our tour so it was back to the hotel at 2pm sat for a bit. Kristine, Alissia, Kelly and I decided to go on our own little trek so off we went to the tourist information to get a map, the lady advised on how long certain walks might take.
We started at 3.15 and walked down through the town, the playpark and along the brown river. They had put down like a tile path which wasn't great as could be slippery. We saw a little waterfall but i was disgraced to see so much rubblish there. We also went up a look out tower which was quite a way up a hill! Good view though.
We then ended up completing the walk and going round a golf course and back along the road into town.
I think we made it back at 5ish so it was off to shower in which I used my travel towel for the first time, sorry mum and dad dumped the other towel from home!! I was ready at about 6 so went to Kelly and Alissia's room to chat. We met some of the group at 6.30 for dinner.
We ended up eating at another indian restaurant. I had a banana rice dish which consisted of eating off a banana leaf again with a few different dishes, rice, naan etc. Was really good but very filling.
We went back and it was another movie time. After a failed attempt to watch Munich (rubbish quality) and Hostel (disc error) we managed to put Man on Fire on sowe watched that. Quite a few people ended up piling in to watch it. Finished at 12.30 so that was my bedtime ZZzzzzz