Day 91 18/12/2014

Breakfast at the hostel was pretty basic so Simon popped out to purchase yogurts and fruit juice before we set off for our morning tour.  We had torrential rain in the night but luckily it had eased off a little by the time we got picked up by our land rover.  We joined a Latvian couple and then went to pick up a young English guy before heading off to see one of the area's tea plantations.  It was interesting to hear how the process for collecting the leaves has changed over the years, from hand picked to now machine picked, and how it's detrimentally impacted the quality of the tea.  Our guides' mother actually used to work on the plantation hand picking leaves when they first came to Malaysia from India in the 1930's.  The plantation is owned by the Russell family who originated from Scotland.  From here we drove to the top of Gunung Brinchang which at 6,666 ft is the highest peak on the peninsular (Simon's expectations of walking to the top were a bit extreme!).   The weather was drizzly and misty and we couldn't really see anything.  On the way back down we stopped at the Mossy Forest, apparently the oldest forest in Malaysia, at 2300 years old.  It gets it's name from everything being covered in moss!  We had a short wander through the trees and saw several pitcher plants which lure insects with a sweet sap and then drown their prey.  The largest can apparently hold between 2 to 3 litres of fluid in their pitcher.  The locals like to compare the forest to those in Lord of the Rings.  We weren't too sure but kept our views to ourselves and it was interesting to see.  The area is also home to the Rafflesia, the world's biggest flower but it's not in season at the moment.   We then headed down to the tea factory to see how the tea is dried and sorted before being sent off to Kuala Lumpur for packing and shipping.  Despite being in use today you did feel like you were walking through a museum. There's a cafe attached to the factory providing the opportunity to sample the local produce which we did (but were disappointed that it was tea bags) and Simon treated himself to a scone which Diane kindly helped to consume.  From here we then went to a nearby butterfly farm but none of us were keen on spending 5 ringets to get in so we went to a strawberry farm before heading back to town.  All in all a good morning and it was nice to get out into the fresh air despite the weather.  After lunch we went out in search of one of the walking trails and this time were a bit more successful although did back track at one point after heading up hill to join another trail and then not being too sure of where it would come out. The maps were poor and there were infrequent, confusing signposts, which was our excuse anyway! We had the 'pleasure' of a snake on the way back.  We actually ended up with it between us as Simon had stepped over it before realising what it was leaving Diane the other side who duly freaked out!  After a bit of hysteria she managed to get passed by going round off the path and was consoled with a big hug.  Maybe we're not really jungle people.  In the evening we went to a local Chinese restaurant for our last meal in Malaysia.  Tomorrow we head south on the bus to Singapore.  We're both feeling a little bit travel weary and looking forward to a few days seeing some friends before we fly to Sydney for Christmas and New Year with family.

Tea Plantation

Viewing tower at Gunung Brinchang

Our transport for the morning 

Pitcher plants 

Simon blending in, in Mossy Forest 

More tea plantations