Cameron Highlands- Malaysia

Malaysia is hot. Very hot. The Cameron Highlands, however, offer a wonderful reprieve from the intense heat. We needed light sweaters in the evening and the day time highs were mid-20s. Sitting at >1400 metres above sea level, these lush lands are home to rainforests, jungles, strawberry farms and tea plantations. The roads were incredibly winding- the most extreme so far...beating out Hawaii, Japan and Thailand.

Misty arrival to the Cameron Highlands.. the land of tea plantations

Vivid colours and mind-bogglingly artistic shapes dot the scenery

Playing in the tea fields - some plantations let you get right into it

Gorgeous hibiscus flowers growing everywhere

The darker patches indicate recent harvesting and the lighter patches are waiting to be harvested

All of the tea leaves are harvested by hand!

Exploring the fields

We had hoped to walk the tea fields in Sri Lanka... the famed land of tea (and other nice things)... but the 2019 terrorism there kaiboshed that plan, so we were very glad to reclaim the tea plantation experience!

You can enjoy the tea fields in so many ways - from educational tours to observation-deck viewing... we tried it all - the scenery was just so stunning! We spent a few low-key days doing some school work amidst the inspiring scenery and had our best school day yet - the kids were hyper-focused and completely immersed in writing, math, reading and more! Better scenery truly made for better schooling!

School with a view

A viewing platform at Cameron Valley Tea

Streams on the plantation

Looking back up the valley to the tea house (upper right corner)

We visited the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation several times - we loved its atmosphere, food and tea (of course).

Cameron Valley Tea Plantation

We loved it so much, we requested a 'high tea' service, Malaysian style! A white table with a view was prepared for us. Upon it, we were served delicious tea, biscuits, jam, cream, and... Malaysian curry puffs and other savory treats. It was both decadent and delicious.

Our high tea experience included having the tea house manager sit with us to answer any questions we had about the plantation, its history and its operations.

Our capable and friendly guide- he took great care of us!

Tea and sweets...yum

Tea-lover

Sweets and the best curry puffs ever!

We also toured the production facilities of the country's largest tea producer - BOH tea. We learned about the 5 steps of black tea production:

Picking
Rolling
Fermentation
Drying
Sorting

The Boh Plantation

The standard tour is short and sweet.. with absolutely NO PICTURES ALLOWED... so we have nothing to show picture-wise... but we can report that they're using the same rolling machines they bought in the 1930's!!

Did you know that green tea is actually made from the same tea leaves as black tea but without the fermentation step - news to me!

In the Cameron Highlands, we rented a serviced apartment so we did a lot of our own cooking. We did, however, try one of the popular Steamboat Restaurants - the meal reminded us of the buffet dinner we experienced in Thailand.

All-you-can-eat

Steamboat brings a little fun to a soup-n-BBQ supper. You cook everything at your table... which means when you go to the 'buffet', it's all raw meat and veggies - very different!

On the table, you have a soup broth boiling in a steel bowl inset in a grill surface. You boil up a customized soup and you grill your own meat on the side... it's interactive and very fun!

Like every Asian region we have visited so far, there were markets to explore. These markets, however, had something new to offer - strawberries, strawberries and more strawberries!! This was such a nice treat and reminded us of home.