Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Monday, April 21, 08
Yesterday toward evening, strolling down main street looking for a place to have a cup of tea, who do I run into, Larry and Darcy, the couple from Georgetown who have come in that afternoon. The evening is spent over dinner, tea and scones.
My tiny room has a musty smell. Getting ready for bed, a cockroach crawled out from under the folded blanket and met an early end. Two more cockroaches scurry about. I'll spray the room tomorrow, or re-locate.
Up at 7:00, I can't figure out how to get hot water out of the shower. It has a knob to turn on the water and a metal switch which goes both directions - no temperature variance. I sponge off and will ask later (It turns out, only the metal switch is to bed turned for hot water, no mixing). Sitting at a table at the entrance to the lodge, a black and white bird is attempting to crack open a large seed by smashing it against the concrete. He works under an archway of Honeysuckle and Lady's Slippers. Twin Pine Guest House is owned by an Indian. A Bengla Desi man weeds the short walkway and a young Indian man takes reservations and watches the place, sleeping on the floor of the reception area. He receives 600 ringgit/mo., a place to sleep and food. His employer volunteered that information. This may or may not be true.
I'm on a tour which starts at around 9:00. A butterfly farm is our first stop. With the butterflies, there are snakes, beetles and flowers. Not as many butterflies as I would like to have seen. But, it is cool and they aren't flying, so it's hard to pick them out.
Next, a honey bee farm. We taste the honey which is being produced. Off to the Boh Tea Farm which is 600 acres of tea plants 70 years old. The laborers who are manually picking the tea work for .20 ringgit/kg. Working an entire day, they can earn 24 ringgit ($8 USD). They aren't actually picking by hand, that would be too expensive. A hedge clipper type contraption is used. They make several cuts and scoop it into a sack on their back. There is also a motorized operation which two men work together. Running the machine over the tea beds, they are able to cut more leaves, but it's lesser quality. Our guide says that all these workers are Indonesians or Nepalese.
There are 2000 land rovers in this region, the highest concentration anywhere in the world. We pass many as we head to a market. I buy some Crystal Jambu, strawberries and tangerines. Then, I was bad! I bought, and ate, 8 SMALL, deep fat fried sweet potato balls rolled in sesame seeds. Yuuuum!
A Rose Centre is where I see my first Jade Vine - Blue Butterfly. There are so many roses and other plants, I can't begin to remember names. The beauty of the spot is enough. Parsley is planted through out. Why? I return 45 minutes later to find the driver clipping his toe nails. On to the Sam Poh Temple, Buddhist, and the tour ends with a stop at the Big Red Strawberry Farm. Again, I am bad! A strawberry milkshake. What a day!
Tour pics: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/musungi/CameronHighlandsMalaysia