In hindsight, this might have been one trip where prior booking would have saved on grey hairs. W e took a room at the excellent Daniels Lodge , somewhat basic accommodation is made up for by a very friendly communal atmosphere. Its long verandah is the centre of life, where backpackers swap notes, play games, chat drink and smoke. Dreadlocks, pierced body parts and dyed hair are the norm. Tea Plantations T he Cameron Highlands are one of the worlds major tea growing regions.
Huge plantations stretch up the valley floor.
We took a local bus to the village of Brinchang, from where we hiked for 4km through a seemingly endless maze of tea bushes to the centre of the Sungei Palas Tea estate. This estate is part of the enormous Boh tea company, established in the 1890's by a Brit, John Archibald Russel, known affectionately as 'Archie'. The tea bushes are clipped every 15 days or so, sometimes by hand, but more usually these days by an odd looking machine that looks like a lawnmower on stilts. They are well looked after these days. The factory is also at the centre, and you can you can take a tour, where a worker explains the process of curling and rolling the tea leaves to break down the sells before heating them in a large fan oven and fermenting them to achieve a rich flavour.