LittleSandyBeach

In the town of Tanah Rata where we are staying there is a lovely park that has lots of Christmas lights on all the trees. We’ve also made use of a jogging track in the park which is harder than we thought at 5,000ft above sea level! Also nearby we found a small book exchange cabinet which luckily had some English books in.

For breakfast most mornings we’ve gone to a cafe called Yong Teng Cafe which is just around the corner from us. It’s run by an elderly deaf couple who opened it in 1986. They’re extremely friendly and it’s amazing value for money… two fried eggs on toast for 6RM (£1.10)!

On Thursday morning we decided to try some local scones as they are sold everywhere here due to the British influence. We went to a freshly baked scone stall and treated ourselves to 3x original cheese scones and 1x strawberry scone. They come with local strawberry jam and strawberry cream.

Afterwards we walked to a nearby flea market called Tokyo Town @ Cameron. It has mainly food stalls selling Japanese cuisine.

We had to have a couple pieces of sushi and also Tasha tried a fresh fruit berry tart.

On the way back we passed All Soul’s Church which was built in 1958. The main structure was donated by British troops and is a Nissan Hut (steel structure originally for military use, especially barracks) which gives it a very different look to a traditional church.

The next day we got a Grab to Ee Feng Gu Bee Farm which is just past the town of Brinchang. It is free entry where you can walk around the gardens where they have hundreds of beehives.

It is the oldest bee farm in Cameron Highlands. There is also three ponds with lots of Koi fish in that you can feed.

Inside they have a small museum that shows the different types of bees and how they make honey. Also there are a few shops where you can try the honey produced on site. We picked up a small jar for only 6.80RM (£1.24). Those bees aren’t paid enough!

Afterwards we were walking just down the road towards Royal Berry Strawberry Park and Cafe and had some friends escort us past the traffic!

Once inside and with a basket in hand we started the hunt for the strawberries. They only charge 6RM per 100g and are much more relaxed than the other farms around!

Walking around there was a lovely aroma as most of the floor was covered in mint! They also have a couple of Ponderosa lemon trees which are the biggest lemons in the world and can on average grow to around 1kg in weight!

After a while strolling around we finished our strawberry picking and were happy with our harvest!

Yesterday we headed 50 minutes away to BOH Sungei Palas Garden. BOH Tea was founded in 1929 by British businessman J. A. Russell. It is still owned by the same family today and is run by Caroline Russell, the granddaughter.

BOH Tea is the largest producer of tea in Malaysia and is responsible for 70% of the entire tea production in the country. We went on the free tour of the onsite factory where you can see the process to make the tea.

On the tour you are shown the 5 steps that BOH tea use to make their tea.

1st stage – Withering

2nd stage – Rolling

3rd stage – Oxidation

4th stage – Drying

5th stage – Sorting

It was very interesting to see and the smell inside the factory was amazing! Unfortunately you can’t take pictures inside but they still use the original machinery from the 1930’s.

In the main building there is a mini museum displaying other old equipment and also a small cinema room with a short information video.

We then popped into the onsite shop and sampled the different flavours of tea and end up buying a box of Lime and Ginger herbal tea. In our hostel they provide free tea bags from BOH so we know it’s good!

Tomorrow we head to Kuala Lumpur in preparation for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.