while in the cameron highlands i did a half-day 'countryside tour,' which started out at the boh tea plantation. boh is the biggest tea manufacturer in malaysia (and is owned by a scottish guy). the flag shows where the pickers are. actually, i would call them pickers and that is what i thought my guide was saying, but he was actually sayin 'pluckers,' as i would later find out.
tea, tea everwhere, and not a drop to drink. (the factory and shop were closed the day i went.)
tea plants upclose and personal
wacky plant at side of road
this is the former manager's house. now he's retired and gets to live there right in the middle of the green gorgeousness of plantation. not a bad deal, eh?
tea, tea, as far as the eye can see
although malaysia is a muslim country, this is the first time i saw women in full burkas. saw them again later and it was clear they were tourists from another country.
i like how they look like shrubbery
after the tea plantation we went to a flower nursery called the rose centre. this is called 'blue vine.' really an amazing color.
they also sometimes call it a butterfly flower, as you can see why when two bulbs are placed like so.
they call this one the 'green rose,' and i have to say i was disappointed, as it's not actually a green rose. but it is a completely green flower.
the rose centre had plants growing everywhere, though it wasn't clear if they were all actually for sale, and the only people there seemed to be there touring the place and not to buy plants.
view from about halfway up the steps to the highest viewpoint (which was about as far as my bum knee would let me climb)
'hello, i love you' seems to be a theme throughout southeast asia. i can't begin to explain this random old mother hubbar boot-shaped structure in the gardens at the halfway point i mentioned. the whole place was incredibly kitchy, as you will see...
working the fields in the hillside around the rose centre
the steps i didn't climb
wacky stairway that led to even wackier places...
these cacti looked like really fat dredlocks.
ok, i promised you kitsch, right? just don't ask what these things were doing here (in front of a map of the world, nonetheless)!
So do you think Grumpy gets even grumpier when his name is spelled wrong? I know Iwould. Come to think of it, he is something of a Snow White groupie...
you can never have enough photos of laundry, i always say.
next to snow white was this bizarre astrology area. all signs were represented.
some houses right next to the rose centre. it was not the 'best' 'neighborhood.'
then we went to a strawberry farm, where i expected to see field upon field of strawberries, but...
instead i saw this. they grow them essentially hydroponically. our tour guide informed us that it was easier this way and increased their yield. but, yeah, not much to look at. note the 'pluck' sign, though!
you really want to pluck it, though, don't you?
then we went to a bee 'garden' where the hives are these man-made boxes. made me fell bad for the bees. (look closely to see all the bees on the ledge.)
the is a massive hornet just dying to get into the bee hive. he must hang out here all day.
you also have to really appreciate the labeling on these 'hives.' i mean, just in case you were wondering what was inside... or maybe it's for the bees. so they don't, you know, try to make honey in just any old box.
more kitsch and...
...(of course) no plucking!
next was the butterfly garden, at which they also housed a variety of creatures for you to oooh and aaah at. this was a gigantic grasshopper/mantis of some sort.
giant AND leaflike! what's not to love?
i believe this is called a leaf horny toad or something. if it isn't, it should be.
then we finally got to the butterfly part of the butterfly garden. but not before i watched a snake swallow a frog whole. sorry, no photos. (he was behind glass.) (ok, i should have at least tried, i admit. i'm lame. but it was so fascinatingly gruesome i couldn't look--or walk--away, as the rest of the group was waiting for me.)
the butterflies weren't in cages, per se, but they were in a caged in area and it was really quite depressing. especially seeing dead ones on the ground and wondering if they'd just been sitting there minding their own business and gotten stepped on by tourists.
see how they are clinging to the netting? yeah. depressing.
they also sat perfectly still and hardly any of them seemed to fly at all (when we were there, anyway). which is how i managed to get these photos, of course.
last stop was a chinese buddhist temple, which wasn't particularly interesting but i had to take this photo so you could, along with me, wonder at whoever decided to spend almost $600,000 on pink bathroom tile.
another tea plantation, in whose shop i paid way too much for scones--so much that i didn't even bother ordering tea with them.