A Year in Exile: Cameron Highlands

KT is also still looking out for us and we joined him, Beyong, their friends, Bear and Wii and KT’s Canadian cousin (originally from Cambodia, he spent 5 years in a refugee camp in Thailand before being sponsored by a German Canadian pastor to go to Canada) for a trip to Cameron Highlands. What an amazing day! We were picked up at 9 and taken for breakfast, not our choice – no toast and coffee but noodles in a rich chicken gravy with different sorts of meat. I managed a few noodles by drinking strong black coffee with it and Brian didn’t fare much better. Anyway, we then set off, the scenery was goos from the start but when we reached Cameron Highlands we were unprepared for the mile upon mile of polytunnels set at impossible angles up and down the mountains. We stopped at a strawberry farm, acres and acres of it, all the strawberries in pots in rows, just stunning. We then went to see a friend of Wii’s (turned out to be an ex-boyfriend!) who owned a farm and a packing station. The station was packing tomatoes, graded by size and colour, lettuces, peppers, cucumbers, radishes (white and a foot or more long), cabbages and beans as well as all sorts of herbs and wild rocket. We were then taken in an old truck, we sat on the floor in the back, out to the farm. Well – it was like a roller coaster ride, the road was narrow and rough and the slopes were steep both up and down, what a ride! We were all giggling like kids and struggling to stay upright. The farm was amazing, 20 acres of hydro farming like I have never seen – so many varieties of lettuce you wouldn’t believe, plus the tomatoes, radishes, cucumber etc. Heng, the owner, proudly showed us round and told us that he had constructed everything himself and taught himself different farming methods from other countries, particularly Holland as he had built up the farm. After an equally bone-juddering ride back he treated us to a delicious lunch accompanied by copious amounts of Carlsberg.

We then set off for the tea plantation, we had thought of the area as being quite compact but it was nearly an hour higher into the mountains before we arrived at the BOH plantation. The approach was awesome, row after row of tea bushes as far as the eye could see planted on the steepest slopes and in every conceivable nook and cranny, there were also people picking leaves, by hand as the land was so steep, the ground looked like a luxurious green fitted carpet. Having looked around and studied the history – British influences of course, it was time to have the famous Cameron Highlands cream tea. Tea and scones for 7 - £17.50 – expensive by Malaysian standards, was enjoyed by all although the scones wouldn’t have passed English standards, they were very big and a bit dry and the cream was whipped cream, not beautiful Cornish clotted cream.

On the way back we visited several markets and bought strawberries, which no-one but us liked (too sour!), corn, which is so succulent you eat it raw and various other bits and pieces. When we arrived back in Ipoh KT informed us we were going to the night market for Lakse (the Malaysian signature dish) as Long Li had yet to try it. I had had it before in Melaka and enjoyed it but Brian found it a bit spicy, there was also yam cakes and chicken and we were given sugar cane juice to drink so more flavours to get our heads round. What a fantastic day – we both agreed that we were very lucky indeed to have been befriended by KT and Beyong, we could have had a day out in the Cameron Highlands for sure but it would have been very different!