January 15 to 19, 2020
After the quiet and very resting Georgetown, it was time for us to do some hiking.
We took a bus to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands, in the mountains.
On the roads, as we started to climb the mountain, landscapes were stunning until we arrived in what looks like the food reserve of Malaysia. Greenhouses, strawberry fields, rose gardens everywhere… and instead of small villages, big cities and buildings. Coralie and I were starting to think: where the h#@# did we go?
And then, we arrived in Tanah Rata. Although the city is not as bucolic as we expected and not very nice, it was ok for the few days we would stay there. No real landmarks, nor very good restaurants. It is basically a small touristic town for westerners going to the mountains. And to be fair, this was exactly what we were going to do…
Tanah Rata Playground
Bubble of History
The highlands took their name from William Gordon Cameron, the British soldier, colonial administrator and geologist who first surveyed the area in 1886
Tea Plantation
On the first day, we rented 2 scooters and went to the Boh Plantation. Founded by an English man during the British colony, it is now one of the biggest plantations in Malaysia.
The tea fields are really beautiful. The Camellia sinensis (tea) plant needs to be cut and kept small, around the size of a bush. If not, they will grow like trees and would be un-usable for tea culture.
We took a tour of the plant and were explained how the tea leaves are processed to become the tea we can infuse and drink.
Withering: The leaves are laid out on fabric or bamboo mats, and left to wilt. The withering process reduces the water content of the leaves by as much as half. Without withering, subsequent heating steps would produce something akin to cooked vegetables, rather than dried tea leaves.
Rolling/breaking: the leaves are rolled, twisted, or otherwise crushed. The purpose of this step is to break down cell walls in the leaf, and facilitate the next step: oxidation.
Oxidation/Fermentation: leaves intended for black teas are left to oxidize, or turn brown. To get green tea, this step is skipped.
Again, the leaves are laid out and left to wither.
Fixing and drying: To stop the oxidation process, the tea leaf is heated at about 100 deg C for around 20 minutes.
Finally, all tea must be dried to remove any residual moisture and create a shelf-stable leaf.
Sorting: stems are separated from leaves and the latter are sorted according to their size
Walks in the jungle
Like often in Asia, outdoor activities in cities like Tanah Rata are offered through expensive tours that promise you to take you to all the attractions of the area in a half-day or full day.
And like always, we try to avoid those. First because we like to take it easy and walk at our own pace and don’t want to do everything… Second because paying to just go walk doesn’t really make sense.
The most famous attraction around is the Mossy Forest, 200,000 years old. But it is only accessible through a tour as no scooters are allowed over there and taxis won’t take you there. And you have to add entrance fees (and have only access to a small section of the forest actually). We chose to skip it.
Walking around the city, trying to find a new hostel (our first one was not that great), we met a French couple that was working in a hostel. They told us there are actually 2 trails that would take us to the jungle in a 3-to-4-hour walk.
All the trails around Tanah Rata
The first one (path 5, 6, and 4), was purely 4-hour walk in the jungle. That was not an easy walk for the girls but they walked and really enjoyed it.
The end of the trail finished in 500 m popular walk (just close to a kid playground). And you can see with the following pictures the effect of popularity…
The second day took us to another plantation (path 10 and 6, south of the city). This time again, it was not easy, going through very steep trails, mud, or very narrow tracks. Naema and Lana both ended up with wet feet (fell in the stream!).
The end of the trail is in the Bahrat tea plantation.
After a well-deserved tea and snack, we try hitch hiking and it worked. A nice couple in a Peugeot 3008 (same car as my dad 😉) took us back to Tanah Rata.
We spent 4 refreshing days here and then took a bus to Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, the road was very hard and Naema got sick big time… Poor girl.
Salah
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