After almost two weeks in the oppressive heat of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s booming capital city, we were ready for cooler air and a calmer vibe. We hopped a bus to the Cameron Highlands in central Malaysia, which 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level, offers consistently cool temperatures around 25 °C (77 °F), with some exciting heavy rain showers in the afternoon.
We spent the last few days doing some hiking in the rain forest, visiting a strawberry farm (strawberry sundaes included), exploring a mossy forest and learning all about how tea is made at the BOH tea plantation, Malayasia’s favorite tea. Black tea is grown here, but the bushes that cover over 600 acres of steep slopes high in the mountains appear as puffy green puzzle pieces literally rolling down across the landscape.
It was a British gentleman who first suggested that the Cameron Highlands were the perfect climate for a tea plantation in the late 19th century, and workers from India and later Sri Lanka were brought in to harvest the leaves.
Sitting on the beautiful glass terrace at the BOH factory and restaurant this misty afternoon drinking tea just recently picked from the hills below was a truly refreshing experience.
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I like the idea of cool air and a calm vibe. That’s a cool view of the bushes. That photo would actually make a good puzzle!
Thanks Scott! Loved being surrounded by the tea plantations, the bright green bushes everywhere are just so beautiful. And I have to admit that before we got to the Highlands, I had no idea that Malaysia was such a tea-loving nation!
Ah, this place was so beautiful. I was there in the Cameron Highlands during Christmas. I so need to return.
Really beautiful! We enjoyed hiking in the mountains so much – the climate is perfect!
When we were looking into Malaysia this was definitely one of the things on our list! I wish we had more time to travel there (we’ll have to skip the country this time around), but we’ll be back. 🙂
The Cameron Highlands were definitely one of the highlight in Malaysia (so far!) We’re now looking forward to checking out some beaches 🙂
So pretty! We are hoping to similar landscape very soon. We arrived now in Colombo and heading to the center of the Island tomorrow with similar tea plantations. Can’t wait.
Also … we will be in Kuala Lumpur end of April for 12 hours … will email you again to get some tips on what to do in such a short time!
Love the photo!
Oh, this tea plantation is nothing compared to what you’ll get to see in Sri Lanka! Can’t wait to see pictures! We’d be happy to give you some tips for KL – or be your tour guides for the day should we happen to be there at the same time 🙂
Tea plantations were probably the nicest thing I saw in Malaysia!
They are gorgeous! Malaysia is the first place we’ve visited where we saw tea plantations. Did you also visit some beaches in Malaysia?
I did the Boh tea plantation tour as well! I absolutely loved the Cameron Highlands. Did you get to see the Rafflesasia flower on any of your hikes?
You know what, for some reason we did NOT see the Rafflesia flower on any of our hikes!! I think that you usually see it when hiking in the Mossy Forest, but it was raining so hard when we went there that we took a shorter & easier path than they usually take. Didn’t see it on our other hikes either 🙁 But all the other plants and flowers we saw in the Cameron Highlands definitely made up for that – so pretty!! 🙂
Nice shot, the recent memories are now flooding back…ahhh. I just wrote a post on this part of the world, it’s an area I very much enjoyed…the weather is PERFECT.
That was the Tea Plantation? Pretty awesome. I like the spot and the scenery.
We weren’t sure what a tea plantation would look like either Michelle. It was a great day out!