This isn't a vacation for me but more to a 'exploring' trip as our lecturer wants us to learn something from the visits and voice out our opinions about what we have discovered during the visit. Our lecturer has successfully stressed us up as he is going to create a question in our test 1 from this trip. However, we are all enjoying the trip and we have fun while learning as well.
We gather at our faculty in the evening of Friday because the bus is going to depart at 6pm. From the time we depart, I already can guess that we will reach our destination not sooner than midnight. We have taken a short break at Sg. Buloh highway station and that is the place where we have our dinner. My dinner-Burger King! After that 1 hour break, the buses move again at 8pm. our bus passes through Simpang Pulai to reach Cameron. It quite surprise me when I get to know that we are going to Cameron at night because it is quite dangerous for a bus to go up the hill where there will be no light along the road to Cameron. However, thanks to the professional driver, we get to Cameron safely at 12am.
Once we get down from the bus, we can feel the freezing cold wind and we are all shocked when we see our 'Hotel'. More precisely, we are all staying in kampung orang asli Sungai Ruil. It is located inside the Dahlia Villa. Our 'Hotel' is 100% made from bamboo and wood. It looks like a rumah panjang. There is a living room with 3 rooms inside. There are 10 double deckers in 1 of the rooms and it costs us rm15 per nigth per person. We all feel that we have paid more for that quality of 'Hotel' we are staying. At the first night, for sure we are not going to anywhere but have a nice sleep. However, it was too cold for me to fall asleep as it was oli 12Celcius that night.
We woke up at 7am and we have our nasi lemak breakfast prepared by them at 7.30am. Our dinning place is really orang asli style. Around 8.30am, we take a visit to the Sungei Palas Boh tea plantation. The road to there is really very narrow and small and we are forced to split into 2 groups and take turn to get there with a smaller bus. Once we step in the tea plantation, we are welcomed by the person in charge of the factory which is also the manager, Mr. Pathi. He gives us a short briefing in an introduction about Boh tea before we make our first move into the factory. Then, he leads us the way to the factory and he starts to explain the process of making tea. The tea leaves that is harvested will undergo the withering process in which the moisture of the tea leaves will be reduced to around 70%. It is done by steaming the tea leaves with warm air. Next, the tea leaves will be sent to the rolling machines so that the tea leaves will be rolled to give out fragnance, aroma of the tea and the fermentation process starts here as well. Afterwards, the tea leaves will undergo further compact rolling in which the tea leaves are twist and rolled into a smaller leaves. The colour of the leaves turn from green to brown as well. Then, the tea leaves will be dried to stop the fermentation. In this process, rubber wood is used to generate the heat. According to Mr. Pathi, rubber wood is used because it give out less smoke and reduce air pollution, it can burns longer while giving constant heat and it is easily obtained in Malaysia. After drying process, the tea leaves will be sorted and the fiber and stalk of the tea leaves will be extracted as well. Here is some tips for those who likes to drink tea:
Chinese tea and green tea should be drank after heavy meal. Chinese tea contains preservative, it is advisable to rinsed the tea leaves with hot water or throw away the first pot and consume the second. Chinese tea is half-fermented so it will help in digestion and cleaning your intestine. Green tea is non-fermented, it helps in digestion. The western tea is fully fermented hence it is light and suitable to drink even before meal.
Tea bag is the lousiest tea! The bigger the tea leaves, the better is the quality of tea. And most importantly, tea DOES NOT CONTAIN CAFFEIN! Do not consume tea when it turn cold as it will give the reverse effect.
After the visit, we proceed to the vegetables farm in which we can see the whole cleaning process of the tomatoes. The farm owner told us that there are various type of vegetables planted here which include strawberry, tomato, melon, grape and etc. We have tasted the grape although it taste a bit savour and we got the chance to harvest the melon ourselves too! (with the permition of the owner) Then, we have our lunch at Tanah Rata.
Next, we continue our journey to the flower farm. We have been explained about the hydroponic plant with the add of the nutrient to the water and how long it takes for the strawberry to grow and its maximum production by the assistant there. We also asked about the use of light bulb at night and she told us that certain flower has longer photoperiod and thus need more sunlight compare to others. Hence, they use light bulb at night to replace sunlight so that the flower will gloom.
Since its still early, we grab the chance to go to the night market at Brinchang. I manage to buy some delicacies there. My friends as well busy shopping and bought a lot of flower and cactus as well as some corns. (its so cheap!)
At night, we have to go back to our lodge to have our dinner...
The next morning, we depart at 9am and pay our first visit to the MARDI at Tanah Rata. The person in charge there lead us the way to the farm and explain sincerely to us every single thing about the researh done by them.
Last but not least, we visit the farmer association located at the main road of Brinchang. Again the manager welcomes us and start to give a short briefing about the plantations in Cameron and their role in improving the yield of crops. It takes around 45 minutes as we are in rush of time. We have our lunch immediately after the visit and get back to our bus. We do our last shopping at the morning market where the bus stop by the road. Finally, we are going Back! Our group members have started to discuss the question should be asked in out test 1 as requested by our lecturer. We have a brainstorming and finally we come to a conclusion.
It was a rather good experiance for me as I get the chance to learn so much thing during the trip. Well, thank to our lecturer for bringing us up there. In conclusion, the main objective for this trip is achieved!
Once we get down from the bus, we can feel the freezing cold wind and we are all shocked when we see our 'Hotel'. More precisely, we are all staying in kampung orang asli Sungai Ruil. It is located inside the Dahlia Villa. Our 'Hotel' is 100% made from bamboo and wood. It looks like a rumah panjang. There is a living room with 3 rooms inside. There are 10 double deckers in 1 of the rooms and it costs us rm15 per nigth per person. We all feel that we have paid more for that quality of 'Hotel' we are staying. At the first night, for sure we are not going to anywhere but have a nice sleep. However, it was too cold for me to fall asleep as it was oli 12Celcius that night.
We woke up at 7am and we have our nasi lemak breakfast prepared by them at 7.30am. Our dinning place is really orang asli style. Around 8.30am, we take a visit to the Sungei Palas Boh tea plantation. The road to there is really very narrow and small and we are forced to split into 2 groups and take turn to get there with a smaller bus. Once we step in the tea plantation, we are welcomed by the person in charge of the factory which is also the manager, Mr. Pathi. He gives us a short briefing in an introduction about Boh tea before we make our first move into the factory. Then, he leads us the way to the factory and he starts to explain the process of making tea. The tea leaves that is harvested will undergo the withering process in which the moisture of the tea leaves will be reduced to around 70%. It is done by steaming the tea leaves with warm air. Next, the tea leaves will be sent to the rolling machines so that the tea leaves will be rolled to give out fragnance, aroma of the tea and the fermentation process starts here as well. Afterwards, the tea leaves will undergo further compact rolling in which the tea leaves are twist and rolled into a smaller leaves. The colour of the leaves turn from green to brown as well. Then, the tea leaves will be dried to stop the fermentation. In this process, rubber wood is used to generate the heat. According to Mr. Pathi, rubber wood is used because it give out less smoke and reduce air pollution, it can burns longer while giving constant heat and it is easily obtained in Malaysia. After drying process, the tea leaves will be sorted and the fiber and stalk of the tea leaves will be extracted as well. Here is some tips for those who likes to drink tea:
Chinese tea and green tea should be drank after heavy meal. Chinese tea contains preservative, it is advisable to rinsed the tea leaves with hot water or throw away the first pot and consume the second. Chinese tea is half-fermented so it will help in digestion and cleaning your intestine. Green tea is non-fermented, it helps in digestion. The western tea is fully fermented hence it is light and suitable to drink even before meal.
Tea bag is the lousiest tea! The bigger the tea leaves, the better is the quality of tea. And most importantly, tea DOES NOT CONTAIN CAFFEIN! Do not consume tea when it turn cold as it will give the reverse effect.
After the visit, we proceed to the vegetables farm in which we can see the whole cleaning process of the tomatoes. The farm owner told us that there are various type of vegetables planted here which include strawberry, tomato, melon, grape and etc. We have tasted the grape although it taste a bit savour and we got the chance to harvest the melon ourselves too! (with the permition of the owner) Then, we have our lunch at Tanah Rata.
Next, we continue our journey to the flower farm. We have been explained about the hydroponic plant with the add of the nutrient to the water and how long it takes for the strawberry to grow and its maximum production by the assistant there. We also asked about the use of light bulb at night and she told us that certain flower has longer photoperiod and thus need more sunlight compare to others. Hence, they use light bulb at night to replace sunlight so that the flower will gloom.
Since its still early, we grab the chance to go to the night market at Brinchang. I manage to buy some delicacies there. My friends as well busy shopping and bought a lot of flower and cactus as well as some corns. (its so cheap!)
At night, we have to go back to our lodge to have our dinner...
The next morning, we depart at 9am and pay our first visit to the MARDI at Tanah Rata. The person in charge there lead us the way to the farm and explain sincerely to us every single thing about the researh done by them.
Last but not least, we visit the farmer association located at the main road of Brinchang. Again the manager welcomes us and start to give a short briefing about the plantations in Cameron and their role in improving the yield of crops. It takes around 45 minutes as we are in rush of time. We have our lunch immediately after the visit and get back to our bus. We do our last shopping at the morning market where the bus stop by the road. Finally, we are going Back! Our group members have started to discuss the question should be asked in out test 1 as requested by our lecturer. We have a brainstorming and finally we come to a conclusion.
It was a rather good experiance for me as I get the chance to learn so much thing during the trip. Well, thank to our lecturer for bringing us up there. In conclusion, the main objective for this trip is achieved!
