In order to have available an after-hours drink, we inquired about
a wine store and were directed by the front desk to a place on the
main street (run by Chinese of course) and got a dubious bottle
of Malbec labelled Sta. Inez for RM74. It was actually pretty good,
a little stemmy and green but drinkable. I suspect that if we'd
sprung for the Pichon Lalande 2005 for 1350 we might have been
drinking the same thing. The wine was somewhat improved the
second night.

We discovered that our place offers Carlsberg beers for 6,
which was a pleasant refreshment in the afternoons.

The Travellers Bar is said to be the only bar in town, and it was
just down the hill from our place, so we gave it a visit. It's
a rather sad and run down place, whose bartender gave every
impression of being half in the bag with alcohol poisoning or
perhaps opium use. lili ordered Jack and water with ice; I
had what was purported to be Hennessy VSOP but was actually
some generic distilled spirit that may have had a grape or
two in its background. The Jack tasted sort of like Mekhong.
The bartender had to go to the restaurant next door to find
ice and water. Strange place. Maybe it's better at night.
The drinks were 17 each.

There was rumor of another bar at a hostel called Daniel's,
so we went there - it looked pretty unpromising as well, but
we were subsequently told that it opens late and is open late.
Never made it there.

To make up for our boozal profligacy, we dined at the hawker
stalls down the way from Father's. A dinner of chicken satays,
a lemongrass fried chicken thigh (cold), and a plate of mee
goreng (Indonesian/Malay version of lo mein, this version
having squid, shrimp, and scallops - obviously lili didn't
partake), along with two Cokes, 14.80.

Helped by the front desk, we hired a taxi for the next
morning, MYR25 an hour, 3 hour minimum.

Promptly at 10 this little Sikh guy pulled up in a car
in semi-respectable condition.

Our major aim was to check out the tea farms for which this
region is known and to look at the views along the way.

Incidentally, we got a bit of a lecture on the area's changes
and the political issues that are gradually transforming the
country.

The Boh tea company is the most famous and I believe the
original in the region. Boh, by the way, isn't a Malay word
but an English acronym for Best of Highlands. It has four
plantations, of which we visited the first, which is between
Tanah Rata and Ringlet, relatively out of the way compared
to the one everyone visits, which is near Mount Brinchang,
up a bit north in the tourist area.

This is reached by a road that starts out fairly respectable
and ends up a bit of a track right near the factory. On both
sides steep terraced tea fields of great evocativeness and
beauty. At the end of the road, the plant itself with
associated gift shop and canteen, both tiny. It is also
possible to hike to the top of a hill overlooking the estate
- well worthwhile and especially nice when we could watch
the mists roll in and then down into the valleys.

The factory tour was pretty perfunctory - I'd say 10 minutes
of rapidfire facts and the smell of partially processed tea.
It was noisy and rather hot, and I was grateful when we went
back down into the tea shop, where lili got a couple of
scones (nasty things, very stale, as though they were there
mostly for show and had lived under their plastic dome for
days and days) for the driver and herself - of course I paid
- MYR8.70 each. Teas (hers hot black, mine tarik) were half
that and twice as good. Our driver got his free.

A leisurely drive back down and to the highway, where the
Bharat tea plantation beckoned. This is an open-air tea shop
and gift shop of the most commercial sort. The great views,
best in the area, are the ones most often included in the
tourist brochures and Websites. You also get to walk down
unguided into the tea fields, but I decided not to, having
been on farms before and not wanting to have to check yes
on the US reentry form for "have you been on a farm or
in close proximity with livestock."

We were deposited back at Arundina right on time.