High Tea And Strawberry Jam!
Andrew and I left the steamy plains of Ipoh for cooler climes. Another creaking bus, another winding road, another sick bag and we made our way to Malaysias’ highest peaks, ‘The Cameron Highlands’. We had no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t this. On route, I cast my eye over mile after mile of unattractive plastic sheeting scarring the beautiful landscape. Strawberry fields stretching to the horizon, only all under a hideous covering. Had ‘The Beatles’ come together here for inspiration, the song would, doubtless, have been entiltled ‘Polytunnels Forever.’ Every turn we made there were giant fibreglass fruit welcoming tourists inside to have a pluck. I must say, I have always been baffled by the practice of ‘Pick Your Own’! When I was a child, my father would often drag the family to some bland farm in some home county or other where we would all set out to pick our own. I could never see the fun in this back-breaking escapade – especially when you could pick up a full punnet in Sainsburys round the corner and save on the petrol. The extra plus being that somebody else had slipped a disc whilst gathering your harvest! Poor old dad, he was a huge strawberry fan and so we humoured him. Strawberries, strawberries everywhere, and everyone to eat! So many farms, that we were caught for three hours in slow moving traffic – now that’s what I […]
