On the Jim Thompson Trail - Cameron Highlands

photos : http://www.jimthompson.com/

Perhaps those of you who have travelled in the Far East will have come across the name Jim Thompson, the Thai Silk King. Jim Thompson single handedly revived the cottage industry of silk weaving in Thailand during the 1960's and was renowned throughout the region for his expansive nature and gracious hospitality. His house by the klong in Bangkok was always full of good food and good cheer and today his spirit lives on in silk emporiums, the Jim Thompson House and museum and restaurants throughout the far east.

But - did you know, that this man disappeared without trace one evening in March 1967 in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia?

Moonlight cottage http://ipohtalk.com/camerons/camerons.html

Thompson was visiting his Singaporean friends the Lings at Moonlight Cottage. Following a picnic on Mt Brinchang, he and his friends went back to enjoy a siesta and then he simply vanished. Stories about his mysterious disappearance abound - there are numerous theories as to why Thompson was never seen again, some plausible and others complex and far-fetched. For example, many believe that he was kidnapped for his previous involvement in spying activities. Others reckon it is more likely that he was eaten by a tiger, murdered in a botched robbery, or fell into an aboriginal animal trap (a pit with a spike) and buried by the the local people (Orang Asli) when they discovered what had happened. It has also been said that he may have eloped with a beautiful local girl! Many hypotheses have been put forward to explain Thompson's disappearance and there were some reported sightings of him after his disappearance, but what happened to him still remains one of the greater unsolved mysteries of Southeast Asia.

Map of the highlands

Well, a visit the Cameron Highlands is certainly not complete without a search for the legendary Jim! We recently spent a couple of days in this beautiful cool region which is 3 hours drive north of Kuala Lumpur. Whilst there we followed the Jim Thompson Trail which was not far from our hotel , the Cameron Highlands Resort. Our guide (one of the original search party back in the 1960's) provided us with an interesting short trek through the jungle, peppered with stories about the legendary Thompson and fascinating facts about the flora and fauna of the rain forest. Unfortunately, I don't have many good photos as the late afternoon light in the forest was dim and our guide set a cracking pace!! We saw a lot of trees, fungi, ferns, ginger plants, bamboo, rare orchids and animal tracks. We heard many birds and insects and babbling streams, but we didn't find Jim!

At ground level fascinating fungi. This one's a Stinkhorn fungus - see my blog post here.

Magic mushrooms!


statuesque ginger,

and small bright flowers.

Tree trunks and branches are festooned with wet moss,


orchid plants


and ferns

Cameron Highlands was named after William Cameron, a British Government surveyor who discovered it in 1885 whilst on a mapping expedition (on elephant back!) of the Titiwangsa range. However, he failed to mark his discovery and it was not until 1925 that Sir George Maxwell recorded Cameron's discovery and decided to develop it as a hill resort.

Mock tudor buildings abound in the Camerons!

The fame of Cameron Highlands grew during the colonial era. The British were attracted to this cool hill station; its climate tailor-made for nostalgic reconstructions of English cottages, narrow village lanes, invigorating hikes through the countryside, rounds of golf and afternoon tea and scones accompanied by jam made from locally grown strawberries.

http://ipohtalk.com/camerons/camerons.html

Tea Plantation

British planters soon realised the potential of its fertile mountain slopes for growing tea, then a prized commodity. Cameron Highlands is still home to many tea plantations, as well as strawberry and vegetable farms, jungle trails, cascading waterfalls and rose gardens.

We visited the verdant Boh Tea plantation.


Tea pickers

Tea plant

The production process

Various grades of tea




Flowers in the plantation gardens

Our hotel room

Late night snack!!


Highly recommended holiday destination!

Batik painting and pottery classes

I've recently started taking lessons in batik painting and pottery - two things I've always wanted to try my hand at. And what better place to learn than here in Malayia? Just look at the environment! The lessons are held in covered outdoor studios in lovely surroundings not far from my home. Admittedly it's pretty humid and there are a few mosquitoes biting but otherwise it's a real pleasure to be creating surrounded by nature!



The batik classes are actually held in a working studio - my teacher is Malaysian fashion designer Azizi of Zizi Design, who creates beautiful, exclusive silk garments decorated with gorgeous hand painted batik designs.





In his workshop several batik artists recreate his designs on huge lengths of silk. Fascinating to watch and learn from these experts!








Batik is a process of resist - portions of the fabric (usually silk or cotton) are coated with melted wax and the fabric is then submerged in or painted with dye. The dye does not penetrate areas of fabric that are covered with wax and they remain their original colour. The wax is applied with a traditional tool called a Tjanting. This little metal holder with spout is attached to a wooden handle and is dipped into the (very) hot melted wax. Lines are then drawn with it to create the design. The trick is to avoid getting blobs of wax on the fabric whilst keeping a steady hand and not forgetting, of course, not to touch the hot metal. Believe me this instrument is hard to control at first and potentially lethal!



First we practiced drawing lines with the Tjanting - quite tricky to keep a steady hand, and ensure that the wax is just the right temperature. Too hot and the wax flows too fast creating blobs and thick lines. Too cold and the wax won't penetrate the fabric. A bit of a challenge next - we had to come up with a design and draw it straight onto the fabric which has been stretched on a frame. The wax was then applied to our designs with much muttering about blobs, wobbly lines and blocked tjantings! A good thing we are not using pure silk for our first attempt!


At last came the magical part - colour! Juicy dyes applied with brushes which spread quickly to fill in the design. It's a little like trying to control watercolour and can be rather unpredictable! The photo shows Evelyn at work on her banana trees with brush and dye.



Here is my first attempt! Lots of very thick wax lines where they shouldn't be there (oops!), but I'm quite pleased with it - I think the dark blue background sets off the hibiscus flower and butterflies well.



Our work drying in the sunshine. Next week we will find out how to remove the wax and fix the dye before attempting another design - on real silk this time! I've brought the stretched silk home so that I can prepare for the lesson in advance and hope to show you the design in due course.






Here I am in the pottery studio! I've spent two lessons learning how to prepare the clay and how to create basic pinch pots. Not very exciting, but you've got to start somewhere! Kneading the clay is pretty hot work and I'm finding new muscles in my arms! As for the pinch pots, well, I have to say that my first attempts at these little pots are pretty awful, but my pottery teacher Mr Lam is very encouraging - so maybe there's hope yet! Mr Lam, by the way, is also a very talented oil painter who paints colourful nostalgic scenes of Malaysian life in the 1950's and 60's. I hope to show you some of his work in my next post.