Mountains of Tea

Took a trip to a place called Tamin Safari, I am sure the kids will blog about this as it was really fun, so watch for their reports. It was located at the base of a mountain and our driver, Haysim, asked if he could take us up over the mountain. So off we went. These mountains should be viewable from our apartment but the smog in Jakarta is so thick that I hear they only appear maybe three times a year.
We began to wind up this incredibly lush and green mountain with zig zagging lines of some sort of crop growing all up the side of the mountain. Trails wound through the crops as workers in traditional straw hats walked through checking the crops. I asked Haysim what they were growing and he said "Tea". As we ascended the mountain a thick cloud enveloped us and as we reached the top Haysim brought us to a private resort that apparently Chevron uses a lot for different functions. We went in and had coffee and listened to two gentlemen in traditional dress play a flute and a strange looking harp that looked like a small boat to me. It was a little windy at the top of the mountain and the door of the lobby was opened, literally clouds were blowing in the door, we got quite a kick out of that. Coming down from the mountain it felt like we were leaving a mystical, magical place.