Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine January 2018 | Page 96

94
Travel | Kepahiang
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“Bengkulu is known for the Rafflesia, its tea and
its coffee. Those were the three gems responsible for
Bengkulu’s fame,” says our driver Muhammad Ikhsan
explaining about this province.
Our car wanders through the farthest
parts of Bengkulu, where Ikhsan lives with
his wife and two children. We pass by Fort
Marlborough, which was constructed
by the 18 th -century British venture the East
India Company (EIC). Fort Marlborough
has gone down in history as the second
largest British fort in the Asia-Pacific
region, following one in India. It now
stands in the centre of Bengkulu with
its cannon facing the vast Indian Ocean.
1 Tea pickers walking through the tea plantation.
For the best tea for export, the leaves have to be picked
before sunrise.
2 Morning mist surrounding the tea plantation
area in Kepahiang.
As our car continues to meander, we pass
the house of the Bengkulu governor, where
Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Stamford Raffles
used to live when it was a British colony.
“Bengkulu was initially known for its gold,”
Ikhsan continues as the car leaves the city.
“The gold that decorates the National
Monument in Jakarta was actually
shipped from Bengkulu.”
We make our way to Kepahiang, one
of the plateaus in Bengkulu province,
passing houses with sacks of coal piled
up at the front. The quiet and misty road
becomes a long, uphill one. The cold begins
to creep through the open windows of the
car as the fog swirls around the treetops.
The hills roll one after another through
the conservation forest and natural
reserve, creating a plateau surrounded
by the fog.
After two hours on the road, we arrive
at a vast tea plantation. At the centre,
female tea pickers line up carrying baskets,
adding a wide array of colours to
the lush green background.