Roses, Lavender, Cactus, and Bees . . .

Soren, the guest house manager, has hooked us up with a car and driver for the day so we're off to see the 'sights'.  The Highlands are renowned for the hiking trails through this dense jungle terrain but the weather is pretty skunky so this will not be a hiking day.  Instead, we opt for the Rose Valley, the Lavender Farm, and the Bee Farm, all of which are relatively sheltered and we've borrowed umbrellas.

Interesting, this is more like a commercial rose operation than a 'valley'.  Reminded us of a trip through a really high-end nursery like Swanson's in Seattle.  As did the Lavender Farm . . .

There were actually more non-lavender plants than lavender but beautiful nonetheless.  And, big surprise, the cactus garden!  They looked kind of peaked but we were amazed to see cacti in this jungly environment.

Bee farm was not at all photogenic but we did buy a couple of 'tubes' of local honey and learned that they have not had any 'hive collapse'.  Long and full day . . .