This first episode ‘Tea Time Tourism’ sees Aqilaa arriving at Cameron Highlands after a long bus ride and immediately noticing surface level differences in the area, the boom of tourist hubs and the prevalence of agro-tourism. She journeys to popular tourist site Lavender Farm to meet co-host Aleyxia where the main concern of the episode is brought up ‘Where was this all 10 years ago?’. The episode centers around the concept of agro-tourism as defined by Leh et. al (2017), a phenomenon that has become prevalent in Cameron Highlands as their dominant form of tourism which makes up a major component of the revenue flow to the area. This growth of tourism has led to the prosperity and expansion of local businesses, and the hosts seek to explore how this would in turn impact the locals of Cameron Highlands by interviewing numerous industry insiders - produce traders, business owners, and farm owners.

Benefits to the livelihood of Cameron Highlands local’s include greater economic benefit, better general awareness of biodiversity, and positive social capital. Additionally, The success farmers can find in Cameron Highlands has led to the continuation of legacy farming and the spread of entrepreneurial knowledge intergenerationally. Meanwhile, identified areas of concern with the growth of agro-tourism were found to be environmental impacts, road accessibility, crowding during holiday seasons, and a possible rise in land prices (Kunasekaran, Ramachandran, Yacob, and Shuib 2011; Povera and Yunus 2020). This was backed up by the insight gathered through interviews conducted on-site in Cameron by Aleyxia.

As Aleyxia and Aqilaa travel to their next destination, the second concern of the episode is brought up, centering on how Cameron Highlands is marketed and known throughout Malaysia for having high quality vegetable and fruit produce, and how this reputation has been built. It is found that Cameron Highlands farmers are fairly self-sufficient and are able to sustain themselves from their local sales and consistent contracts and deals, thus they do not have to concern themselves with commercial marketing and advertising campaigns to external markets due to the trustworthy status they hold that has been cultivated through word of mouth. The success and stable cultural capital these farms hold have resulted in some bigger farms branching out into diversification and horizontal conglomerates, however this is still a minor practice as most farm owners do not show much interest in branching out (Mohamad and Marzuki 2018).

The episode wraps up with Aqilaa’s reflections on the day spent traveling to various farms and agro-tourist spots as they continue the journey to Mossy Forest.

In the following Episode 2 “Heating up the mountains,” it starts off with the hosts journeying to Mossy Forest, one of the most famous tourist attractions in Cameron Highlands. In 2021, seeing a Family Mart brings up talks about the new Cameron Centrum in Brinchang opened up and the hosts talk briefly about the place and the new shops which follows up with mentions of more environmental damage such as cutting of trees and global warming.

They start talking about environmental impacts specifically landslides (Kaur and Bernama, 2021) in which alongside the usual landslides due to the area, they talk about more major and impacting landslides in which a section of the road of the Simpang Pulai road collapsed in 2021 due to heavy rain and a river underneath the section. Even after quick action to remedy the situation, which briefly worked, another landslide that claimed lives had the road closed for longer before it was reopened again as the road was one of the main traveling roads used by truck drivers and people often commuting between Cameron and Ipoh.

While waiting in the usual jam, they continue with the rumored ESCAPE park (Hakim, Chin, Fong, Azman 2021) by Sim Leisure Group in which it was a planned Ski Resort theme park with European themed villages and fake snow. There were mixed reactions including people who knew nothing of it, people who were strongly against it for environmental reasons as there would need to be a large number of felled trees considering the area planned for the theme park, issues concerning traffic as larger number of people would mean more congested roads as there is only one main road in Cameron, and people for it due to the possibilities the park could bring.

Finally, the episode wraps up with Aqilaa’s breakdown and reasoning as to why she is taking this trip. The moment showcases, in the presence of a close friend, the vulnerabilities of a highly stressed young woman in the city who is overwhelmed by needs and technology, envying her friend and being in a brief delusion due to her desire to take a break in what she envisions as this wonderland in nature with no stress. She is brought down to earth and calmed down by Aleyxia who dispels some of the disillusions while assuring her that she has her support, in her own way.

In Episode 3 “Ingredients for a thought-provoking steamboat”, we aim to casually discuss about the produce industry in Cameron Highlands, from types of produce available to the impact of COVID, EMCO, and discussions of underappreciation of agricultural work over a steaming steamboat.

Cameron Highlands covers a large percentage of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore’s produce. It is responsible for 50 percent of all vegetable consumption in KL. While 25 to 30 percent of them are exported to Singapore. Even though the environmental conditions are not considered ideal for vegetations, farmers utilise the cool climate to create the most productive vegetation cultivation area in the Peninsular. Cameron Highland produce provides up to 25 types of different produce, but main crops are Chinese and English Cabbages and tomatoes (Shirasaka, 1988).

According to Palansamy (2021), along with enforcement of EMCO, prices of Cameron Highlands produce rose up to 40 percent. Approximately 12,000 local farmers were not allowed to leave their homes and produce productions were put to an immediate halt. Rise of pricings were inevitable due to this since the remaining supply of produce was less than 40 percent. This enforcement affected an estimated 65 percent of produce farms and operators in Cameron Highlands. Not too long after, the minister agreed to lift the EMCO for produce farmers after it came to an agreement that “essential services should not be stopped” and that included agricultural activities (CNA, 2021).

Son of a farmer of SAYO Cameron Highlands farm, Kim Mun, talked about the underappreciation of agricultural work in an article on Options. He stated that society perceives farming as a low-grade occupation, a job that does not require studying and knowledge is unnecessary. However, the pandemic brought agricultural work up to the surface, exposing its importance. It has been revealed that it is indeed an underappreciated industry but ironically it is an industry essential for everyone’s survival. He added on by bringing up the agricultural industry in Taiwan, and the fact that it is booming due to its funding, grants, and governmental support. Sekhar (2021).

Among Cameron-ians, steamboats are one of their most favoured and popular dishes. With 8 soup bases to choose from, it comes with fresh produce supplied from the local farms and other large varieties of add-ons such as meats and seafoods. The culture of families and friends huddling around the boiling steamboat plays a big role in Cameron’s culture, it represents closure and warming up their bodies from the misty chilly weather of Cameron. Steamboat restaurants have non-halal to halal options, for everyone and anyone to enjoy.

In Episode 4: "De-mist-ifying the Disappearance of the Thai Silk King", the hosts take us on a storytelling take on a mysterious figure prominent during the colonial era of Malaysia, and has left a legacy in the mountains. His legacy spans not just culture and the word-of-mouth of common folk, but is also commemorated in a dedicated building and film.

Limited access to scholarly studies on Jim Thompson have allowed for more internet-based research, most of the information and material were sourced through blogposts and websites dedicated to publishing Cameron Highlands-related stories. Material sourcing was kept as academic as possible with proper referencing and use of credible sources. Certain features of the script for this episode made use of Aleyxia's head knowledge of the subject matter.

The air around Jim Thompson's actual death is foggy, however citing various resources, he was most likely assassinated by members of the Communist Party Malaya (Bernama, 2017; Broman, 2017; Wong, 2022). From the research conducted, it is deduced that Thompson's murder was a spiteful plan by his enemy, with which he had ties with due to their service in the US Strategic Services during World War 2. Sources say that Thompson had retired from military service and took on silk trade. The trade made him wealthy as he was a key figure in developing the Thai-Malaysia-Burma silk route.

As part of his success and journey to meet his friend (the former Thai Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong) in China, Thompson had organized a South East Asia tour to China with some of his friends and made Cameron Highlands their first destination. Cameron is notable in Thompson's success as he served the US government while on duty in Cameron during the British colonial area. It was revealed to be ill-fated as Camneron would be his very first and final stop on his way to meet an old friend. He would be assasinated there without a trace.

Throughout this final episode of the series, we also get to hear more of Aleyxia's takes on the subject, as we explore her character more in-depth. However, the highlight of the episode is in the grand reveal of our protagonist's answer to her journey to Cameron Highlands. This segment of the grand story will provide major answers to Aqilaa's quest to relive that childhood memory, and it is revealed if she wants to resume working in the city or move up to the mountains.