After 22 years, I finally went back up to Cameron Higlands. This time we drove up with my car on the second day of Raya. The roads were kinda windy and narrow, took us about 5 hours to get up there. We took the road up from Tapah. Left around 10 am, traffic was ok. We did stop by Bidor for lunch, had the famous "ap tui mien" (herbal duck noodle soup).
There are altogether 3 small towns up in Cameron, Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Brinchang. We stayed at Bala's Chalet in Tanah Rata. This place used to be a boarding school in the late 1930's. Now's the have turned it into a B&B. Very nice place and very cosy and serene too. We got a quiet suite up the hill for RM280. Check out the website if any of you want to have a great time in Cameron's should not miss checking out Bala's Chalet. (www.balaschalet.com) After checking in, it started to poured quite heavily. After the rain we adjourned over the the tea room for some tea and scones. Quite pricy but it was worthwhile. The scones were very different and so was the apple pie. Yummy! Dinner time, we head on over to Brinchang for steamboat at You Hoo Restaurant. RM15 pax lots of vege and great weather to eat steamboat. After dinner we decided to talk a slow walk at the "pasar malam" near by. We met my friend Richard who sells Raw and Wild honey at the pasar malam. He has a stall there and we were told that he supplies slabs of honey comb bee wax to hotels in KL. Yummy stuff especially the darker color honey.
We only stayed one night at Bala's (enjoyed watching HBO ). The next day we checked into Century Pines Resort just a few minutes down from Bala's. Typical hotel, very new and big spacious room. Per night RM198++
After checking out from Bala's we head on over to the Boh Tea plantation in Sg. Palas. We were quite lucky to get there early, as later they closed it to visitor to do some cleaning up from last night landslide. It was raining the whole night. Roads leading to the plantation were very narrow, muddy and windy. We got a tour of the plantation and factory, also not forgetting having tea and scones again for breakfast at the cafe there which overlooks the plantation. Next we drove up higher to Gunung Brinchang were there's also a strawberry farm. We got to pluck them and take them home for a small price. Not very sweet as they are still tiny. Bigger ones are much more juicy and sweeter.
Next head back to the hotel to check in and also freshen up. Had lunch at T-Cafe quite yummy food. In the evening, we decided to do some hiking to the waterfalls. The walking path was just next to our hotel, the walked took us like 15 mins. We were quite dissapointed to see the condition of the Parit Waterfalls. There's so much rubbish in the river plus the water is chocolate brown. So muddy and dirty. I'm quite sad that the people here dont really care about perserving the environment and also the touristy places.
Dinner time back to town in Tanah Rata, we ate at HongKong restaurant ordered dishes instead of steamboat. The food here also not too bad. After dinner we went back to the pasar malam again coz Victoria wanted some strawberry juice. We also bought cactus and flowers to bring back. On the way back, Phil was curious to try Marybrown Chicken so we decided to stop by and tapau some back to the room. Not as yummy as KFC.
Last day, woke up early had breakfast at the coffee house. The we decided to check out the Kampung Orang Asli. It was very dissapointing again as it was just like any other kampung. I see alot back in KL especially near my apt. Took us only 5 mins to check out the place.
Next we drove up near Equatorial Hotel to the KEA Farm to buy from vege and fresh strawberries. Got a huge bag of vege for only RM 30 quite a good deal. We also got more cactus plant. Then we also visited the Chinese Temple there. Later we went back to the hotel showered and check out at 12.30. We then drove down the the Cameron Valley Bharrat Tea Plantations for lunch. We had sandwiches, tea and more scones :P On the way down there was another Boh Tea Farm, so we decided to check that out too. We spent quite sometime there. We also hiked up all the way to the top of the hill. The view was magnificient. Also got to checked out the factory and bought more tea. This time rolled palas tea leaf.
Time to head back to KL took us over 3 hours to get down and back into town. Traffic was getting a bit heavier. On the way down, we stop by Lata Iskandar Waterfall. Very nice huge waterfalls much cleaner than the ones up in Cameron.
So that's our short holiday trip. Next year Visit Malaysia Year 2007. Hope to see more parts of our beautiful country.
Penang here we come....PL decided to drive his car up. I was worried if his car would make it there in piece but too out surprise it did. We detour and took the ferry across from Butterworth. It's been quite a while since I sat on a ferry, its was really exciting and fun. Felt abit "jakun" but who cares. It cost more than the bridge too RM7.50 but it was worth it.
Christmas Time is here....ho ho ho. It was a short and sweet holiday, we had loads of fun back home. Managed to spend quality time with PL and his father. We visited the new Queensbay Mall in Bayan Lepas. This new mall reminds me alot of 1Utama, MidValley and BTS (combination of all 3 malls) Huge huge parking place...main tenant - JUSCO and many other branded stores. Christmas Tree at Queensbay Mall
We had dinner at Johnny's Steamboat the first nite we arrive. Then on Christmas day which coincidently Uncle's birthday, I wanted to take him to TGIF to celebrate. Being Christmas day, the restaurant was super packed and menu was very limited as it was very new too. So we adjourn to Manhattan Fish Market for lunch....I must say we had a scrumptous meal. I bought a mini cake for him and surprised him when we got back. He received lots of goodies and present too.
Also am very proud of myself, I woke up early together with PL and his dad we went for morning walk 2 days in a row at Botannical Garden. This is to prepare for our long awaited holiday to Siem Rep - Angkor Wat. Looking forward to it....can't wait.
