A cooling weekend in Cameron Highlands - Part 2

Some nurseries sell all sorts of flowering plants, while others specialize in selling orchids, cacti, etc.

Breakfast at The Lakehouse that morning offered a slightly different experience for us, in a good way. Cereals, bread, croissants and the accompanying condiments were laid out buffet-style, whilst heavier servings were ordered a la carte. The piece de resistance must be the fresh local honey served dripping from the honeycomb - it was very good! Alas, the enjoyable breakfast plus the extended photo-taking around the hotel grounds could only mean we ended up leaving the hotel a full 2 hours later than I expected, and thereby abandoning my plan to catch a glimpse of the sunrise over the Boh tea plantation (oh well..).

Brinchang is about 30 minutes uphill drive from Ringlet, taking the crawl in the traffic jam into account. When we finally got there, I was baffled by the sight of so many sightseers - I never saw a larger crowd of tourists in my own country!

There are so many strawberry farms, flower nurseries and markets to choose from in Brinchang, it could be mind-boggling just to decide which ones to go to! Even after several days of googling, I cannot really figure out which ones are the best, so my advice is just go with the flow.. of tourists that is. Even though there were several new centres being set up over the years, larger and better established ones are probably your best bet for whatever you're after.

Orchid hunting at Kuala Terla. Bought my own long-sought exotic green Lady's Slipper Orchid :)

As we have already decided not to visit the Rose Valley this time around (some of us had already gone there before), we headed straight to a couple of flower nurseries to purchase some flowering plants. I bought one of those lovely purple lilies in Brinchang and 4 orchids at nearby Kuala Terla (yes, I'm an orchid fan).

Winter Wonderland - sold (to me)!

Buying orchids in full bloom could be a costly affair, so I opted to buy the ones that were not flowering yet instead. The old Chinese lady who owns the orchid nursery showed me a photo album of all her blooming orchids, so I just pointed to the ones I wanted to buy and moments later, she came back with them. Sure it could be a while before I can see the actual flowers, but it's a neat trick to save money ;) To my excitement, I even got to buy an exotic green Lady's Slipper orchid which I have been looking for for so long - remember the posh restaurant in the movie Casino Royale where James Bond and Vesper were celebrating after he won the game? The green orchids on every table? Yes, that's probably the one :)

In all fairness, a visit to Cameron Highlands wouldn't be complete without picking your own strawberries in one of the strawberry farms, now would it? So without thinking much, we just parked our car in front of a crowded-looking strawberry farm, barged in to pay the entrance fee, and off we went picking fresh strawberries to our heart's content. Of course in the midst of our excitement, we picked too many of them only to pay more later for the extra strawberries, hehe. But hey, it was fun...

So many red juicy strawberries, so little time!

Out of excitement, we overloaded our plastic containers and had to pay more. But hey, it was fun :)

Being a mild-weathered place, Cameron Highlands is naturally a vegetable grower's heaven. Apart from flowering plants, you can see many type of vegetables being grown here. That being said, after visiting Brinchang, our local guide (we were indeed lucky to have one) took us to a vast cabbage farm (we took some cabbages home) and a hydroponic lettuce cultivation site (where the plants are grown without using soil) at Blue Valley, past the junction to Gua Musang. It was during my childhood when I last set foot on a farm, so to be on one as far as the eye can see was a really nice experience.

Coriander and spring onions were also grown in the vast cabbage farm in Blue Valley.

The lettuce plants were grown using hydroponic method without the use of soil.

We finally left beautiful Cameron Highlands reluctantly and with our car full of fresh vegetables and flowering plants. I guess it was a truly quality time out with my family. Tired but happy, I might contemplate on another trip to good 'ol Cameron Highlands. Of course, there's always Mossy Forest (one of only 2 in the whole world) if you're up for a good hike. And Lata Iskandar if you feel like swimming in the cool water under the cascading waterfall ;)

A cooling weekend in Cameron Highlands - Part 1

Family portrait at The Lakehouse, Ringlet.

Some Malaysians might gasp in amazement when I say I've never been up here in the highlands before. When I was small, I wouldn't count on my parents to take us anywhere nice even during the long school holidays simply because we were not that well off - I fully accepted the fact without a grudge. And when I started working, half of the time I would be out of the country on some assignment. Now that I am furthering my studies locally (and extended holidays are next to impossible), bringing my parents and siblings for the weekend to tourist spots around Malaysia seems like a good idea. This time around, destressing is the word and Cameron Highlands is the place to do it... Owing its name to a rich English chap and previously a retreat for the British colonial rulers from the tropical heat, Cameron Highlands is now choked with traffic-jam-inducing tourists especially around school holidays. Somehow that fact never deter me from going there...

Cameron Highlands is a mountainous area in the state of Pahang, about 3 hours drive from KL - the latter half of which involves a winding uphill climb up to more than 1000 metres above sea level. Definitely a good time to wind down your window and feel the cool mountain breeze brushing against your cheeks :)

I booked 2 deluxe rooms at The Lakehouse, a small boutique hotel in Ringlet, about 15 minutes drive from the local administrative centre, Tanah Rata. My mom and possibly everyone else were a bit worried because the hotel was a wee bit far from everything else, but their fears turned to excitement as soon as we checked in.

Outdoor lounging area with the view of a lake.

The rooms elegantly furnished in Tudor style, tip-top service with a smile, and the free morning car wash (now that's a first!) justified the price. The distance from most of the attractions at Brinchang just made it a perfect getaway from the crowded tourist spots and head-aching traffic. And what do you know, it's also a popular wedding photography venue - that is just how beautiful the place is! Sure enough, I don't think we ever took that many photos in a hotel before...

English-inspired decor with real red roses on the vanity desk.. and no TV for extra tranquility.

This hotel appears on the current national tourism board's advertisement and is a wedding photography hotspot.

It was late afternoon when we arrived so we figured that we only had enough time to visit the nearest attraction, Cameron Bharat tea plantation about 3 km away. While the more uphill Boh tea plantation at Sungei Palas is reputedly the largest in South-east Asia, Cameron Bharat has its own charm. It so reminded me of that green tea plantation where the Korean drama Summer Scent was shot. We strolled down the main path to a gentle stream meandering through the slopes of the hills. Aah.. so calm, so dreamy... Unbeknownst to me, my mom even plucked a leaf and chewed it while we were going through the labyrinth of tea plants - she later told me it tasted bitter, hehe.

Cameron Bharat tea plantation is not the largest but still is beautiful nonetheless.

Finding our way in the maze of tea plants :)

It was getting dark so when I spotted a Caucasian couple with their cute baby coming down from one of the hilltops (they must be so excited by the scenery to have strayed that far off the beaten track), I politely asked the husband to take a picture of us before my camera's battery went kaput. And of course he said, "Sure."

One last photo before my camera's battery went kaput. Sure was worth it ;)

We sipped some warm tea at the tea house (that white building in the pic above) while our eyes were soothed by the sweeping view of the whole plantation before we said adieu and retired for the day.