Cameron Highlands Trip

*Warning: Picture heavy!*

This summer vacation is filled with short getaways to Malaysia. First Tioman, then a day trip to Desaru, then a 3D2N to Sunway Lagoon (which I haven’t blogged about – shame on me) and then finally another 3D2N to Cameron Highlands. I haven’t been to Cameron Highlands for more than 10 years already. Coupled with the crazy warm weather, Angela and I decided to make a short trip up to the hills.

We booked a free and easy tour with Konsortium Express, the tour company I went with to Sunway Lagoon. The daily departure bus leaves at 10.30pm from Singapore, and reaches Brinchang town, Cameron Highlands at about 7 in the morming. We stayed at Strawberry Park Resort, the resort I stayed in some 12 years ago. The picture above is the view from the resort. The resort is somewhat secluded, away from the main towns and hence very tranquil and quiet.

I got a shock after we checked in and got our rooms. It was in fact what I consider a suite. The tour agency gave us the Tioga Room (stated on the hotel voucher), which has a bedroom, a small living room, a 4-seater dining table and a separate kitchenette. This was a pleasant surprise. There is no airconditioner in the room, and even with all the windows shut, the room is chilly at night. A great respite from the Singapore heat.

We signed up with local land tour companies at Brinchang town when our bus stopped for breakfast. I think Konsortium and Five Star Travel (affiliated companies) have some form of contract with the tour agency, called Titiwangsa tours, and we were hijacked after breakfast for a talk to introduce their tours. We felt it wasn’t bad, so we signed up for all three day tours – Nature Discovery, Leisure Tour and Agro Discovery Tour. All 3 tours costs a total of RM150 per person.

Cameron Highlands is all about agriculture and nature. Unlike Genting Higlands, real people live there. They farm vegetables, flowers and tea, which we saw a lot of on this trip. A trip to Cameron Highlands is definitely not for fastidious urbanites; be prepared to tread on soil in the farms, get your hands and shoes dirty on forest walks, and smell funky manure in the nurseries.

A small scale family-run vegetable farm

Cabbage patch (sans kids)

Tour guide holding a habanero chilli

Young chrysanthemum flowers

Terraced watercress farms

One of the highlights of every Cameron Highlands tour is possibly the strawberry farms, where visitors can pick strawberries by weight and have all kinds of strawberry snacks. I recall when I saw the farms back in the 90′s, strawberries were still grown on the ground. Today, they have improved techniques and grow strawberries in pots, which increase yield per landspace.

Strawberry seedlings waiting to be planted

A strawberry budding from the flower

Showing the difference between Dutch (left) and Japanese (right) strawberries

The strawberries in Cameron Highlands are, unfortunately, sour. But sour strawberries are best eaten with cream and icing sugar. :D

Strawberries and cream

Apart from strawberry farms another apparent must-go is the tea plantations. The largest producer is BOH tea, which conveniently stands for Best Of Highlands. Angela was very excited about standing amongst tea leaves, so the tea plantation tour was especially enjoyable for her, at least.

Tea bushes with a great view in the background

Angela smelling tea leaves, which unfortunately smell like any other leaves

(And I happen to think her permed hair is great as exemplified by this photo. I think people who have different (or really, crappy) taste should keep their comments to themselves.)

We visited the tea factory and saw the process of drying, fermentation and sorting. The processing of tea leaves emitted a strong smell of tea as we know it, and we smelled it before we reached the factory proper. I seriously thought the visitor centre used some kind of tea frangrance air freshener. At the visitor centre we bought teabags and had tea at the cafe. The terraced cafe overlooks their tea plantation. Very nice view.

BOH tea plantation

I was interested in hiking in Cameron Highlands, partly for the unspoiled forests and also the cool weather. Part of our nature tour was a short hike in the mossy forests. Let’s just say, for a person who was hyped about trekking, I wasn’t prepared for it. Ironic, yes but I still had fun.

Mossy trees in the mossy forest

Clean shoes. Initially.

I totally soiled my sneakers. The following shot shows my shoes, post superficial cleaning.

Soiled shoes on retro tiles

I got mud soil and other forest stuff on my cargo pants and my shoes and socks. Nonetheless it was a fun experience. I don’t mind getting my hands and feet dirty. I actually like the hike, if not for my bad choice of footwear and me carrying a crossbody camera bag. If I carried a backpack I think it would have been a greater experience. Oh yes, did I mention that the mossy forest we went to was at 6,666 feet above sea level? We had a great view once we exited the forest and stood on the summit.

Great view from the top

Another thing I was looking forward to on the trip was the Rose Centre. I remember smelling roses from that place from my previous trip, and ever since then, I have never smelled another rose as sweet. Shakespeare is wrong, not every rose smell as sweet as each other. The roses at the Rose Centre, because they are allowed to grow to full term (they are not a nursery hence not sold), they smell very very good, exactly like bandung. It’s a smell I will remember for life.

Peach Rose

Red-White Rose

The Rose Centre

We saw other types of flowers there too, and there’s a particular flower called the Lady’s Shoe flower that’s really cute! Our tourguide showed us how exactly to view the flowers, albeit a little destructive, but very cool.

Lady's Shoe Flower

Doesn’t it resemble a pait of yellow pumps with a red tip?

Another great view from the top of The Rose Centre

A hibiscus bigger than my face

(This is the customary shot of me to show that I really was there.)

A cute boy holding a butterfly

All in all it was a fun-filled trip, and on this trip I learnt some stuff about agriculture and nature. I enjoyed the cold weather there, despite me developing a cold and having running nose. It was indeed an experience having a blocked nose at 6,666 feet above sea level, but nothing I am not acquainted with. I went up the Grand Canyon with a cold too. Perhaps I just have really bad luck with high terrains. Anyway, I think Cameron Highlands is really good for a short getaway to relax and enjoy the nature.