Sze and I went back to Sitiawan to visit my parents and celebrate Father’s Day on 16th June 2007. Along the way, we stopped by Kellie’s Castle, a historical local attraction in Batu Gajah. Further on, as we drove into Ayer Tawar town, we saw a “samseng” (gangster) shop… hehe. It was actually a small provisions shop that had an alternative meaning in its name.
We had dinner with my family that night and we decided to drop by Cameron Highlands on the way back to KL the next morning.We took the new highway up to Cameron from Simpang Pulai. The road was much wider than the one from Tapah but it was still a rather winding hillside road. We were pleased that the rain had stopped before we departed. However, once we arrived (we stayed at the Equatorial Hotel, which was at the highest peak along the Cameron main road), a drizzle started and it became pretty chilly and misty up there.
After checking into our room, we went to Tanah Rata for lunch. Sze had wanted to go to the popular T-Café there but unfortunately, it was closed on Sunday. So we decided to go to a tea plantation café instead. We had passed by the junction to the Sungei Palas tea plantation earlier and decided to give that place a try.The road to the Sg. Palas Boh Tea plantation was very narrow indeed. It seemed quite dangerous and scary (driving up this long and winding, narrow road is definitely not for inexperienced drivers) as it adjoins the Gunung Brinchang road, which is apparently the highest road in Peninsular Malaysia. However, after a few hundred meters from the road junction, we could already see a refreshingly beautiful scenery. Everything was just so… green and neat (unlike the typical jungle)!
We parked our car at the designated parking space, even as we saw another car continuing to drive past an authorized personnel only signboard. There was still a light drizzle and we walked under the umbrella for about 200m along a path towards the café. Yes, it was pretty romantic with the heavenly view and fresh, cool temperature.At the café, we ordered 2 pieces of chocolate cake, a hotdog bun and a pot of Cameronian Boh tea. Both the cake and the tea had very little taste. We finished our food before we continued to enjoy the scenic sight. After that, we walked around the Boh Tea center reading about the discovery of Cameron Highlands and how the Boh Tea business started. We were really glad to have found this beautiful place despite the bland food.
A must eat fruit in Cameron Highlands is the strawberry. It is widely available and freshly plucked from the many farms there. Of course, looking for the sweetest strawberries was not an easy task. We first went to Raju’s Hill Strawberry Farm and bought a box of the fruit to eat back in our hotel room. They were quite sweet considering that most strawberries in Cameron are known to be more sour than the imported variety. We planned to try out more strawberry farms the next day.
After breakfast at our hotel café the next morning, we dropped by the nearby street market. The local produces of vegetables, fruits and flowers were rather cheap. We bought a box of tea (for Sze), a bunch of pink roses (for myself), crystal maize (for Fiona, my elder sis) and a bag of miscellaneous vegetables (for Naomi, my younger sis).
We then headed to the T-Café again for a light meal. The place seemed to be run by a Christian Indian family and was cozy and intimate. I think this would be the type of place where Lonely Planet travelers would like to go to. We ordered some of their specialty pastries and… they tasted great! Sze said that the café had some good online reviews and is highly recommended, which is not surprising since it is frequently visited by independent travelers.After trying out more strawberries from a couple of other farms, we found that those from the Kasimanis Strawberry Farm were the sweetest. We bought 8 boxes of strawberries (for Sze’s parents and my sisters) and 2 bottles of strawberry and orange jam (for Sze’s parents). Newsflash: They plant oranges too! I have previously seen mandarin oranges in Cameron Highlands, but not the normal oranges… and the farm did not sell them at the stall either.
We started our journey back to KL after that. Cameron Highlands had been a pleasant and refreshing trip for both of us and we hope to visit it again soon.
View more Cameron pictures in our Photo Gallery.
