Travel Stories

April 2002

Cameron Highlands
Aaaagh how cool it is...sort of!

by Jacqui Zubrickas

After well over a year in KL and Malaysia we finally booked a weekend stay away at Cameron Highlands. My husband John decided to take last Friday [12th July] off work and join Alexandra our 23month old and I at our ibu playgroup session on Friday morning and then we left KL from there about midday and headed out onwards to the Cameron Highlands.

It was a good decision as Alexandra had a nap in the car as she is usually quite tired after her workout at playgroup. We decided to take the North South E2/E1 as the most direct way to drive up to the highlands. The drive was easy going, not much traffic. The weather we left behind in KL was quite warm the usual 34 plus degrees around that time of the day and we were looking forward to the “cool change” which would greet us in the highlands.

We took the Tapah exit off the highway and proceeded the 50km or so of winding road up to and through the Cameron Highlands to our final destination of the Strawberry Park Hotel in Brinchang. I didn’t find this as bad as the drive up to Genting or even the drive up to Fraser’s Hill even though the amount of winding road is longer than both these other places.

Before arriving at our hotel we decided to take a good break and stretch our legs at The Lakehouse in Ringlet. We enjoyed yummy scones and cake with a refreshing pot of tea and cool drinks. Alexandra had a wonderful time running around the beautiful gardens and on grass that was actually green and soft. It had just started to rain very softly but this did nothing to dampen our enjoyment – in fact quite the opposite the cool air that the rain brought was just the tonic. We stayed for close to an hour and it was a terrific break. The Lakehouse serve these high teas and afternoon teas from around 3.00pm and they cost around RM15.00. It was a lovely stop before driving on to our hotel some 15km further on. The temperature was around low 20’s.

We checked in and apart from quite a few moths and bugs in our room due to an open window that couldn’t be closed the hotel seemed quite nice. We changed rooms after Alexandra had had a rest and the room we were given was far nicer and definitely cleaner. For RM264.50 per night the room easily fitted 4 adults and they have bigger rooms and suites available as well. The room rate came with RM110.00 cash vouchers per day – that you could use and we did, for meals, food, gift shop purchases and any tour or recreational facilities provided by hotel. This was a special deal that we had seen advertised in the Expat magazine and runs until the end of the year.

The room was a nice size for us – bathroom was clean and although the place overall looked like it needed some tlc and refurbishment it was still very nice and comfortable. Hot water and ample size bath kept Alexandra content as well as a good size bedroom containing double bed and room for her portable cot. Another smaller room just big enough for a double bed and a partitioned off lounge/dining area. It was great for us as Alexandra has always slept in her own room and we find it more annoying and less good sleep for her and us when we are in the same room together even though she is in her own cot. There was also a beautiful balcony overlooking a deep ravine, forest hilly area and gorgeous bougainvilleas on the balcony all in flower.

We decided to make use of our cash back vouchers that night and chose to eat at one of the three eating houses at the hotel. The range was Chinese, Buffet/A la Carte or Tudor Grill restaurants. We went Chinese and had one of the loveliest meals – for around RM90 all three of us ate well, fried rice, Singapore noodles, sizzling beef dish and some of the best vegetable spring rolls I have ever tasted. Washed down with watermelon juices and ice teas, beer and other alcoholic drinks were available, made for a very yummy and satisfying dinner. We could walk from the restaurant back to our rooms and the temperature even around 8.00pmish was still around 20 or so degrees, cool but not cold.

We enjoyed a really great buffet breakfast in the A La Carte Jim Thompson restaurant the next morning. The weather was clear and partly sunny and the temperature again even at 8.30ish in the morning was still hovering around the 20 degrees. The food at the buffet gave you everything you could want in the way of eggs, toast, fruit, some cereals, local dishes as well as pastries. Only thing lacking was fruit juices these were the usual sweet cordial muck that is really not nice. We had come prepared this holiday though with our own apple juice and oranges.

After a full breakfast we were off to see the sights – we visited the Bee Farm and Butterfly Farm/Garden – just on the outskirts of town and about 5 kms or so if that. They were both really interesting and worth the trouble.

You can park off road at the Bee Farm and it is free to visit – great for the kiddies although quite steep steps to walk down and around – so we held Alexandra for a while whilst walking around. You can purchase honey and other products from there as well as from the many road and market stalls all the way through the highlands. The Bee Farm is not pram friendly at all – most of the sights to see are like this due to the terracing and steepness of the hill sides on which they are built. The Butterfly Farm/Garden was the best surprise though – even though our Rough Guide book had given it a miss – we thought it would be interesting for Alexandra. In fact we all found it really interesting. It doesn’t look like much and you almost begin to think that you have wasted RM3 in going in ! But then you see large quantities of butterflies everywhere and for the kiddies it is great as they are at the right height around some of the flowers and bushes where the butterflies come to rest. But the whole experience was made even better for us all by the kind assistance and information provided by an elderly guide who has worked there for over 32 years. He walked around with us and pointed out so many things that we would have missed had we simply walked through quickly ourselves. He took out of cages and showed us: leaf insects, stick insects, giant grasshoppers, scorpions, leaf frogs, chameleons, rhinoceros beetles, millipedes. Alexandra patted the Chameleon and sat on top of the frog and scorpion pond as well as watch me get tickled by a rather large butterfly crawling up my arm. Highly recommend this for the kids and adults and look out for the guide – didn’t get his name – to help you through the farm. You could purchase all manner of souvenirs here as well as go through a large greenhouse full of plants and especially cacti. I succumbed to the purchase of 6 miniature cacti for RM10. My only regret was that we were dressed too warmly – we hit 28 degrees by the time we had finished and it was around midday and we were dressed for a lot colder than that! Some areas inside the Butterfly Farm were pram friendly but would recommend no pram if you can do without – carry pouches and backpacks for little ones much more preferable or simply walking is best if old enough.

It took us a few hours to do all the above and so we headed back to the hotel and on the way back stopped off at one of the many strawberry farms – this one was the Kasimanis Farm right on the corner where the turn off for Strawberry Park Hotel was. We were able to taste freshly picked strawberries and couldn’t pass up buying a punnet or two plus some jam.

Alexandra was happy and glad to settle for a nap at the hotel for a few hours and John and I enjoyed the time being able to read, nap and relax .

We sent off again mid afternoon this time into Tanah Rata the next town south of Brinchang about 5kms for late lunch. The Jasmine Terrace offered not only local, Chinese food but also western food and we decided on a mix – John had nice sambal prawns and rice and I had fish and chips with salad whilst Alexandra ploughed through two slices of bread and a bowl of mushroom soup not to mention half my chips. We had fresh watermelon and strawberry juices and decided to finish off the meal with some fresh milkshakes minus any icecream at the Fresh Milk Stall further down the main road. John had strawberry and I had Coffee and Alexandra decided she’d just have an apple. They were nice if a little on the warm side for me – but undeterred John decided to try one more a Banana one which was yummy as well.

Off to see some more of the road side sights we traveled further south from Tanah Rata and came across the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation before Ringlet . This is situated off the side of the road and has a beautiful lookout and viewing platform attached to a great tea house and rest stop and shop. We took a break and a pot of tea and biscuits [great shortbread] and enjoyed the view and panorama as well as the nice cool breezes. The weather was wonderful. Back on the road we headed back to Tanah Rata for a walk right through town this time along the main road and shops and then off to a well earned play in the children’s playgroup right at the end of the main road for Alexandra. It was one of the nicest playgrounds I have been to since in KL. Lots of nice green grass and big trees and lots and lots of playgroup equipment. We were there around 6.00pm and Alexandra could have played on well until it was dark, as it was, it was hard enough getting her into the car to go back to our hotel around 7.00pm. We decided to have a light meal in our hotel room that we could order and buy and bring back from any of the restaurants. Alexandra was happy simply to have a great big warm bath, play and then off to bed. John and I again enjoyed the evening relaxing.

Our last day dawned again bright and sunny and clear and again the temperature even around 8.30am was cool but around the 20 degrees. We chose to have breakfast in Tanah Rata this morning after checking out of the hotel as the hotel was full of weekenders by this stage and the buffet restaurant had a pretty heavy backlog of people waiting for seats. Something to keep in mind if going just for the weekend and definitely if traveling during school holidays. We had seen a few places the day before that served breakfast so decided to try one called the Café Downtown Hotel along the main road. We had eggs, toast, tomato and fruit juices for I think RM6 – you could have continental as well as full American style breakfast there as well. The café was clean and the service was quick and friendly.

One of the main reasons for coming to the Highlands apart from a bit cooler temperatures was for us to visit the Tea plantations – the main one up here being the Boh Tea estate. It is worth not missing this. Closed on Mondays only, the tour and plantation estate can be visited free of charge any other day of the week. We arrived about 10.00am after a few kms of winding driving up the road and through the estate. The vegetable gardens and terraced plantations on the way to the estate are worth seeing as well. We kept stopping to video or take photos. Once you arrive at the Boh Estate you can enjoy, yep more tea which we gladly did and actually put a jumper on Alexandra for the first time the whole weekend as the tea house was up quite high and a nice cool breeze was blowing. We then were able to watch a video of the tea making process and then joined a tour of the tea plantation with an English speaking guide. Some of the areas are not accessible but having never seen anything about Tea making and growing even what we did see was interesting and informative. The Boh tea shop was full of the usual goodies and selections of tea for purchase and you could sample some more tea if you wished. We did and then decided to brave the walk that was available up through the plantation to the top of a hill where the guide told us you could get a 360 degrees view of the estate. Alexandra did well to manage climbing half way up and John carried her the rest of the way. It was worth the steep climb. Beautiful views. A photographer’s dream. We videoed and photographed until our batteries ran out! Alexandra had fun running all around the top of the hill which was covered in thick grass and flower bushes. With a lot of care not to slip on the way down the hill we managed to get back down to our car and started on our way back home around 12.30pm.

The weather had been great the whole 3 days, not cold at all just comfortable and sometimes not even cool. If it rains and if the wind picks up then we’re sure it would alter the temperature quite a lot in the highlands but best to be prepared with a mix of clothing light and warm, as we were very glad to have both. The nights were not cold at all in the hotel and it was comfortable to simply sleep with a sheet and light blanket, Alexandra slept in same pyjamas that she wears in KL with a light blanket on top that she didn’t even need really.

The drive back was uneventful and quite peaceful, we stopped one or two times to look again at the Cameron Valley Tea plantation as well as one of the many waterfalls that you can view along the roadway. Only complaints on the Hotel side were that it was quite noisy with buses arriving in the early evening and still quite busy – we actually enjoyed it more on the Friday evening when less people were around as most people arrived throughout Saturday. Something to keep in mind if you can go during the weekdays it would probably be more peaceful, depends what you prefer. It was nice to be away from KL for a few days somewhere where you could actually just enjoy walking around and doing things without breaking into a sweat everytime you took a step! We’ll be going back again!