One of my earliest memories of Cameron Highlands is an image of a huge fly perching on my Dad’s car.
Despite this unpleasant image, I decided to head to Cameron Highlands on 7 March 2009. I had the company of A, Sharon Dilirius, Eric, Jeff, Kiang, Katrina and the Yam sisters. The 9 of us drove in three cars in this 3 hours journey.
Ipoh ala ‘Hollywood’ signboard
Cameron Highlands is a highland region located around 200km from Kuala Lumpur. It is well known for its agriculture and also cool weather which is very popular among tourist. Due to its weather, tea and strawberries, which are rarities in the places under the Equator, are substantially planted here.
Our research on the internet indicated that the fastest way to Cameron Highlands is through the Simpang Pulai toll. The other way namely through Tapah takes a long time notwithstanding the exit to Tapah comes first.
We took the Simpang Pulai way and I must say it was indeed a pleasant drive. The roads weren’t too windy and we were not caught in any traffic congestion. However, there was one part before the road up to Cameron Highland was flooded. Fortunately there was a pile of uneven mud for us to drive through. Eric’s car was too low and ended up scrapping mud from the path.
We booked three room at the Equitorial Hotel. One of our rooms was free due to some membership thingie with Berjaya. The other two rooms i.e. a two bed room apartment came with a good rate through a website. When we arrived, we were informed that the two bed room apartment was not available because its water supply got cut off. In return, we were given two Superior hotel rooms at the same rate as the two bed room apartment!
The meteorologist department forecast that it will be sunny in the morning and rain in the evening on our first day. It was quite accurate. It rained the whole day on the next day as well. I remember Cameron Highlands being cold at night. It didn’t change much, it was still cold at night. In fact, it felt like Autumn!
Ye Olde Smokehouse
Our trip was primarily focus on eating (!!!). A set out an itinerary of the places that we should visit. Many of the places in the itinerary came from blogs. We manage to cover the usual stuff namely strawberries, tea, steamboat, sweet potato balls and sweet corn!
Speaking about strawberries, its a heavily commercialized item in Cameron Highlands. Many shops sells merchandises relating to strawberries. There were pillows, keychains, fridge magnets and umbrellas with a picture of a strawberry or in the shape of a strawberry.
Self plucking Strawberry…keke
All red!
Unfortunately, strawberries doesn’t last long. My strawberries had some white foam growing on it after 3 days.Euw..
It was quite unfortunate that we spent a lot of our time on the roads. Since Monday is a public holiday, many KL-lites came up to Cameron Highlands to clog up the road. But things are much better than last time. The roads now are wider. I remember when I was still a young boy, the road up to Cameron Highland was small and tight. Some parts even had only one lane!
Bloody Bustard…
After eating non stop for a day, we headed home with a full stomach. Eric, Sharon and Jeff continued their journey to Penang and Hatyai for another food fiesta. The rest of us headed home to face reality again. I wish I had more time in Cameron Highlands!
Related Link
joyloh.com » Pahang – Cameron Highlands – Very comprehensive travel guide on Cameron Highlands. Highly recommended!