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Cameron Highlands Online Forum
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Topic History of: Good To Be 'Back'
Max. showing the last posts - (Last post first)
| tony |
Hi Steven,
Glad to know that you managed to get to the micro station and enjoyed the CH trip despite of the short time spent there. Yup...I do find myself dreading the journey back to Klang valley after a nice 3d 2n up in CH. Both my wife and I always wished we could spend more time up there. We are highland lovers. I will be going up there sometime in December this year. My annual pilgrimage up there. |
| Steven Yong |
The night of 22nd or morning of 23rd July 2005 was a sleepless one for me. My little bedroom was filled with sounds of rustling fabric and creaking mattress board as I tossed and turned, trying to find ‘sleep’ that has eluded me so far. ‘Sleep’, as I realised later, has gone away from me, as it was taken over by ‘anticipation’. In my mind, I could see the twisty roads, feel its every bump, dip and surface. I can also ‘smell’ the fresh air, as I fill my lungs to the brim with it with my car windows down - imaginary, of course. Hey, it was only 0200hrs, and I was still in KL. Or PJ, rather. It was only in another seven hours before I was bound to step out of my front door to begin my journey to Cameron Highlands.
But such is the sweet ordeal I go through every time. I have so far failed to understand why butterflies still swarm my stomach on the eve of all my trips to CH – not unlike a child waiting in anticipation for an ice-cream while watching his/her mom haggling with the ice-cream man on a motorbike. And for the uninitiated, I do go there often, to the tune of at least six times in a year? However, instead of dwelling on the issue, I decided to just give it a rest. After all, ‘without something to look forward to, people give up hope’ and, I would love to have CH as something that I can really look forward to without much to worry about in terms of disappointment. Such a romanticised view of CH may sound misplaced to some who think nice places only come in the form of the sidewalks of Paris, or the canals of Venice, or the streets of Fishermen’s Wharf in San Francisco but, how often can you go to such places assuming one doesn’t fall under the ‘Obscenely Rich’ category? As for me, I can go to CH anytime I please.
Having said that, I have to admit ‘anytime I please’ wasn't exactly the correct term for me, for I have to admit that my last trip to CH was in the third week of March this year. What happened to the consequent months before July? Time didn’t permit, thanks to work and some official and unofficial events which have an uncanny tendency to park themselves on weekends. Plus, in the industry I am in, missing deadlines is worse than not attending your own wedding procession while the whole world, (plus your bride) is waiting for your appearance at the altar. Or at the registrar, if you are not particularly keyed into church weddings.
Anyway, all the ramblings above would’ve looked the part, and painted a very nice picture, had they appeared in a personal column in American Express’ ‘Travel & Leisure’ magazine. But they will not, so let’s get straight to the point.
Part of the attraction of CH, at least for me, is the drive (or mad scramble, as my friend who once went with me, put succinctly) past the curves and sweeps of the beautiful Simpang Pulai road. I hit Tanah Rata sometime after 1300hrs – which works out to be about two hours and 45 minutes of travelling time inclusive of a leisurely lunch stop at a KFC restaurant along the PLUS highway and another stop for fuel before the much anticipated dash up to CH.
At this point, I would like to highlight to those reading my ‘article’ hoping to look for some tips and pointers on where to visit or what to do at CH – you’d be SORELY disappointed. For I am not one who do such things, not that there’s anything wrong with being touristy at CH. For me, all my trips there have been strictly in the name of ‘pure rest and relax’, with visits to places that I personally like, and nothing else. I have never taken any treks on any of the trails or visited any ‘places of interests’ hence, in the bigger scheme of things, I am not exactly ‘tour guide’ material when it comes to CH.
The first thing I did, apart from getting the keys to the apartment I was going to stay in, was to perform my ‘pilgrimage’ at T-Café. Yes, if it isn’t obvious enough, let it be known that T-Café is a MUST for all my visits to CH. Again, I am not sure why, but to me, it just feels like ‘part of CH’. The other place I always visit (if time permits) is the Bharat Café. There are lots of arguments on this one amongst my mates as to which tea plantation is better, but for me, I like the sight of rolling hills that goes as far as normal eyesight permits, while cold mountain wind, when available, sifts through my soul. A little melodrama there, I understand, but I’m sure you get the kind of sentiments I am trying to portray.
However, on this particular trip, I had to give Bharat a miss, since it was a short trip, as I was due to get back to reality the very next day. Friends reading this will laugh at my usual insistence that anything less than three days and two nights is not a trip where CH is concerned. Anything less than that and one would be better off picking mud-caked seashells off the equally unattractive beaches of Port Dickson. But I guess there’s exception to every rule. I HAD to go to CH again after my March trip, and soon, and I just can’t wait for a three-day-two-night opportunity to present itself, hence I took what was available.
Anyway, the secondary purpose of this trip was to visit the Brinchang Micro Station, hence Bharat will have to wait for my next trip, which should be in August or September, if time permits.
So after chilling out at T-Café, and with directions to the Micro Station I copied down from one of the threads in this forum (if you are reading this Tony, thanks for your directions. It was accurate to the ‘T’) I headed out towards Brinchang. Traffic was light to moderate, since it wasn’t a particularly ‘touristy’ weekend.
I didn’t time my journey (I will next time) but upon reaching the top, memories came back. Yes, this was the place I came to more than ten years ago! Apart from the watch tower (which is actually visible from Kea Farm), there seemed to be more towers than I could remember from my visit there last time.
This place gave new meaning to the term ‘head in the clouds’, and in a good way too. I wasted no time and climbed to the top of the watch tower and as soon as I was at the top, the clouds moved in and engulfed the whole place. I wasn’t sure what the temperature was up there, especially when the wind was blowing, but I guess I do have a slightly stronger resistance to cold temps, as I saw people huddling up in their pullovers – and they weren’t fully exposed to the wind as I was at the top of the tower. I just had a t-shirt and knee-length shorts on at that time.
Constructed of steel, the tower was as rigid as it should be, although I must lament at the amount of rust which has totally enveloped all the metal surfaces of the tower, including the handrails and all. Think ‘first-degree burns’ – that’s how unsightly the rust was on the metal surface, although that didn’t stop me from climbing all the way to the top and spending a good part of an hour, revelling in my mind’s total detachment from all things. It’s uncanny how all your troubles and anything that’s bugging you just disappears. It’s like the clouds roll in, absorbs all your mind’s baggage and takes them away (albeit temporarily) and leaves you in complete peace and serenity.
My peaceful respite was broken by a crying kid who insisted on getting to the top of the tower. It was 1730hrs – time to get down.
The rest of the evening I spent in solitude, channel surfing at the apartment and wondering what to eat for dinner. Since it was such a short trip, I didn’t bring my usual supply of 'cook-able' food. It was particularly chilly that day, which worked up my desires for something hot, like steamboat, something which I always put on a backburner. Mayflower (another favourite stop of mine) was particularly packed that night, hence it was Hong Kong Restaurant (or whatever its name was) that served me steamboat for dinner.
The agenda after dinner was another favourite of mine when I am at CH. If you happen to stay in an apartment with a balcony, like I did, keep the sliding glass door fully open, tank up with snacks, pour yourself a good helping of scotch on the rocks and put on your favourite movie (assuming you brought a portable CD player like I did). Trust me, that’s 'bliss'.
Sunday morning (24th July) was a particularly depressing one for me, as it was the day I had to leave CH (again). Even sleeping later and waking up earlier didn’t manage to lull me into a false sense of believing that I have spent more time than I was allowed at CH on this particular trip. Safe to say, nothing was worth mentioning here on the day which I was destined to peel myself away from my predilection towards CH. On my way down, I stopped by the Micro Station again, spending another hour or so before checking in with reality once more.
Parting thoughts – the authorities, or whoever is in charge of the Micro Station, should spruce up the tower. At least remove all the rust from the surface and give the tower a good new coat of paint. But stop right there, for any more ‘development’ to the place will only draw more people up, and more people invariably means spoiling the beauty of the place, to a certain extent.
See you again, CH. And soon.
STEVEN |
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