Mike
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My Journey (29th - 31st Oct 2006) - 2006/11/02 00:52
After a long preparation & valuable information and advises given by the members of the forum, here’s our story of our (my wife, my 2 years old daughter – Abigail, my mother & my sister) memorable journey to Cameron Highlands – the trip we took from Sunday, 29th October 2006 to Tuesday, 31st October 2006 
Day 1 (Sunday, 29th October 2006)
The day of the journey begins. We woke our daughter up at 6.30am (she was still in dreamland – poor her), got her ready and left our home in Penang at 7.30am.
After an hour of driving we stopped at a rest area in Bukit Gantang (after Cangkat Jering). We have passed this rest area many times when we drive down south but have never stopped there before as our normal stop area was at Bukit Merah – because of the nasi lemak. To our surprised, Bukit Gantang rest area was even lovelier with all the well decorated & arranged food stalls not forgetting the beautiful & eye catching landscape & the cleanliness of the place – well done to the PLUS team.
As we walked around the area, we saw many people eating the nasi lemak (wrapped in banana leaves with brown paper) and wanted to buy – my favourite food to fill my stomach especially when traveling. A definite appetite opener! To my disappointment, the lady told us that she has sold out all of her nasi lemak – the time was not even 9am! That means, the nasi lemak is either too delicious or the travelers are just too hungry.
So … without the nasi lemak, we have to settle with fruits that we bought at the fruit stalls. We bought a bunch of bananas (pisang emas) at RM2.50 & Ciku at RM2.00/pack. The Ciku was extremely sweet & juicy. We also bought some steam ‘kacang’ at RM3.00 for 300gms.
When we left Bukit Gantang at 9am, I told myself that this is a must stop place for every traveller for rest & relaxation.
We continued our journey & arrived at Simpang Pulai toll at 10am to make our journey up Camerons. This is our first time using this road. It was a definite scenic drive with the greens on both left & right. You will also see an ‘Orang Asli’ settlement on your left as you go along. After 50 mins of driving, we now have sight of the strawberry & vegetable farms/stalls. We didn’t stop there and continued on our journey till we reached Cameron Valley Tea House at 11.10am. We got out of the car, stretched our tired legs, take in the fresh air of CH and took pictures of the tea plantation. We stopped there for 25 mins and continued on our journey to EQ.
Although we arrived at EQ before 2pm, they allowed us to check in as the rooms were already ready. The ‘Giveaway Package’ that EQ was offering was RM188.00++/night with RM88.00 nett F&B credit per room per night. Due to our light breakfast, we were real hungry and decided to head straight for lunch rather than bringing up our luggages to our rooms. We headed to Brinchang town and had our lunch at Café Palm Leave Garden which is just right outside of Hotel Rosa Pasadena. At first glance, you may find this place quite dark with no customers. But with the recommendation of the folks in the forum, we took the ‘Nasi Goreng’ which was the best choice at RM3.50/plate. The must try is the freshly squeezed strawberry juice which is at RM2.50/glass. This was thirst quenching & refreshing.
After filling our hungry stomachs, we decided to immediately drive up to Sungei Palas Boh Tea Center as they are closed on Mondays. The air in Penang is so hot & humid and over here in CH was just the total opposite. With this, we wound down all our windows in the car and breathe in the fresh air of CH. At this same time, we were looking out for the recommended Strawberry View Café & Restaurant which is situated at the Kea Farm market. Just as we found the said café, we were also saying that the air of CH is so cooling & fresh – I wish I had not said this. Why?????? We were doomed to have this big & old Regal bas driving on our opposite direction & releasing this thick, black & foul smelling exhaust smoke which enveloped our whole car! Gosh!!! It was horrifying! The whole interior of my car became black so were our faces!  Even my lovely tissue box made out of white wool turned black. We just so happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time  . Bad luck would you say so?
The drive to Sungei Palas Boh Tea Center was just superb beyond words. The panoramic view was so breath taking – you’ll feel that this is not Malaysia and somewhere far away from home. You would wish that you could stop there & just enjoy the scenery, but alas, the road is too narrow and you will have to settle by driving past the winding roads & blind corners. Oh, you must remember to horn before reaching the blind corners as there maybe another car approaching opposite. 
At the tea center, you can choose to park your car at the lower area and take a 200 meter bush walk up to the tea center. Alternatively, if you are traveling with old folks and smaller kids, you can also choose to drive up directly to the tea center & park your car there – parking space is limited. We decided to take the 1st choice by parking our car at the lower area and be adventurous by taking the 200 meter bush walk. Whew … it was so tiring for me as I had to carry my 2 year old daughter up the many steps. 
Once you are up there and sitting at the tea house (can recall the name of the tea house) of the tea center, time stops. Look out at the hills of tea – just magnificent!
After the tea center, we headed for the hotel as our little one need her afternoon nap and so did we all – tired from the long journey & the hike. Our room in EQ was facing the valley & the road leading to the Sungei Palas plantation. While my little princess was having her afternoon snooze, my mother & I took a walk down to the EQ strawberry farm just outside hotel EQ as well as the Kea Farm market.
For dinner, we headed towards Brinchang town for our steamboat dinner at Golden Wins Restaurant. The price was at RM12.00/person after 20% discount for reservations made over the phone. As usual, there were a lot of veggies served. To name the other dishes, there were a variety of fish balls, 4 crabsticks, 4 prawns, squids, golden needle mushrooms, vermicelli (bee hoon), 4 eggs (uncooked), tofu, chicken & fish slices. When we arrived at 6.30pm, the restaurant was already packed with people. The restaurant opens for lunch & dinner which closes around 9pm depending the crowd. We took a slow meal and finished at around 8pm. At the same time, the restaurant sells fresh sweet corn as well as other vegetables at a very reasonable price. The sweet corn is definitely their best seller with the guests buying bags & bags home. If you are there during a low season, you may just get a good bargain by having the nice lady boss, Mdm Cheah giving a free gift or two. 
A drive to Tanah Rata after a good meal was the next thing on our itinerary. We looked out for the T-Café which was situated right on top of Marrybrowns. Unfortunately they are closed on Sundays. At this same time, we took a walk around the town scounting for good bargains & other good food. Some of the restaurants were very familiar as it was mentioned in the forum.
Our 1st day adventure ends here with a good night rest back in EQ.
Day 2 (Monday, 30th October 2006)
My day started at 6.30am watching the sun rising from our hotel room. My daughter Abigail woke up at 7am calling her mother for ‘milk milk’. We had a light breakfast & headed directly to Ee Feng Gu Honey Bee Farm estate and bought 3 bottles of honey at a price of RM50.00. If you buy 6 bottles, they price is at RM98.00.
Right after purchasing the honey, we drove back to Kea Farm market to buy some goodies. There’s this one particular stall that sells organic vegetables also sells organic grown strawberries. You can buy 3 boxes (total 1kg) of strawberries at RM15.00, 2 boxes at RM10.00.
Next stop was at Cactus Point & Multicrop Central Market. At Multicrop Central Market, there’s so much to see & purchase. From flowers to vegetables to cactus, etc. A definite place to visit.
Right after Multicrop, we headed towards Big Red Strawberry Farm which is just behind Cactus Valley. Admission is free. What is interesting & eye catching there is the Hydro phonic grown lettuces. They are so green & fresh, away from all chemicals & bugs. Just next to the vegetables, you will see rows & rows of strawberries which are ripen and ready to be plucked. Here, they also have self pluck strawberries but it’s not at all worth the while. 1kg for RM40.00 is way too expensive & you’ll have better bargain elsewhere.
Guess where we had our lunch? Clue – best named restaurant from the forum. If you have guessed T-Café, you are absolutely 100% correct. Here we ordered a variety of food ranging from spaghetti, spicy fried rice (a must try) with anchovies, claypot chicken rice, clear mix vegetable soup and tomato & carrot soup. As usual, we ordered the scone which turned out not to be as fantastic as described by so many Despite all that, the environment is definitely relaxing and brings you back to the colonial beginnings.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by the KHM Strawberry farm in Taman Sedia. We took the strawberry ice-cream which we thought was kind of average not discounting the environment  which was calm & relaxing. We bought some strawberry jam selling at RM6.00/bottle 
After a good afternoon rest, we had our dinner was at the hotel using our F&B credit. There’s a good restaurant in EQ i.e. Golden Phoenix with 2 types of Chinese Set Dinner pricing at RM35.00++/person & RM45.00++/person with a minimum of 4 pax. Their steamboat dinner is at RM38.00++/person & RM50.00++/person with a minimum of 2 pax.
We took a drive to Brinchang town after dinner to see the night life which was indeed very quite without the night market.
We retired to bed at 11pm after another full day itinerary.
Day 3 (31st October 2006)
Morning was broken with us having breakfast at the hotel coffee house at RM34.50nett/person. The buffet breakfast gives a good selection from local to western servings.
Right after breakfast, we returned to Ee Feng Gu to purchase more honey and took a short walk to the market situated next to Ee Feng Gu for last minute shopping before we drive home to Penang.
At the market, we bought vegetables & corn and at the same time, my wife & sister were eyeing on the roses sold there - not very fresh & not many choices too. Price ranges from RM10.00 for a pack of 3 of 1 dozen roses each. With this, we drove back to Kea Farm market and got a batter bargain there with RM10.00 for 4 dozen of roses.
The advantage of coming during a low season is that you get better bargain for things. My mother bought the vegetables & corn and got 2 packs free vegetables. My wife & sister bought 4 dozen of roses each and got bunch of beautiful sun-flowers each too. Myself … I also got a good bargain when I returned to KHM to purchase more strawberry jam. The nice lady there, gave me 1 free small bottle of jam after purchasing 5 big ones. 
After our last minute shopping, we returned to the hotel to check out. We just realized that our car boot is now full of goodies compared to when we came with a rather empty boot apart from our luggages.
On the way home, we drove back to Tanah Rata to purchase Marrybrown’s fried chicken for lunch and made a final drive through in Tanah Rata & Taman Sedia before going down the hill of CH via Simpang Pulai.
Overall, the trip was fabulous, and we are sure to return here again in the very near future and perhaps this time, we might opt for the home stay at Taman Sedia.
Remember Bukit Gantang? We stopped by there again on the way home and guess what?? We finally got our Nasi Lemak – excellent!
We arrived home safely at 5.00pm.
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