Charlene
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First Experience at Cameron Highlands - 2006/10/25 20:13
My 1st (and most probably only) trip to CH - 20 Oct to 24 Oct 06 (during the Deeparaya holz)
20 Oct 06:
Set off with my sister and her bf for JB @ 6:30pm and surprisingly, the JB customs had a much shorter queue than the one at SG customs. I only had 5 people infront of me at JB customs. Went to eat at City Square (must try the Portuguese Black Pepper Chicken at Level 2) and took a public bus to Larkin Terminal.
Arrived before scheduled time and due to my delay in booking coach tickets, I was lucky enough to get 3 tickets to Tapah. Didn't have any other planned tickets back to SG nor up to Cameron. Took the bus from some Indian Company (Booth 45) and had to walk a distance to some roadside and wait for the bus. As usual, the bus was late, and when it arrived, it was kinda old and crappy. Nevertheless, no complaints for late booking. Paid RM60 per pax for this coach ticket.
21 Oct 06:
Arrived at Tapah in the morning @ 6:30am. Luckily the bus terminal for Regal Bus services was open even in the wee hours of the morning. Was told by a fellow bus passenger that there'd be shops nearby that open at 7am+ and I could purchase my coach tickets there. Walked around aimlessly, tried the teh bing (ice milk tea) at one of the chinese shops(super sweet...undrinkable) and tried the yew teow (somehow, it just tasted like fried bread). Threw the yew teow away after a mouthful.
Luckily a chinese food stall selling coach tickets opened at around 7:45am and I bought coach tickets from Tapah to SG at only RM48 per pax(Cheap!). We were then able to catch the first hourly bus up to Cameron Highlands at 8am. The Regal Bus service uses those kind of old buses (those old school buses that were once seen in SG), where there's no air-con. Granted, only RM6 per pax for this 2 hours ride.
Trip up to Tanah Rata (town of CH) was winding... but thank God for the fresh air along the way. Air was cool and refreshing, and I guess this helps in curbing nausea (Took an air-con coach back down a few days later & was terribly sick after that).
Saw plenty of landslides that had occurred and thank God this didn't happen to me. I had wished to go by the Simpang Pulai road, but we didn't want to drive up, so no choice, gotta go by Tanah Rata way.
Finally reached Cameron Highlands at 11am. AND I realised that there were practically no taxis around (noted that it's deepavali, but it's the same situation for the next 2 days as well)! Made a comment that if you were to work as a taxi driver in CH, you'd earn big bucks. Doesn't help that I chose to stay at Cluny Lodge. BIG MISTAKE in not renting a car at Tapah or somewhere else. They don't do rental services at CH and it's practically impossible to get to anywhere from Cluny Lodge except for Brinchang town. OH YES, there are specific points to wait for taxis (at taxi stands, they wouldn't stop anywhere on the road for you & 1 town only has 1 taxi stand) 
Finally able to get a taxi after a short wait (and realise the standard rate from anywhere in CH to another is RM10) and arrived at Cluny Lodge. Cluny Lodge's BEAUTIFUL. It's a bungalow with 8 rooms. The scenery's very beautiful. However, the first thing we noticed was that the toilet had no mirror. (Hmm?) The water's unpredictable too (was able to shower in warm water at night, but no matter what I turn in the morning, it's still cold).
Anyway, after a short rest, we managed to use the shortcut from Cluny Lodge to Brinchang (a steep path through the forest) as directed by Sam, who helped with all house-keeping there. Oh well, wanted to go to T-cafe and he said it was in Brinchang. Wasted my time telling the taxi driver, no no, T-cafe is in the other direction, when it's actually in Tanah Rata (just above Marrybrown).
Finally arrived at the famed T-cafe. Granted, it's cosy but due to perhaps the holidays, the food ordered came slowly. The old Indian man there was kinda old I guess, cos he forgot one of our orders, and forgot our bill later on as well. Anyway, the food was so-so. Tried the scones as well, they're well, delectable. The food at T-cafe is better compared to the other restaurants in CH but not as good as I expected (maybe cos expectations were very high due to the rave reviews).
Anyway, I don't really remember what we did after that, but I remember sourcing for Highlands Restaurant for dinner. The high chimmney steamboat place! Well, the charcoal smell itself was inviting and authentic, but the service wasn't very good. They kept us waiting until the whole restaurant had their steamboat and we were still waiting in hunger. Anyway, this must be the only place where I have plenty of vegetables for steamboat. Vegetables were plenty but meat was scarce. Couldn't really be full on vegetables I guess, but the soup was awesome! Really enjoyed the steamboat there although it could do with more seafood and meat. It cost RM15 per pax and came with plenty of vegetables, a few slices of crab sticks, a few pieces of pork? (the meat there taste the same, think cos it's been kept frozen for a while).
After our hot meal, we walked to the night market a little further up the hill. Plenty of strawberries, honey, vegetables, flowers and keychains for sale. Quite a number of honey stalls there showing honey combs and on the spot extraction of honey from honey combs. Bought a few from a stall but realised later it's cheaper at another one with an old uncle selling RM10 per bottle with a free honey comb sliced on the spot & put into the bottle. 
Flowers were everywhere, roses, chrysanthemums, gerberas, sunflowers, daisies, forget-me-nots, and many more. 3 small packets containing around 5 stalks each were going for RM5 (that's like 30¢ per stalk!)  ooh yes, I looove the strawberry ice that they were selling as well. RM1 for a stick! 
I bought honey and my sister & her bf bought light sticks, and these really proved in handy when we couldn't get a taxi. Out of desperation, we climbed up the shortcut back to Cluny Lodge IN THE DARK. Was terrible, panted like mad, and was kinda scary in the forest, you never know what lurks in the dark. 
Had a really restful night. Really enjoyed the sound of the crickets, and fell asleep to that.
22 Oct 06:
Awoke at 8am cos Cluny Lodge's last timing for breakfast is at 9am. Had eggs, sausages, toasted bread, cereal and tea. Home-cooked. 
Called up the taxi driver whom we met twice yesterday (Raja) and the only one willing to offer cheap prices. We weren't able to get him on our own cell phones & Cluny Lodge said they never called cell phones from their phone before so they don't know how much. In the end, they charged us RM2 for a call to a cell phone & 50¢ to a local non-cell number.  Was rather irritated cos it's obviously exploitation but whatever.. we had no choice.
Cluny Lodge called the cab company & the cab that came up wanted to charge us RM25/hour. That's crazy!! Raja only charged us RM20 per pax for 4 hours. (Total of RM60 only). We told that to him, and he said these people crazy lah, and he drove off. WHAT ATTITUDE! 
Anyway, after my frustrated complaint to Cluny Lodge, they managed to call Raja on his cell and Raja appeared 20 minutes later. He had his own itinerary all planned out for half a day's tour. Wanted to visit the Boh Tea plantation but due to the traffic jam, we decided to forgo it. What a waste. 
Went on further to the rose centre, butterfly farm, chinese temple and this strawberry farm. Wanna complain about the strawberry farm. For us to pluck on our own, they charged us RM20 for half a kilo. They had this Blangadesh supervising us all the way. AND he kept plucking strawberries for us, giving to us, saying it's very sweet. Before we knew it, the box was full, and he said enough, and asked us to go. The whole experience only lasted 15 minutes and I was so pissed. This wasn't what I expected. I paid extra to have a blanglah pluck strawberries for me.  In the end, the strawberries turned out soggy in the night due to much travelling in the day and we threw them away on departure day. 
After this, went back to Cluny Lodge for a rest, then down the shortcut again to this Golden Win Restaurant near Highlands Restaurant. Another steamboat place we wanted to visit cos when we walked past it the other day, it was overcrowded with visitors! Even more than Highlands Restaurant. Turned out it's cheaper. RM12 per pax. Plenty of vegetables as usual, with 3 pieces of prawns & 5 thin slices of meat. Only this time they had extra egg tofu for us. Still very nice, but I prefer Highlands Restaurant.
Went to Pasar Malam again for another walk (even though they said it's only opened on Fridays & Saturdays, but it's open on this Sunday as well - perhaps due to the public holidays *shrug*) After that, it's another climb through the dark, this time IN THE RAIN, up to Cluny Lodge.
23 Oct 06:
Another round of breakfast. This time, the same food except that we got ham instead of sausages, and koko crunch instead of plain cornflakes.
Had to checkout at 10am (their rule, ) hence after a hasty pack-up, we were again, in the living room of Cluny Lodge. Sam, the care-taker, tried to call the cab company for us twice(conveniently charging us twice as well) but couldn't get through.  What were we to do with our luggages?? Couldn't possibly lug all of them down the shortcut. Finally, their "chef" agreed to bring us to Tanah Rata, said he had to buy food supplies as well. Of cos, we paid the usual RM10 "taxi fare" to him.
Once at Tanah Rata, went to this massage parlour. Sis & her bf went for half body massage. RM35 each for 25 mins. Nothing great. Skills weren't that good, but they were extremely friendly people. We had nothing to do for another 5 hours, and we weren't gonna pay another single cent for RM10 taxi rides. Hence, on suggestion by the massage people, we could walk to the nearby waterfalls.
Robinsons Waterfall was of cos the choice one, but it takes 2 hours to walk there.  Hence, we settled for Parit Falls. It can be gotten to through a dirt path just alongside Century Pines Hotel. The air was fresh along the way but the end result was disappointing. No doubt the falls was like a mini waterfall (not very tall) but the water was dirty and rubbish were floating on the water. There was a huge cardboard box near the waterfall too.
Anyway, explored the dirt track further and found nothing much. We then made our way back to the town of Tanah Rata.
Went to T-cafe for snacks (we had chocolate milkshake, apple pie, strawberry cheese cake, banana milkshake & spaghetti bolognaise) and read the books available there to spend time. Food was so-so. I felt that no matter how great the food is, so long as it's cold, it's not really nice already. But I guess this can't be helped cos the weather in CH is cold.
We managed to wait until 4:30pm and thought the bus leaves every hour at xx:30pm but they said it leaves at 4:15pm and we just missed it. However, there was a coach leaving for KL at 4:30pm and we could ride on it to Tapah. RM6 per pax as well. This was the air-conditioned bus which later got me sick as well. Ride up I felt fine, but ride down, i couldn't take it. Don't know why. 
Finally got to Tapah, spent some time looking for dinner, and settled on this Malay stall. Ala carte dishes for 3 of us (about 5 dishes in all) cost a whooping RM30!! omg, they're so outta cheat us..
Waited for the bus that's supposed to come at 9:30pm and it did come on time. First thing that ran through our minds was Wow! So much more spacious and this cost cheaper than the lousy bus we took up to Tapah. They were showing Harry Potter 4 on TV in front and i enjoyed the show even though one of the drivers switched to malay subtitles after a while. However air-con was blasting.. throat felt really dry.. and I didn't dare to drink much water for fear there were no stops for like 2 hours.
24 Oct 06:
Finally reached SG at 5am+. Customs was a fairly short wait too. Took a taxi home. And had fever the entire day. What a way to end the trip. Had terrible sore throat as well.
Anyway, even though I enjoyed parts of my holiday at CH, I don't fancy going there again. For instance, on all the roads that you can actually walk, the air smells pretty bad with all those exhaust fumes. For those places you get fresh air, it's non-accessible by transportation other than your legs. The taxi service is horrendous and the place is flooded with Indians & Chinese. I don't see many Malays there. Never go there if you don't have your own transport. That's my advice.
I have pictures for most of the places I went to. Can furnish upon request. 
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