A.Ung
Visitor
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Cameron Highlands - 2006/11/20 15:52
Me, my wife and 6 yr old daughter went on a one night trip to Cameron Highlands over the weekend. The last time when I was in Camerons was18 years ago, so it's as good as somewhere I've never been before.
We took off from PJ at 7.50am in the morning (we wanted to leave at 6.30am but as usual, we dragged our feet getting up), took the Simpang Pulai route and arrived Equatorial Camerons at 11.30 - almost a 4 hour drive. Tried to check-in early but was told rooms were fully booked so we had to wait.
I called up an old friend, who's a Cameronian and he took us out for lunch. We had a simple lunch of "War Tan Hor" and fried rice at Highlands Restaurant which is famous for its charcoal steamboat. So we made a booking for steamboat there for dinner.
After lunch my friend took us to see Smokehouse and Camerons Highlands Resort which he said we should have stayed in instead of Equatorial. Smokehouse looked very cosy with it's warm English charm - very exclusive where non-guest are not allowed into the hotel lobby. Camerons Highlands Resort (owned by YTL) is also very high end - in fact you need to stay for a minimum of 2 nights. Smokehouse's family suite is RM460 thereabouts a night and Cameron Highlands Resort's room with child plus peak season surcharge is RM1000 plus with all meals provided. I think the rates are very reasonable for the kinda room and environment at those 2 places.
We then proceeded to one of the Strawberry Farms, owned by my friend's friend. Nothing special to note - you guys know-lah, what to expect.
After that we when back to Equatorial to check-in. We took the Senator Suite and the room was fairly large. We had a living room with TV and mini-bar (which was empty - surprising for a hotel of EQ's standard), the bedroom itself was very spacious. And we also had a dressing area before the toilet. Besides the spacious-ness, everything else was pretty basic. In fact I noticed there were no pictures/paintings on the walls like most hotels have. The room was RM420 thereabouts.
After checking in, we when to Sungai Pulas Tea Farm. It was nice there - the view was breathtaking and they had a large cafe where you can relax and have your afternoon tea. I wanted to have scones, just like everyone do when in Camerons but my friend told me the scones there were not nice. So I took other cakes & pastries instead. Nice.
Then we left to go to my friend's new gallery (which was not opened to the public yet). It's gonna be called Time Tunnel, where there are a great many things to see even though it's not even opened yet. I won't tell you what's there, so that you can have the pleasure of seeing it when you're next in Camerons. It's something special and surely a place which will be on Camerons tour itineraries when it's open - this place you surely must not miss.
By then it was already 6pm so we when back to Highland Restaurant for the steamboat. But it was packed to the brim and had busloads of people lining-up. So we couldn't get a place even though we had booked and we were there early. We went for a walked at the pasar malam, bought somemore strawberry and vegetables then returned to the restaurant. But there were even more people there now - in fact the line now almost spilled into the streets.
My friend then took us to another place - somewhere only Cameronians know how to go. Very nice ambience - surely the place for couples to have a romantic interlude.The restaurant was located amidst the lush greeneries and gives you the impression you're in the middle of the jungle. It even has a stream gushing through the restaurant. Steamboat was good too. Paid RM70 plus for dinner for 3 adults and 1 child.
After that we sent my friend back to get his car, said our good-byes and see you next trip and we when back to EQ. My wife and daughter fell asleep immediately. I stayed up to watch the match between Chelsea and West Ham.
We had breakfast in the hotel the next morning. Food was nothing to shout about but cost RM92. Usual-lar hotel pricing. After that we when to the market nearly to buy somemore vegetables. Then we visited another strawberry farm near EQ, so that my daughter could experience picking her own strawberries. She had fun there I'm sure.
Then we went back to the hotel to check out.
On our way home, we stopped at the Butterfly Farm, the Bee Farm and the Orchid & Rose Farm. That's all.
All in all, spent about RM900 or so. Decent local getaway.
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