On Friday 12 Sept, coach departed from golden mile complex at about 10.30pm. this not-so-comfortable coach brought us to second link, then to the malaysian immigration. there was a long queue of big busses at singapore immigration, although the human queues were managable. then we switched to the actual coach, a 26-seater vehicle, with adjustable seats. too bad we had to 'fight' for our seats, blamed it to the absence of seat numbers on the bus and also the driver's indifference. there's no point assigning seat numbers if it's not observed.
Saturday 13 Sept morning, reached Brinchang. the cool, crisp mountain air greeted us. had a quick breakfast of chicken porridge and hot tea at a nearby food stall. the town was quiet, most of the stores were closed and there wasn't much activities going on.
the nature discovery tour started way later than schedule, at nearly 11am. first, we had a bird's eye view of the vast tea plantation, rolling green hills against the azure blue skies.. the tea plants were so sturdy we could lie down on top of them, if we're not afraid of the thought of insects, that is.
then we had a short trek into the mossy forest. the soil was soft and quite muddy at some points. saw a number of wild plants, including the famous kacip fatimah, the female version of tongkat ali.
a drive up to the highest point of cameron highlands brought us to a steel tower located at mount brinchang, at the height of 6666 feet above sea level.
last stop was to BOH (best of highlands) tea factory of sungei palas. visitors were allowed to tour around the vicinity, observing the tea leaves processing steps. a cafe was strategically located on a viewing deck, where visitors could sip their tea while feasting their eyes on the view laid beneath.
after a quick lunch, we went for the next itinerary: agro delight tour.
the water-cress farm was comprised of layered green terraces where water could flow from the highest to the lowest point. we only viewed it from the top-most area, where a vegetable shop was located.
next stop was at flower nursery. this plantation specialized only on chrysanthemum flowers. there were in various colors: yellow, white, pink, red with yellow edges. they turned on the lights every night to cheat the plants into thinking that it's a day time where they're supposed to be growing. nets were put on top of the plot of land housing mature plants, to protect the stalks from the wind and also to force the stalks to grow straight. flowers bring in the most money to cameron highlands, compared to other sectors like tea exports.
then we visited conventional farm using open terraces, which grew various plants including honey corns, cameron apples and cabbages. the farm owner walked around, distributing slices of honey corns and cameron apples. the corns were really sweet, eaten raw without any cooking needed.
my favorite destination was the strawberry farm, where we could roam around freely, plucking any strawberries we liked. the only restriction was that we're supposed to pluck and put them into a plastic container, to be weighed and paid at the exit counter. strawberry plants were really cute. this farm used packets of soil, placed not on the ground, but on wooden bases, in such a way that there were 7 rows of plants in every plot of land. it's more convenient to pluck, and they could produce more strawberries too. the strawberries there were not that big, but they're sweet and fresh. they advised us to pick the half-ripe ones if we intended to bring the fruit home. actually it's quite pricey, 500gr of strawberries costed us RM20.
this town was quite obsessed with strawberries, I think.. there were quite a number of cafes around selling strawberry desserts and fruits, and also there were a lot of shops selling strawberry-related goods like umbrellas, balloons, etc. but that made the town unique.
next stop was at lettuce farm, a hydroponic plantation growing 4 kinds of lettuce: green coral lettuce, red coral lettuce, romaine lettuce and butterhead lettuce. the plants required no soil, their roots absorbed the nutrients from the flowing water on pipes placed under the pots. it's very refreshing to the eyes to see such edible greenery, hehe..
adjacent to the lettuce plantation, there was another type of strawberry farm. the guide informed us that they were different kind of strawberries, bigger and rounder in shape. to me they looked the same.. yummy! =D
the cafe on top sold all kinds of strawberry-related stuff. they had strawberry sweets, homemade strawberry chocolates, strawberry tea, strawberry layered cakes, strawberry wafer, strawberry soaps, etc. they also sold butterhead lettuce juice.. hee.. I wondered how it tastes like.
our last farm visit was to the biggest cactus farm in town. I was more excited to see their collection of flowers than their collection of cactus. the place was super big, with various kinds of plants to admire and to take photos of. I wandered around to look for the dripping tomatoes, just for curiosity sake. finally found them, located at the xth storey of the farm. I was awarded by the pretty sight of red, rounded tomatoes. and just one storey on top of them, were rows of colorful gerbera daisies and hydrangea!
we then had yummy steamboat dinner at brinchang town. one big steaming hot bowl with two parts: one for chicken soup-base and another for tom yum.
finally we checked in to our hotel at about 9pm. we opted to stay at strawberry resort hotel, instead of the popular equatorial hotel. strawberry resort was located 10-minutes drive away by mini van. big buses could not go there due to the sharp road turns.
this place had everything except strawberries, I wondered why. oh, they did have 2 pieces of strawberries laid down on the cheese section in the restaurant during the breakfast buffet, and that's about all. no strawberry plants, no strawberry souvenirs, no strawberry-related items provided in the room. but the resort was nice, consisted of a few blocks of 4-storey buildings, not directly linked to the main lobby and restaurants. I was most impressed at the size of the bathroom, it's almost as big as the bed room. a bath tub at the centre, with steps on each side to allow easy dip, a toilet room, a wash basin, a shower cubicle and also a dressing table plus big mirror. my only complaint was the hot water which could only flow for limited period, despite the big water tank and the ample time given for the water to boil.
the next morning, we woke up really early at 5am to watch the sunrise. regretted the choice as we could not enjoy the sunrise in its full glory, due to the really cloudy sky. the location was not that great either, as there are trees blocking our vision. but the air was really cool and fresh, maybe I should wake up early more often on weekends, instead of staying in bed until lunch time :P
return trip started at about 10.30am, and the journey was better as there were clear, visible seat numbers on the bus. we stopped a few times along the way for toilet break and some snacks.
cameron highlands is a nice place for brief weekend getaway. it has the complete package of fresh air with pretty flowers and laid-back feeling. quite similar to puncak, but it's more orderly and tourist-friendly.
No comments:
Post a Comment