Monday 14 September 2015

Cameron Highlands road trip



Last Thursday afternoon saw R picking me up from work and us heading onto Malaysia's North South highway for a very long but fruitful road trip to Cameron Highlands. We left the Singapore checkpoints at around 5pm and got into Ipoh by 10pm. Ipoh is situated at the base of Cameron Highlands and hence it was a perfect stop for our dinner.

Clockwise from right: Char Kway Teow,  a Yong Tau Foo stall and Prawn Mee

Dinner consisted of hawker fare. And boy did the hawker fare remind me of the local Penang food. I had a bowl of prawn mee and it was simply one of the best hawker food which I had in awhile. The soup was so flavourful that you knew that it had been boiled for a very long time. The noodles, meat slices and fish cakes were all very tasty. The only unusual thing was the extremely hard shell of the prawns. I'm not sure if the hard shells were part of the local cooking style or if the prawns were just bad and old. We had a plate of Char Kway Teow too, and it tasted exactly like what they serve in Penang. Ok, I've found a new substitute place for good Penang food! I'll be back in Ipoh again, just for the food!

After dinner, we headed for the very long ascend to Cameron Highland and it was a very scary but exciting ascend in the rain and in the dark. I was actually sleeping in the car when I awoke suddenly and realized that we were stuck in a jam. R went out to check and he came back reporting that there was a landslide! And ironically, it was an ambulance that was stuck in the landslide. A landslide means that mud is washed from a higher ground and onto a lower ground. As the path we took had only one way up, this meant that the ambulance was blocking everyone's path. Hence, we could do nothing but just wait as the authorities took the ambulance out of the landslide and used their bulldozers to clear a path for us. After what seemed like ages, we were finally got out of the jam and a path was also created for us to pass through. The next few stages of the journey weren't an easy one either. We had to brave through roads that had lots of mud while praying hard that the car would not sink in the soft, wet mud. Thankfully, R's dad was really skillful. There was this juncture where we saw the same ambulance being stuck again for the second time in an extremely high pile of mud. R's dad's quick thinking saw him reversing the car before the wheels and all of us started sinking like the ambulance. After a whole night of driving drama, we finally arrived at Copthorne resorts at 3am and of course, with grateful and relieved hearts.

View of Copthorne resorts in the morning

Up and early to visit an organic farm

The next morning saw us setting off for breakfast . We bought coffee and runny eggs from my favorite breakfast place - old town white coffee. After which we headed for our first stop which was at an organic farm. The farm was an eye opener. The plants were grown without pesticides and it was very evident through the taste of vegetables. We got to sample a few vegetables and it tasted so fresh and sweet. Singapore should import their vegetables from Cameron! The owner was really kind and he gave us lots of vegetables in the form of leeks and carrots to bring home.

View of the BOH tea plantation

Lunch was at a Chinese coffee shop and we had a huge feast consisting of the freshest vegetables and very chewy kampong chickens. I really love the vegetables here. It tastes so fresh and we hardly get such high quality vegetables back home. After lunch we adjourned to a tea plantation and it was my first time seeing a tea plantation. It was really a sight to behold! The tea plantation was so beautiful and it was so therapeutic to just take in the view and  relax with a cup of tea.

Excursion to the lavender farm

We also managed a stop at a lavender farm. The view was beautiful though the lavender field was rather small. There were also other types of flowers apart from the lavenders. We had fresh lavender and strawberry ice cream as dessert.

Top: rows of lavender
Bottom: strawberries and daisies
Us at the night market also commonly known as a pasar malam

We had steamboat for dinner and it was a perfect meal to match the cool weather which we were experiencing. After dinner, we headed for the local night market and got rather excited while shopping. We went gaga not only at the cheap prices but also at the wide variety of products available. We bought many products ranging from honey to peanut pancakes. The peanut pancakes were not only hot and crispy but also cost us only 22 cents! We were so in awe at the pancake's cheap price that we ended up buying 30 peanut pancakes! Yes we were that greedy!

After a big walk around the night market, we wanted to have a massage to soothe our sore muscles but unfortunately our hotel's massage parlour was closed! We ended up heading back to sleep as we prepared for the journey back to Singapore the next day.

So what was so great about the trip? Well the fresh vegetables was definite a very plus point, the BOH tea plantation was also a sigh to behold and the cool weather was something different from Singapore's hot and humid weather. If you are one who is into organic vegetables, loves drinking tea and enjoys experiencing a cool weather, Cameron Highlands is a definitely a place worth checking out.

Sunset along Cameron Highlands

Some addition information to help you if you are planning a trip

Bus from Singapore to Cameron Highlands: click here
Copthorne Hotel Cameron Highlands: click here
BOH Tea Cameron Highlands: click here
Cameron Lavender Garden: click here