iLove

Road trip to Cameron!

Believe it or not, this is my very 1st time travel to Cameron Highland in my life. Shame on u, Siti Zakiah..

By the way, I had a lot of fun there. Thanks to my brother who had arranged this trip well. The trip began at 4am before we stop at Petronas to fuel up and topped up our Touch & Go. It’s kinda hard though to wake up at 3am but when I think about the strawberries that I’m gonna eat later, my eyes popped out easily. weee..!

Ok, before we begin the journey, lets review about the place. Cameron Highland is located in the state of Pahang, approximately 215km north Kuala Lumpur. The main attractions are strawberry farms, tea plantations, fresh vegetables garden, rose garden and butterfly farms. Major town in Cameron Highland is Brinchang where we can find hotels and resorts as well as restaurants. Tanah Rata is also a hub whereas it seats a lot of hotels and shops. Its a convenient place to stay overnight. There also located Malay villages where most of the people here is Malay.

Hmm..okay, we started the journey through Plus Highway from Kuala Lumpur all the way to exit Simpang Pulai. We stopped at R&R Tapah for freshen up. Fuel up the car and fill up our stomach and watch the sunrise.. =)

Fuel costs approximately RM70 for my dad’s Auto Iswara whereas toll fees RM 26.20 from KL to Simpang Pulai. Its worth the journey as we enjoyed the view soo much. I forced my sister to not sleeping thru out the journey. I slept 3 hrs only ok. So I need a company especially its my dad’s car and I forgot to bring my own CD compile of my fav songs. Damn..the radio keeps turning from one channel to another from Hitz.fm to Tamil station. grrr…btw, we hav our own way to enjoy it.heee..

From exit Simpang Pulai it took about 1 hour before we reach Kg Raja at 8.30am. We stopped by for enjoying the view and buy some fresh veggies. This time the fruits and vegetables are really fresh from the garden. For breakfast we bought tangy sweet potatoes and hot curry puff and eating while walking along the road side. The weather was nice and comfy. Not too cold and just nice. But the traffic started to build up along the road. Yup, its school holiday season no wonder..

Our journey continues to BOH tea plantations. An adventurous route ups and downs the hills was really a true nitemare. Especially for the driver. Fuhh…a two way narrow path along the hill slope was complete adventure dude! But it was fun and we enjoyed the view. Nope, THEY enjoyed the view..huhu.. at this moment I remembered a saying,

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

The smell of fresh air comes from the tea leaves makes me feel like inhaling a tea flavoured oxygen. It was damn healthy feeling up there.  The air and the view was sooo nice and soo green. Its an eye therapy as well. We hangout at the cafe while having fresh brewed cuppa tea with the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen in my own country. I’m so regret that I’ve missed the opportunity to visit this place before I travel outside Malaysia..

Well..well..well…

Self-plucking strawberry was my favorite activity. We paid RM20 for 2 persons, one tray of half kg strawberries. It was fun. Though written there no eating while plucking, but, “ada aku kesah?” huhuhu…I actually asked permission from the guy who guarded the area to ‘taste’ the strawberry. And he said yes. So it was halal ok..And we eat the strawberries like it was my father’s farm.huhuhu..and thanks to the guy now I got sore throat.

We continued the journey to another tea plantations which is called Bharat Tea Plantations after lunch in  one of Malay restaurant in Brinchang . It is second largest tea producer in Malaysia. We stopped by for tea break and enjoying the view. My brother was busy snapping with his new Nikon D90. Toilet session before heading our journey down the valley. Err..talking about toilet, I’ve been thinking twice to do my ‘business’ here. Its the view from the toilet! OMG..U’ll be doing your ‘business’ with awesome view. I was wondering if there’s a people out there across the valley using a binoculars to peep us throwing a ‘business’ here.huhuhu…scary. Btw, the farm is located on the way to Tanah Rata from Ringlet.

After playground session in Tanah Rata, we continued our journey home. And the adventure started again. This time we used Tapah route to get down the hill. Its quite scenic with primary and secondary forest and you’ll find an Orang Asli settlement and be fascinated with the durian stalls along the way. But the journey as I mentioned, was very very adventurous. You’ll have to get ready with your Panadol and plastic bag in case of vomiting. Not recommended for pregnant lady. heee…I’m serious ok. It is a  narrow two way path, zigzag crooked and we were lucky to follow behind a big lorry. The lorry was beneficial to us as it horns out loud to alert vehicle coming from the opposite way. We believe that the lorry was Optimus Prime guarding our horrible journey down the valley. Weee..! We’re Bumble bee…!

We were ”Thank God” after we saw a signboard noted Kuala Lumpur and a straight smooth road after 45minutes gone through a wild journey. We took our time to get a shower and freshen up in Tapah R&R. Oh my..Oh my..can I just sleep over here?..Of course not, silly you. U have to go back home quickly coz u leave your husband at home remember? errghh…Ok ok..So the journey continues after spending about 1 and a half hour resting in the R&R. We can’t stay longer here. One of the reason because I wrongly parked my dad’s little Iswara at the bus & lorry area ~crap…caused by the crooked journey we had..

We finally get home at 10.30pm. Syukur Alhamdulillahh….thats all I can say. The journey was kinda adventurous and my leg is now unbalance caused by auto car driving. Salonpas is my good friend now.

Wow! great journey and great destinations I had discover today. An unforgettable experience, pleasant memory yet painful body as the side effect. Heeee…Still, this place is gonna be an ’iLove’ place. And this journey experience gonna be a lesson for me to understand and relate to our life journey that

“Its the journey that counts, the destination, is a bonus”

..a quote born from the heart of Zaque.

Thanks for reading..!!