the weekend getaway, highlands, and a.r.t
our first visit, and an opportunity to volunteer our photography services, while vacationing at 1,628 meters above sea-level. we happily confirmed the accommodation at cameron highlands, but only to find out that the journey up north will take us about 9 hours, our furthest drive away from home.
prior to the trip, bit and pieces of vague information had been gathered on the long drive up north. we bought a GPS 2 days before the trip, and was glad it worked well to prevent us from getting lost. with less than 5 hours of sleep, we set off at half-plus three, with another friend in tow. the first 5 hours of drive was littered with conversations and gossips as we drove pass Malacca and KL. as soon as the day broke, the passengers started to doze off, while the hubby continued to focus on the drive uphill.
for a first-timer, it is recommendable to take the simpang pulai route up to cameron highlands. the road is wider, lesser bends to navigate, and there are 2 lanes available with an opportunity for you to overtake the slow moving vehicles along some junctions.
we finally arrived at our destination, slightly before 12 noon, after close to 9 hours of driving and 4 pit stops long the way.
hotel lobby
the equatorial hotel, our accommodation for 2 nights, is the highest accessible point of the highlands. we had a room with a small balcony overlooking the tudor-styled apartments on the left, and the highlands on the right. some excavation works are visible on the highlands, with patches of brown amongst the lush greenery. the room is spacious and comes equipped with a 32″ LCD tv, a huge safe that can fit our bulky gadgets.
the hotel lobby was perhaps, the most frequently hang around place, besides the hotel cafe. complimentary wifi access is included in the package, and wifi in the hotel room failed on us during our stay.
i counted only 3 eateries within 1 km around the vicinity. the nearest town, brinchang, is about 3 km away. we settled our first lunch near the Kea Farm market and was in awed of the view it offered. we returned the following day, with a bigger group, and of course, more food to share. the food was zi char style and reasonably priced. a meal with a good mixture of extra rice, vegetable, meat, egg and beverage, cost us about RM5 to RM8 per pax.
view from strawberry view cafe & restaurant
the main highlight of this trip was the altitude training. unlike the trainees, our routine for the 3 days was eat – rest – take photos. they had to look composed and maintain their glamour during their runs and core training, while we attempted to capture their best moments. we were blessed with relatively good weather, except for the rain in the late afternoon on the 2nd day.
the brinchang night market/bazaar occurs every friday and saturday. our dinner for the 2 nights was a drive from the hotel to brinchang town, which the hubby contemplated on traveling by foot. the bazaar occupied two rows of tarmac clearing, facing one another from across a busy road. one can find local produces of strawberries, vegetables, fruits and honey, and souvenirs. there are cooked food hawker stalls that served up ramli burgers, fried sweet potato and mushrooms, steamed corns and sweet potatoes.
our favourite peanut and corn pancake from the night market
steamboat is a common sight and the dish is offered in all the chinese restaurants in the highlands. for the meat-lovers or vegetable-haters, time to adjust to a new diet. the highlands is definitely a place for a meal filled with vegetables – abalone mushrooms, broccoli, corn, lettuce, dragon’s beard, watercress plant, carrots, radishes, to name a few that we had.
the nearest local produce market is located at the footstep of the hotel. besides the usual strawberries, honey, flowers, and other local produces, i was fascinated by the maggot-like cordyceps, and fruits with tiger stripes.
from top left, clockwise: cordyceps, bundled veg for sale, red cameron highlands apples, green cameron highlands apples
strawberries sold in individual packages or between RM25 to RM30 per crate
strawberry farms are aplenty in cameron highlands, and some let you pluck your own strawberries and charged you according to the weight.
no trip in cameron highlands is complete without a visit to the tea plantation. we took the tapah route down on our way home, and stopped at the cameron valley tea plantation for lunch. monkeyed around in the tea plantation after our lunch before we continued with the winding ride downhills.
cameron valley tea plantation
the old route from tapah is very narrow, lots of twists and turns, and blindspots, where overturning is too risky. it could have been the rain the night before, as fallen trees were visible on the roads that were beside the cliff walls. we wouldn’t have attempted the ride down, should it poured the day we depart, for fear that we encounter landslides.
we made our last stop in the highlands at the lata iskandar waterfalls. we made our climb up to the waterfalls excitedly, and did not whip out my camera for a snapshot. anyway, the waterfall was facing the mid afternoon sun, casting a reflection on the wall of rushing water. i was huffing and puffing away by the time i reached the top – a clear evidence on the lack of exercise. it wasn’t that bad when i did the 1km run the previous morning with my camera.
i’m still reminiscing over the cool weather and great company, even after a week has passed. we made new friends and felt appreciated for the photos we took. and i wonder how they managed to endure the aches acquired from the trainings, or maybe the aches were non-existence.
kudos to them for their graduation from the altitude training!
