Day tour: Cameron Highlands, Pahang (October 2013)

As I dun have a superb driving skill, I looked for a day tour service package and I found wegowithanuar. Superb driving skills is very important cuz the road to Cameron Highlands is hilly pathway, curvy slopes and winding road, plus we went there on weekend which is heavy traffic than normal day, plus raining and drizzly. Our tour member is Me, Ainee (my fwen), Jo (Australian tourist) and Balan (tour guide). 3 main towns in Cameron Highlands are Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Brinchang.

Before kept on to our next break, we went to Lata Iskandar WaterFall and trekked up through the trail provided. This waterfall is a source for local people to get water supply. Some unique souvenir such as wooden slingshot, angklung, tongkat ali and many more. Some local fruits/veges such as durian, petai, abu and others.

Our next stopover was Bharat Tea Plantations located along Ringlet and Tanah Rata road. Bharat is the second largest tea producer in Cameron Highlands and produces the tea with brand of Cameron Valley. There are 3 methods to harvest tea leaves which are plucking by hand, manual grass cutter with scoop attached and by machine. Despite drizzling suddenly, Balan still managed to pluck the tea leaves and the hand holding a tea leaves is one of my best moments in this tour. Even as waiting the rain to stop, we had our tea time at Cameron Valley Tea House and I went for hot tea while Ainee had a strawberry tea, Jo and Balan chose hot tea tarik.

Then we continued the journey to Time Tunnel. It is a local museum that illustrates the history of Cameron Highlands since pre-war and there are several ancient items and antique stuffs that hard to find on these days. The best momento looks like the girl was really beside Tunku Abdul Rahman on a year of 1957 and they jointly saying “MERDEKA!”

Afterward, we went to Strawberry Farm which we may pluck the strawberry and packed to bring home as a souvenir. I bought fresh veges and I found this (the purple stripe fruits) which local labelled it as ‘Cameron Apple’. This apple taste almost similar to melon or cucumber, which is tasteless and watery. Fortunately, I bought it a piece only.

Then we headed to Sungei Palas Tea Centre, BOH Tea Plantations which is the largest and oldest tea producer in Malaysia. We parked the car and walked up whilst holding umbrella since it raining again. We had our tea time in the café’s veranda with a greeny tea plantation landscape and unmarked panorama. I preferred strawberryraspberry tea; Ainee desired lychee tea and Jo picked garden palas afternoon tea. 5 basic tea processing stages are withering (pelayuan), rolling (penggulingan), fermentation (penapaian), drying (pengeringan) and sorting (pengasingan).

Our next place was Butterfly Garden. When came into this place, the butterflies were on our left and right and everywhere including on the floor and they remain silent till I thought they were replica (I mean fake/non real such as plastic or handmade butterflies) until I asked the guy and he said, “of cuz real!”. The guy told us that we have to grip both wings if wanna hold the butterfly. This method will ensure it won’t hurt the butterflies. Beside the tropical butterflies, we may found insects and reptiles habitation and wild flower inside this garden.

On the way back, we drop by some fruits stall and savored the Sea Coconut. Well, the taste was flavorless or no taste. Sea Coconut is a plant from a palm tree, producing a large fruit containing a two-lobed edible nut. Cuz it has no taste, some served it with coconut ice and mango and some mix in coconut milk and sago.

Other fruits over there were heaven melon, markisa, melon and coconut. Before left Cameron Highlands, we stop at Tanah Rata Food Court to have a meal and solat (note: the water was very cold).

We didn’t make it to Rose Valley and Mossy Forest cuz inadequate time. For those, may try a scones and fresh corn. There is Smokehouse and Lakehouse which has English deco, house with chimneys, seem old and haunted and pricey. I didn’t manage to capture photo for both houses as we just passed by. Plus, you may drop by Fauzi Tomyam & Steamboat. To viewers, hepy travel!