Cameron Highlands Day 4

I know, I know. It's been 21 days since the 'Cameron Highlands Day 3' post. There seems to be a lot happening recently. Schoolwork, Royal Rangers Merits, Royal Rangers 'Best Ranger' Competition, Royal Rangers Bible Quizzes...

Yep, a lot of Royal Rangers stuff...

Anyway, moving on to the real post...

On Day 4, we woke up, checked out of our lovely apartment and had brunch in Tanah Rata. Then, my mum picked up a dozen scones from T Cafe. She even bought a box of scone mixture so that we can have oven baked fresh scones at home.

After that, we drove home... home... home... HOME...

On the way downhill, my brother and I played some card games. My brother started to feel dizzy. Strangely, I've never got dizzy or carsick. Or maybe I have, mildly, but just didn't notice it...

At Ringlet, we stopped by the lake. It was good to leave the car, inhale fresh air, feel the cool air and enjoy the view.

The serene, calm lake.

A young tree thriving by the side of the lake.

While walking on a boardway by the lake, I found an especially windy spot. I spread out my arms and felt the gale brush against my face. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my brother running at me with his hands in a position set to 'whomp' me in my belly. However, he had started his run from the other end of the boardway. So, when he reached me, he was too tired to fight properly, hehehehe. He still put up quite a good show however...

After the little tiff, we got into another little quarrel when my brother blamed me for my mum behind-the-scenely buying more vegetables from a shop by the lake... which were loaded onto the already overcrowded back seats of the car where my grandma, brother and I sat...

At the foothills of Cameron Highlands, in Tapah, my dad showed the family the SUFES Campsite where my father & I had been a few months ago for a Father & Son Camp. From there, we continued our journey till we reached home sweet home.

This picture concludes all my four posts of my Camerons trip...

It was taken while I was in the car, on the way to Camerons...

I love this shot.

Cameron Highlands Day 3

I woke up, washed up and then... stayed in bed until my mother and grandmother came back.

Once again they came back with stories about this farmer and about how they got to pull out carrots from the ground etc. etc. etc.

We left for a nice noodle shop to have breakfast. I had a plate of 'Wan Ton Mee' and a cup of 'Milo Ais'.

After the hearty breakfast, we set off for the ever famous Boh Tea Plantation!

My brother, Guama and my mother.

We visited the Restaurant (but I will call it the Glasshouse, which sounds so much better) in the Tea Plantation to let my grandma read and relax there. The rest of my family were going to the 'Mossy Forest'.

We drove to the Mossy Forest. Up, higher and higher we went; it almost seemed like the road had no end... (but it WAS fun winding down the window and sticking my head out). Finally we reached a rest spot where we got out for a while. It was very misty with visibility of about 15 metres. Then, we drove up to the peak of Gunung Brinchang.

There we climbed up a high tower of about 10 metres where we had a very good view of the whole of Camerons. It was also numbingly cold.

Trees shrouded in mist...

However, from there on, my camera ran out of 'juice'; so there won't be pictures until I have charged it. I despise these hiccups...

About 1/2 hour later, my dad drove down the road whereas my mother, brother and I couldn't resist jogging down in the cool air. After a short while, my brother noticed something.

'Stop, I think I've found the trail!' he exclaimed.

It WAS the Mossy Forest trail which we had been searching for. No signboard pointing towards the path whatsoever; just a plain old brown path covered in dried leaves going uphill. Only when my mum and I went to check it out did we find an old, raggedy, white flag marking the start... of the trail.

My dad then parked the car by the side of the road. He started taking pictures while the three other Tans set off to explore the Mossy Forest. We spotted many interesting things like red pitcher plants, WHITE pitcher plants, and tons and tons of moss. Every tree was enveloped by moss. In reflection, this hike was the best part of the trip, for me.

Part of the Mossy Forest

We soon came to the end of the short trail (I can run from the start to the end in about 10 minutes), but the whole trail was beautiful. One of the best trails I have been to.

We headed back to the Glasshouse, had a delicious tea and returned to our apartment to rest.

There... I CHARGED MY CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, moving on... to dinner.

My mum and grandma had a healthy and hearty meal in the same steamboat restaurant (read all about it in 'Cameron Highlands Day 1') while the guys had a delicious meal at KFC nearby!

After dinner we visited the same pasar malam, bought some more kuih kak and went back to the apartment.

Back in the apartment, the guys played more card games before having a good night's rest.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for God is with me.

The next post will be about the 4th (and final) day of my family's trip to Camerons.
Have a good week!

Cameron Highland Day 2

I woke up very late, around 10.00 a.m. or so. After I brushed my teeth, I went out to the balcony to get some fresh air (sounds so country-like eh?) until my mother and grandmother returned.

They enthusiastically shared their stories about how they woke up sooo early, went for a refreshing walk, visited a farmer's house, plucked vegetables which have no pesticides and so on and so forth.

When everybody was ready, we left for brunch at an Indian shop in Brinchang. I had the usual egg bread (roti telur), fried chicken etc. The food was good, except that there were some very stubborn flies which kept trying to attack our food. One even successfully landed on my plate of fried chicken...

After the meal, my family walked to the end of the road with a huge signboard that said:

ORCHID

thinking we would find a variety of delightful orchids. As we got closer and closer, the words in fine print said - Food Court

And so we headed back to our car for our next destination... The Rose Garden!

Pink Rose!

A Bunch of Pink Roses?

Bird of Paradise Flower. "Bite his leg, bird, bite!"

Count the flowers!

The Rose Garden was very windy, cool, and refreshing. There were hundreds of different species of flowers. My family and I had a good time there. I enjoyed taking photos.

After that , we visited a new attraction, a certain Strawberry View which sounded promising as it has 'over 20,000 strawberry plants' and a fancy 'European styled restaurant'. At first, only my mother was taken in by the place. However, after my brother heard about the desserts, he leaned towards going too (It comes as a real surprise to me how he can stay so skinny...). And so we went.

After the long ride of about 1/2 hour, the place turned out to be a disappointment.

A section of the 20,000 strawberry plants...

Also, the desserts were overpriced; so we didn't buy any. *Sigh*

We went back to the apartment to relax and rest.

We had dinner at Strawberry View near the hotel. While waiting for my food, a moth zinged my ear (it used its wings to make a 'zinging' sound and irritate the inside of my ear flap). The food they displayed in their menus looked appetising. What wasn't nice were the things that weren't in the menu...

Before I took a bite of my food, I found a small bug crawling on my coleslaw. I quickly removed it. Then it got worse... after I had stabbed a french fry with my fork, I noticed a tiny moth which was still fluttering under it... I wonder what would have happened if the moth had been stuck to the bottom of the chip and I had eaten it? I don't want to think about it.

After those incidents, I slowly and reluctantly ate my food with great caution, and then went out of the restaurant to get some fresh air (without any stupid moths).

Then we vistied the PASAR MALAM, again.

This time, my brother bought two necklaces for RM4 each and my dad bought some delicious fried carrot cake (kuih kak).

Back in the apartment, we ate the kuih kak and played some card games before we went to sleep.

National Service

My brother is 17 and he was not chosen for it... *Smiles*