Here is a trivia fact. Outside of a British Army Garrison, which place has the highest density of Land Rovers? This small little mountain top plateau has more than 2000 Land Rovers (albeit most of them are falling apart and spewing thick black carbon monoxide soot!) being used by folks who live here for their everyday life routine. I was there during the Chinese New Year Holidays with my cousin KLY, his family and my sister-in-law Jessy's family. Contrary to popular believe, this place is still cold (about 14-16 degrees is cold by Malaysian standards, development has slowed and they have build more farm for tourist to knock themselves out! I will come back to that later.
I am talking about Cameron Highlands. It is a very popular tourist spot for the British and the affluent folks during colonial times. Some of the hotels are still around and the most expensive is this place called "Ye Olde Smokehouse". Since it is built during colonial times, it has the colonial look which means stiff, old and haunted.
It is a great place for your photo ops but I can't feel comfortable there. It makes you feel that if you make too much noise or cut the scones the wrong way or even smell tea differently, a headmaster or mistress type of person will jump out of the woodwork and whisk you away to a place where they will force Victorian manners on you. And this person may already be dead, if you get what I mean!
Anyway, we had a great time! We stayed at the Equatorial Hotel which was on a peak so it was a colder there. If you take the road up from Simpang Pulai, you will hit Equatorial first without going through Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Berinchang. Also its a much more comfortable road to travel but it will set you back by about 40 minutes. Good price to pay for not throwing up at the end of the trip.
Some interesting observations:-
1) There are more farms or markets where you can basically get the same things which are vegetables, strawberries, honey and dried strawberries. Many are now using the "Pick Yourself" as a selling point. So let me get this straight, I pay for the produce but I pay extra because I pick it myself? Talk about fleecing city slickers!!!
2) While there were many, I strong recommend Kea Farms market which is walking distance from the hotel. It is large and looks more like a market.
3) There are some tea plantations and they sell lots of scones (English tea product) and cakes. And scones are over rated. You must check out Sg Palas Boh Tea Plantation and have tea there after a tour of the facilities. After Triankap, you will see a Cameron Valley tea plantation. That's not bad either.
4) Rose gardens are a big con. They charge you entrance fees for you to climb up heart stopping slopes to see some flowers and view of the Cameron Highlands valleys and farms (which you can see for free at all places in Cameron).
5) There are something like 6-7 curry houses along a single stretch of shop houses at Tanah Rata town. I am very baffled by this.
6) Berinchang has a good pasar malam on Fri and Sat but I would suggest we stick to the markets. Almost all restaurants offer steamboat.
7) Those of you born in the 70s and before MUST see the Time Tunnel museum. I will share more with you in later postings.
We stayed for 2 nights at the Equatorial at an apartment with 3 rooms. We were given a food voucher of RM250 a night. Whatever we didn't use, they gave us back 50% in cash. Personally I thought it was an excellent deal. I will share more photos and talk more about some interesting places in Cameron Highlands, the land of Land Rovers and Scones!
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