trip to cameron highlands (part 1 - stories)

so the other day i blogged from the hotel lobby, alhamdulillah, we made it home safe from our vacation.
we actually spent our eid holiday to have days of 13˚C (min) to 23˚C (max) weather.
well, we went to cameron highlands.

seriously, if i had to choose between staying at a hot or a cold place, apparently the cold one would be my choice.
and yes, we had a great time.

i don't have a problem with heights.
but i do worry about the safety of travelling to & from cameron highlands.
the condition of the roads were not that good, comparing with if you are going to genting highlands.
very poor maintenance & bad constructions.
i can't sleep all the way going back & forth to ensure that my husband was driving properly.
by properly i mean, in the range of speed that is approved by me.

over there, we stayed at heritage hotel.
the room is spacious & clean with a balcony & a great view, but with a bit old furnitures.
upon booking & check-in, i don't know that there are the old & the new section for the hotel, and unfortunately we were put in the old section.
however, locality wise is excellent.
it is located at tanah rata, the most peaceful area in cameron highlands compared to the others.
the hotel is just a short walk from tanah rata city centre, but of course we never walked.
check-in & -out processes were smooth & fast, but the staffs were not that friendly.
no internet connection in the room, but there was free wifi at the lobby.
overall, i rate this hotel as average.

we were actually spending 3 nights at cameron highlands.
we arrived on friday at about 930pm, so we just went to sleep right after we stepped into our hotel room.
the next day, we started our day fresh & early.

so below is the list of our activities throughout the stay in cameron highlands.
i hope this could be your quick reference guide if you are going there.

day 1
1) breakfast - as breakfast is not included in our hotel package, we went to a mapley for our breakfast.
2) habu ringlet boh tea plantation - everybody prefers to go to sungei palas boh tea plantation because it's new. but we decided to go to habu ringlet for more privacy. we went for a short factory tour, had our scones, buttercake & tea dose & did a little shopping at the tea shop.
3) bee farm - we stopped by at a bee farm & saw how they produce honey.
4) the lake house - the lake house is a tudor-style boutique resort located in ringlet. i insisted to go there just to take some pictures & to get the feeling of 'cozy romantic' the place has to offer.
5) vegetable market - we planned to go here on our way back to KL to buy some vegetables to be brought home. so no, we didn't stop by at this market.
6) bharat tea plantation & tea shop - we dropped by at this place & did some tea shopping. anyway, bharat tea & boh tea are from different companies. so you need to buy something from both.
7) robinson waterfall - severe road conditions have stopped us from going there.
8) mardi - the place was closed for hari raya. so we didn't have chance to get into this place.
9) parit waterfall - here you can do jungle trekking, but obviously we weren't doing that. the river is seriously looked like a 'parit' for me.
10) the smokehouse - again, i insisted to drop by at this tudor-style boutique inn just to get some pictures around the place. next time we are going there, i want to stay here! the place was very nice & looked very much 'english'.
11) lunch - we just tapau our lunch & ate it at the hotel before we had some rest.
12) brinchang market - it was raining, but we still went to brinchang market before we went for dinner. we did some shopping too.
13) dinner - we had steamboat for our dinner. it was at glory78 cafe, a certified halal place to eat. the price was rm23/pax excluding rice & drinks for the steamboat set.

day 2
1) breakfast - again, at the same mapley as day 1.
2) masjid abu bakar, tanah rata - yes, it was hari raya aidiladha, so we went for solat sunat hari raya at the nearest mosque.
3) big red strawberry farm - according to one of the hotel staffs, big red farm is the biggest strawberry farm in cameron highlands. so we went there. there was no charge for admission, picking strawberries activity was also free, but of course we need to pay for the picked strawberries. minimum is rm20 for half of kilogram. then, i had my scone & tea, while my husband was enjoying his waffle & icecream.
4) cactus valley - the place is situated just next to the big red farm. the admission fee was rm4/adult. we didn't get into this place because there were already loads of cactus to be seen for free at the big red farm. so no need to waste 8 bucks for more cactus, no?
5) time tunnel museum - this museum is the first memorabilia museum in malaysia. it's the brainchild of see kok shan, an avid collector who believes that all that's old is gold. i think those aged 50 and above will be thrilled to see all things from their childhood in this museum. you know things like 'darkie' toothpaste, antique home appliances, etc. the admission fee was rm5/adult. the downside of this place was it is poorly maintained. i just don't know where the money goes.
6) butterfly garden - there was admission fee of rm5/adult for this place. here, we saw not only butterflies, but also snakes, insects, hamsters, guinea pigs, roosters, birds, rabbit, etc. i don't understand why they named this place as butterfly garden since it is more like a mini zoo for me. this place was not properly maintained too.
7) rose centre - rm5/adult to get in, and no, we were not going into because the place looked horrible just from the outside. it was dirty & we didn't want to dissapoint ourselves again to get into this place.
8) lunch - we bought marrybrown for our lunch before we went back to the hotel.
9) brinchang market - again, we went to brinchang market & did some shopping before we tapau our dinner.

day 3
1) cameron valley tea shop & bharat plantation - we dropped by at this place to get my third or final dose of cameron scones & tea. ohh i love scones, i can't have enough of scones!
2) ringlet vegetable market - as we planned, we stopped by at this market to buy some stuff to be brought home i.e. fresh veges, strawberries, flowers, fruits, chocolates, etc.

so that's it!
i hope you have some ideas about what to do & where to go in cameron highlands.

ohh i have some additional tips!

i suggest you not to buy fresh things from brinchang or kea market since most of them are not fresh & some of them not even been planted in cameron highlands!
so if you want something really fresh & original, make sure you get them from ringlet (to/from tapah) or kampung raja (to/from simpang pulai) area.

and to have a calm & peaceful stay, i suggest you to avoid brinchang & kea farm area especially if it's too near to the market.

if you are a tourist especially from outside of malaysia, i suggest you to buy cameron highlands' map at the tourist information centre located at tanah rata.
it will cost you rm4/map, but it helps.

ouhh i didn't bring my camera charger & the camera was sadly out of battery.
so i took all pictures using my blackberry, so the quality was a bit off.
i need to edit the pictures first before i can put it here.

see you in part 2 for pictures!