CAMERON HIGHLANDS, REVISITED

We last visited Cameron Highlands in June 2006. I remembered it was for my birthday which was arranged by my wife during this visit. Her two daughters, son-in-law and a grandson joined in for the holiday, driving up the cool highlands in two cars. It was a very memorable holiday for my wife and she was very happy that everyone has the time to be with her during the holiday.

This February 2013, we want to go to the highlands again, and this time only two of us will be there, to recollect all the memories which we left behind. I could not book a room at the hotel that we stayed during the last visit as it was full, but I managed to book one at a hotel in the Brinchang town area instead. Since our holiday dates are in the peak season with the Chinese New Year and the school holidays for the whole week, we managed to get the room, at a very much different rates, for the 12^th to 14^th February 2013.

Before leaving for the highlands, my wife prepared 59 set of souvenirs in two (2) boxes for her colleagues at the office as a sincere gift for her 59^th birthday which falls on the 13^th February 2013, the next day after our departure. These gifts will only to be distributed on that day by her friend.

We left her office after leaving the boxes under the care of a staff, going by the Jalan Duta Toll towards the north by the North South (Plus) Highway. On the way we passed an accident that being attended by the authorities concerned. There may be some casualties as we saw an ambulance passing by the next lane toward the accident area, not to forget the heavy traffics that have to slow down. We saw accidents on our last two (2) trips and this is the third accident on the same highway.

We continue our trip and later exit to the Tapah junction towards Cameron Highlands. The route to the highland is about 70 km. The other option is by the Simpang Pulai exit, which is further north, a new route to Cameron Highlands which is also a bypass to Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

On our way we stopped at the Lata Iskandar waterfall to look at the beautiful scenery, and luckily we got a space to park. The stalls sells a lot of souvenirs, from the new locally made to the old antiques, and various kinds of local foods and vegetables.

We keep on driving towards Brinchang, one of the highest most towns, passing through the towns of Ringlet and Tanah Rata. Tanah Rata is the main town of this highland as most of the government offices are situated here.

We have to drive slowly as the traffic was slow and quite heavy. When we reach the outskirt of Brinchang, we have to go through a “one way street” to the town, and the road then branches towards Kg. Raja, which is the bypass to either Ipoh, Perak or Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The traffic was crawling all the way.

We reached the hotel at late noon only because the crawl took more time than we expected. The other problem here was to park our car, as the parking area in front of the hotel was full. A few did parked their car temporarily or waiting for any vacant spot. I left my wife in the car to register at the hotel, and later let her check-in while I look for a parking space. I have to drive around the town to get back to the hotel as the streets in the whole town are made into the one-way street. I managed to park my car at a vacant spot in front of the hotel, as long as it does not blocked the other moving vehicles. Once we parked our car, we should not drive out unnecessarily as the vacant parking space would immediately be taken by others, and we may not be able to get a new parking space later.

We had our late lunch at the food stall nearby the hotel. We have been to this food stall during our first visit, but at that time it was recently open and everything seems to be in good condition. We found that the lunch we had was a bit expensive compared to the food served, beside the utensils were not really washed clean. We felt this is a priority for all food stalls, and the proprietors should abide by the rules set and they should understand the need of keeping clean in all aspects.

Later we went to where the Fire Brigade office (Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat) is, as it is very nostalgic for my wife. During her younger days, her father was transferred to this office as the Station Chief and the whole family stayed in a house at the ground floor of the 3-floor quarters. Being 3^rd in the family, she is the eldest daughter, with the other 6 brothers and sisters remembered every moment and she felt sad undergoing her teen life with such a burden. She had her schooling days in the primary school, had to do almost all house chores and taking care of the family for her mother. To her, life had been so miserable, that took away her young and teen life. Those were the memories of her life and I told her to accept it as it was, and be grateful to Allah.

Later we went to a hotel behind this office to look for an old friend whom we met during our last visit but we were told he had resigned. We met one of the staffs who have been living in the area during those years. He and my wife talked about the life in those days, shared all the memories and I could see that my wife was happy to have met a person who knew the truth in her stories. I was truly happy for her, but sorry to say that I forgot to ask this person’s name, hoping that we will meet him again, one day.

It was about one or two years later they moved back to Bentong, Pahang as her mother could not adapt herself with the cool weather of the highlands. We took some photos to see the difference between those years, then and now, after 50 years. She wanted to show these photos to her mother after our trip.

The weather was not on our side, as it drizzles frequently. We were walking towards the night market when we were greeted by one of the receptionists from the hotel. She was very friendly and courteous, almost the same age with someone we remembered.

The next day of our arrival was a special day for my wife as she turned 59 years old. In the morning we went to visit the “Rose Garden” and my wife enjoyed herself with a few photos of her among the roses that returns some memories to her. We saw these peacocks in a cage that became the favorites of kids visiting this garden.

Next we stopped at the Kea Farm junction and bought a tea pot as a souvenir. The rains kept coming down on and off beside the traffics were quite heavy and slow heading towards the by-pass to continue their journey to either Ipoh or Kota Bharu. Looking at the weather and traffics we decided to cancel our trip to the Tea Plantation and return back to Brinchang for lunch, at a restaurant that served good food.

We looked for a bakery and bought a tiramisu cake, some strawberry pies and brought back to our room to celebrate her birthday. We sliced the cake and sent half of it to the girl we knew at the receptionist counter for her and her friends.

In the evening, we went to the night market again, and this time we intended to buy something to bring home. It was still raining drizzling and we have to walk among the crowd, with our umbrella ready in hand. We were told that this night market was put up every day during the whole week school holidays along with Chinese New Year holidays. We bought a few items and some souvenirs to take home. Quite a number of stalls sells almost the same item that symbolizes the “strawberry”, be it sandals, slacks, shirts, caps, key chains, ear plugs, snacks, or whatever you may think of. I wonder how a person looks like wearing or having all of them, a “walking strawberry”, maybe.

The next day was our final day and after breakfast, we went to the Cactus Valley, which is nearby the town to look around and to remember our last visit to this particular place. We tried to look for something that we bought at our last visit, and we simply called it “Mr. Potato” but we were unlucky as we were told they did not have those items anymore.

At about 11:00 am, we checked out from the hotel for our journey home. It was still raining, and we thanked the staffs at the counter for their courtesy and assistance given to us as senior citizens. We told them we were not happy with our holiday as the weather is unpredictable, and we intend to come again.

On the way down we stopped at Tanah Rata for lunch. The weather here was still drizzling but we managed to walk around the walkway. We left Tanah Rata going down towards Tapah and the traffic flow was fine without any car trying to speed or overtaking. We stopped at the Cameron Valley (Bharat) Tea Plantation rest area for tea and some scones which are very popular. We remembered during our last visit, when we stopped at this rest area, someone asked her mother “what is ‘scone’ mom?” The place was crowded with everyone wanted the see the vast area of the tea shrubs.

We bought two (2) sets of teapot that comes along with its packets of Cameron Valley (Bharat) tea leaves and a packet of the tea in sachets.

Continuing our journey, we stopped to buy a bottle of wild bee honey and some bamboo shoots sold by a friendly young “orang asli” boy at a stall on the road side. He is schooling at the local school in Form 3, and I advised him to study hard and wish him success for his year-end Lower Certificate Education (SRP) Examination.

We entered the North South (PLUS) Highway at the Tapah Toll towards the south. The traffics seem heavy but with a steady flow going towards Kuala Lumpur. We stopped at a petrol station to fill up and drive by the Sg. Buluh Toll to reach safely home at Taman Seri Gombak, Batu Caves.

It was a tiring day driving more that 150 km, all the way non-stop. Anyway, it’s good to be back to our home, sweet home, and we could rest for the next three days. We are grateful to Allah for the safe journey.

P.S.    Happy Birthday dear, I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating this year’s birthday with me. Any way, it’s not that I have FORGOTTEN this yearly occasion, but it’s better LATE than NEVER, and my “small” birthday gift would remind you for the every second you’re with me. So they say, and I quote: if you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you. – Love, hubby.