Scorpio's Domain: My stay in the highlands

Date: 12th and 13th July 2008

Event: 2D1N Club Assembly at Cameron Highlands

The First Day...

The members who took part in the event were Calvin, Jacqueline, Kevit, Amanda, Dinesh, Jamie (though retired from Rotaract but you'll always be a part of us ^^ ) and myself. We met up at the Sungai Buloh rest stop as we're travelling in 2 cars to Cameron Highlands in the morning to have a short breakfast. After that, we started on our way to the destination.

Well, it obviously took quite a while to Cameron Highlands. But we've finally reached our accomodation which is the Carnation Apartment at Tanah Rata. My opinion, it's an ok place to stay. There's a tv, 2 shower rooms, 3 bedrooms, electricity and water. But there's no appliances and fridge in the kitchen. So we've got to bring a toaster and a big loaf of bread for breakfast and supper with tuna and garlic butter spreads. We've definitely enjoyed our stay there (^^).

Before reaching our destination, we had lunch at a chinese shop before Tanah Rata. It's located opposite the Cactus Valley. For dessert, we went to a nearby cafe named Strawberry Moment. Everything on sale inside has something to do with strawberries. I've got to admit. The food there is sweet like heaven (^^). I'd love to go there again if I have the chance.

Once we've settled down in our rented accomodation, we set off to a newly established branch of the BOH tea plantation site located at Sungai Palas. We had our choice of teas available there and pizzas. Since I'm not a tea type person, I had hot chocolate instead. The weather in Cameron Highlands is cool and the atmosphere is calming. When we're at the tea plantation, we went into photo-crazy mode. Even I don't know how much photos we took there. While we're there, Kevit, Jacqueline, Calvin, Amanda and myself took a short trip to see how the tea leaves were processed (of course none of the machinery was functioning). Be warned that the road leading in and out of the tea plantation is very narrow (You're practically at the side of the hill). So better press your car horn at every bend and listen for any car horn sounds from the other direction.

After that, we planned to stop by the The Old Smoke House as Calvin said that the scones there were nice. But by the time we reached there, we've missed the tea time and they're already serving dinner. To tell the truth, none of us liked the place. I personally don't like it for 2 reasons, the food is quite pricey and the attitude problem (if you're not loaded with cash, they wouldn't entertain you at all. So might as well turn around from there).

We went back to the apartment to have our club assembly to discuss the future direction of the club. As for dinner, we had steamboat (^^) near Brinchang. Surprisingly, there's a lot of steamboat restaurants (You'll find one at every corner). We were all wearing our sweaters to keep warm in the cool night air. But I was the only one who took mine off during our steamboat session as obviously I felt warm.

After that, we went back to the apartment to have a bit of fun with UNO, Happy Family and Snap. Of course it got a bit of adrenaline running for some of the games we've improvised from the cards available (it's called Heart Attack). We also had a bit of a mix of orange juice and a certain alcoholic drink (mom's gonna kill me once she reads this). I definitely don't dare to take much due to personal reasons. As for supper we had toasted bread with tuna and garlic butter spread. Some of us actually stayed up till 3 or 4am playing cards. I had to sleep by 2.30am as I can't stand to keep myself awake any longer.

The Second Day...

For one who slept so late, I actually woke up around 8am to freshen up myself and prepared my own breakfast. We packed up and left around 11am whereas Jamie and Dinesh left earlier. We did a bit of shopping at the day market located in Brinchang before heading back. We had lunch at the same chinese shop again. Then went to the Cactus Valley (after some coercing and bugging from our side so that Calvin agreed to go). When we're at the Cactus Valley, we went into photo-crazy mode again. Taking pictures at every chance that we can get (^^"). Of course we didn't keep count on the number of pictures taken but we've enjoyed it anyway.

After that, we had to drop Amanda off as she's meeting up with her family at Cameron Highlands ans then continued our way downhill. Sadly, yours truly here can't handle with the twisting and turning road leading downhill. I have to practically force myself to fall asleep so I won't end up barfing in Calvin's car. Until we're halfway down near Whisper Falls, Calvin stopped for a while for Kevit to buy a necklace from the local natives there. That's when I finally can't hold it anymore and emptied the contents into a plastic bag. And disposed it on the roadside so that nobody would get uncomfortable about it. After that, I actually felt relieved and fell asleep till we're back on the highway home again (^^). Well, it definitely was a fun trip for me although it didn't end in a happy note for me (^^").