Road trip Day 3: Cameron Highlands

This is the view from our room at Cluny Lodge (Room 3). The resort is situated quite high (i.e. secluded so its better to drive) so we could get a "bird's eye view".  It was relaxing to be surrounded by greenery with birds chirping happily among the trees and fresh crisp morning air. :)

View from our room...

A common sighting in Cameron Highlands...

We headed off for breakfast on board the resort at a cost of RM6 per adult. It's a sumptuous breakfast loaded with a bowl of cereal, two pieces of bread with butter and strawberry jam, 2 sunny side ups with ham/sausages and a choice of tea/coffee/milo. (Tip: Choose Milo at your own risk).

@ breakfast table. Loved the very English and retro cutlery used...

We headed off for a strawberry plantation. There are many peppered along the roads in Cameron Highlands so finding one is not difficult. Among those listed on the map that seem to have more visitors is one called Raju Hill Strawberry Farm. We chose EQ Starwberry Farm (Address: 78, Jalan Kuari, Brinchang) after reading it from someone else's blog.

Open daily from 8am to 6pm! Free Entry...

And this had to happen... No chance to pluck the strawberries! *sobs*

(TIP: Need to pay to pick strawberries. If not wrong, they will charge an entrance fee and you can pick as much as the basket (they provide) can hold. Psst... no eating while plucking. The uncle there told us they will try to space the harvest to coincide with weekends. So if you intend to pick strawberries, go when strawberries are in season (Dec to Feb) and during the weekends)

View of the farm from the "toilet" area. Can see those strawberries (should be ripe for picking by Friday I guess).

  Nevertheless, we got to see the "stages" of a growing strawberry through the fence. :)

If you think these look sour, you are wrong! These are the ALL SWEET organic strawberries @ RM20 per punnet

(TIP: Uncle says there are 2 species - the "All Sweet" and the "Sweet & Sour". He lied that "All Sweet" were not for sale but when a big group of tourist came, he whipped out the stocks! -___- So do not trust what he says... *tsk tsk!*)

You know what is good when someone cleans up 2 quickly and says "我还要!".

Prior to lunch, we walked down to Kea Farm market. As the name suggest, the place sells mostly vegetables and flowers. There is a small sprinkle of shops selling souvenirs (strawberry themed plush) and food (tempura looking food and steamed/bbq corn on cob). We did buy some pearl corns but due to the number of days we spent in Malaysia, they were all "spoilt" by the time we came back to Singapore.

We spotted an interesting stall selling freshly cut honey comb. At RM 1 per piece, you can drain the honey directly from the comb (PS: Do spit out the comb since it's made of wax and not exactly digestible...).

We then headed for lunch at a Chinese chi-char eatery. It's a walk into the road just right next to EQ strawberry farm. You will notice these strawberry chairs along the shops there...

Little gal's failed attempt to get up the chair... :p

The food there was actually quite good. Hubby loved the Ba-Kut Teh, I liked my fried noodles and the little gal had her chicken rice with little fuss (chicken was really soft).

The next most popular must go in Cameron is of course the tea plantation. The biggest and most renowned tea plantation- BOH Tea. I read that there are 2 BOH tea estates there and the older one at Sungai Pallas (Opening Hours: 9am to 4.30pm, closed on Monday. No entrance fee.) is strongly recommended. The road that leads to this tea plantation is a single lane, so you'll have to be a daring and pretty good driver!

Entrance to the Sungai Pallas BOH Tea Plantation

We were "misled" by the GPS and missed this entrance 3 times! Yup, we went up and down the adjacent road 3 times spending close to 2 hours, missing those info boards due to the rain. :(

 We were lucky to find the following map which led us to the entrance... 

(Directions: Head North i.e. towards Simpang Pullai. You should see Kea Farm/EQ Strawberry Farm on the right. Drive onwards, the entrance is actually diagonal to the "Ee Feng Gu Bee Farm". (Map taken from http://www.cameronhighlandsinfo.com/attraction/BOH_Tea_Plantations/) 

We parked at the visitor's carpark which is at the "foot" of the plantation. Thereafter, you can experience walking through the tea shrubs, towards the terrace (where they serve tea and snacks), souvenir shop, factory and exhibition hall.

We took the tarmac path up which is less of a slope... Almost near the terrace! :)

R&R at the tea terrace while the little gal drinks her afternoon milk...

Lovely scones with cream & jam + Firecracker (the spicy sausage) + tea

Buying Palas Supreme (tea leaves for the connoisseur...)

Foggy weather... The scenic view from the terrace...

Terrace where you can have tea and look out into the beautiful plantation...

View from the "highest point" in the tea plantation...

We found that it was actually much easier walking back down to the visitor's carpark at the foot of the hill. However, due to the rainy season, the road down got slippery. So if weather is all dry and nice, take the tarmac road up and the experience through the bush when going back. :)

 The experiential walk among the tea-bushes

Back to the "foot" of the plantation where I took a picture with the little gal at the visitor's carpark. (PS: We actually found some cars driving all the way up to the terrace area and park behind limited space behind the terrace area. If you intend to skip the walk among the tea bushes, can just drive up there I guess...)

The end of our journey at BOH tea plantation...



It was our last night at Cameron Highlands... Hubby was only dreaming of one thing for dinner...

 *Drum rolls* TADAH - KFC lor...

(Tip: There is a Binchang Central Market opposite this KFC that sells cheap souvenir t-shirts. No harm going there to buy!)