Cameron Highlands

I always found Cameron Highlands a nice breakaway from the hustle and bustle of city life although I have to admit that this time, the journey was pretty long! This was partly due to the fact that we stopped for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in Kampar which served up pretty decent dishes. That drive alone took us over an hour! Loved the mushroom dish although I had no idea how they whipped up the sauce.

The other contributing factor was the fact that we drove through Simpang Pulai, the longer route to reach Cameron Highlands because my husband's colleague had kids and they weren't too keen on the winding roads via Tapah. Overall, it took us 6-7 hours to reach our apartment, I kid you not!

Nevertheless, upon arrival we immediately went to the Boh Sungei Palas Tea Centre which was a very challenging and tricky drive in! The road looked more suited for a one-way drive as we had oncoming traffic to deal with and of course, the scary thought of dropping off the cliff! But I was too mesmerized with the view of the plantations to worry about that!

The tea centre had a modern design twist with its cafe perched vicariously for guests to enjoy the view. There were also narrative posters that painted a colourful history of the Boh plantations along the entire area. Unfortunately, we arrived at the premises at 4.30pm which was closing time! So we were unable to have our cuppa tea but I managed to take some photos of the view. Important to note that it is also closed on Mondays, so plan your trip carefully next time!

Thereafter, we went to the night market to indulge in some street snacks. I am a very big fan of the two-tone coloured corn because it tastes amazingly sweet without the need for any salt or butter to flavour it. This is definitely the best corn ever, period. We also indulged in deep-fried straw mushrooms which were absolutely delectable while the rest tucked into fried pumpkin balls and potato chips! There were many other offerings and we had to try our very best to resist the temptations!

Next stop was of course for dinner (yes, we believe in being absolute gluttons when in Camerons). No trip is complete without eating in the charcoal steamboat restaurant where we were served heaps of fresh vegetables to be dunked into the hot, boiling broth. I drank bowls and bowls of the soup and ate perhaps a basketful of vegetables. Yes, I felt quite proud of myself for loading up on the veggies!

We later adjourned back to the apartment and I suffered from really bad sinus! If anybody has a sure-fire natural cure for sinus, please let me know. I start having sneezing fits whenever I am exposed to dust, change of temperature, etc etc. The perils of living with sinus! I'm sure the icy cold shower I had didn't do me any good *sheepish smile*

The next morning we decided to have breakfast at the Ye Olde Smokehouse, a boutique hotel which was formerly a mansion built in 1939. It is a 2-storey Tudor-style mansion with a beautiful garden which made me feel like I was Alice in Wonderland. The main attraction was of course the scones which were served with cream and strawberry jam which was not too sweet. Although it is pricy, I suppose you're paying for the environment and better-than-average scones! I do miss the scones in Miss Marple's in Dandenong, Melbourne though. Those were really, really good.

After tucking into our scones, we decided to call it a day and head back home because we had another appointment waiting for us in KL. Although it was a short trip, I'm sure I'll be returning soon enough to enjoy the cool weather as well as fresh fruits and vegetables!