Day Two of our Cameron Highlands trip started with breakfast at Brinchang. Brinchang town was already busy as early as 7am. Locals started the day early to do marketing before heading towards their workplace. As most of the populations are farmers, the town was full of land rovers, a popular transport among farmers, in the morning. After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel as it was still too early to visit any of the touristy places. The kids enjoyed themselves at the playground in the resort and I enjoyed myself taking pictures of them.
We travelled to the Lavendar Farm in Tringkap soon after. It took about 15 - 20 mins to reach the farm in usual traffic condition. The Lavendar Farm is not that large. But once again, it is not the size that matters. The purple lavender was a pretty sight. Besides lavender, there were other flowers available, petunia, chrysanthemum, gerbera, roses, etc. The gerbera was available for self picking at RM2 per stalk. There was a strawberry farm too and one could pick the strawberries oneself for a fee. However, we decided to leave the strawberry picking to the later of the day.
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| Lavendar in Lavendar Farm |
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| Gerbera at Lavendar Farm |
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| Gerbera at Lavendar Farm |
After visiting the lavender farm, we headed to my former school mate's flower farm in Kuala Terla, a small town about 5 mins away. My friend brought us around to see the flowers that he planted : lilies, chrysanthemum, gerbera, roses, peacock, etc. He planted the lavender too. After that, we watched how the flowers were plucked and packed, before being collected by the lorries for export. My friend generously gave us some lilies and vegetables to bring home with us.
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Peacock at my friend's farm
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We had lunch at Kg. Raja, at a restaurant near a Chinese temple, as recommended by my friend. It was then that we decided to buy more of the organic pearl corn that we had the day before and as we are already in Kg. Raja, we made the journey to the KC Kwang's farm again.
Thereafter, we travelled back to Brinchang, stopping once in a while to soak in the beautiful sceneries around us. My friend also recommended that we stop for a cup of tea at Cameron Tea Valley in Kuala Terla but we decided against it as we were still full from lunch and we planned to have tea at the Bala's Holiday Chalet anyway. We also skipped the Sg Palas tea plantation that is famous for the spectacular view as there were elderly among us and it is not safe for them to climb up and down the steep and slippery walkway.
There were many strawberry farms along the way back to Brinchang and we stopped at one of them for some strawberry picking. The kids have been looking forward for that all day long. The self picked strawberries cost RM35 per kg, with a minimum weight of 500g (RM20). For this price, two adults + one kid are allowed to enter the farm for the picking. The price is pretty standard in all strawberry farms in Cameron. The kids had a wonderful time picking their own strawberries. Even my mother in law and her aunt enjoyed themselves too. After picking, we handed the baskets to the staff and they sorted and discarded those not so good ones. Only those good and nice strawberries were weighed and ours weighted to 2.2kg! The strawberries were then packed in boxes and we had some on the spot!
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Picking strawberries
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| Showing off the self picked strawberries |
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| Enjoying the self picked strawberries |
The owner of the strawberry farm also let us tasted different types of wild honey. The honey tasted very good and we ended up buying a bottle which cost RM100. We would have bought more but were cautious as there are many non authentic wild honey out in the market. After checking with the locals, we get to know that the wild honey is indeed authentic.
Bala's Holiday Chalet is a small colonial style hotel near Tanah Rata, just before the junction to Taman Sedia. It boasts of beautiful scenery and also their freshly baked scones, served with homemade strawberry jam and cream are to die for. We had the tea at the garden. The weather was perfect. The kids enjoyed themselves with the swing while we adults enjoyed the tea and scones. Kids ran to the table to get a bite or two of the scones now and then. It was as if we were transported back in time where elegant English ladies in hats and parasols enjoyed their afternoon tea with their kids and nanny in tow. It was a peaceful and happy afternoon.
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Colonial style Bala;s Holiday Chalets
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Freshly baked scones at Bala's Holiday Chalets
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| Homemade strawberry jam and cream served with scones |
We went back to the hotel for some rest after having tea as the kids needed their nap. We had dinner at Tanah Rata that night as we still have not visited that town yet. I was all nostalgic when we passed by my former school. I did my primary school in the Convent, Tanah Rata. It is a beautiful building that can be seen from the main street of Tanah Rata. Though it is a convent, the school is actually a co ed school, not only for girls. My secondary school was the Sek. Men. Sultan Ahmad Shah (SMSAS). As the years passed, the school has expanded and it is now a Sek. Men. Keb. It is situated at the far opposite of the hospital in Tanah Rata, overlooking a field and a playground. During my time, the school had classes up to Form 5 only. 6th formers will need to go to Bentong. Now, the school caters for Form 6 as well, both science and arts stream.
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| Convent Tanah Rata |
We called it a day after dinner and went back to the hotel as everyone was tired and a bit dizzy from all the travelling. The night was cold and it was heart warming to see the kids tucked their 'babies' to bed as well. Thus, this ended our second day in Cameron
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My kids' 'babies' tucked to bed
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