the highlands [tea.scones.strawberry]

Another ad-hoc road trip to Cameron Highlands. It was about midnight when we drove from Kuala Lumpur to Tapah through North-South Expressway. It was an easy ride up till you exit the highway, continuing on the trunk road towards Tanah Rata. It was around 0230 hours when we drove through the winding road from Tapah till the way up. The road was dark & silence. Its only me, co-pilot and the rest of the universe. From Lata Iskandar onwards, I decided to turn the air-conditioned off and wind down the windows for fresh air. 4am and finally reached Tanah Rata. Need to stop for rest room, unfortunately the public toilet in Tanah Rata was closed. Had to drove to Petronas Brinchang. Next destination is Sg Pauh campsite.

To reached the campsite, just follow the Taman Sedia signboard. Car park is nearby the campsite, about 200m away. The campsite was well lit with easy access. Got a nice little pondok as our shelter with BBQ pit. Set our hammock, make some hot chocolate drinks and sleept till about 9am. The weather was perfect! Cameron at dawn felt like England during Spring.

Freshen ourselves and had one last sip of hot coffee before hitting the road towards Teh Boh Centre Sg Palas. As predicted, the traffic was bad at the Kea Farm area. Crawling uphill in a manual car definitely not my favourite. From Kea Farm, take a left turn into a small winding road. The road can only fit 2 car at certain corners. The traffic was stuck at some corners due to oversized vehicle being kiasu. I suppose they should stop buses from using those road. Permanently! The sun was shining brightly on us, but the air was cool. Had our sunglasses on and also our jacket.

Walked up to the cafe and straight away que for the counter. I had been craving scones for quite sometimes. Three of us queue, while Ida looking for the best spot to lepak. After about 10 minutes queueing, finallay we placed our drinks & dessert order. Three differencehot tea infusion and one hot chocolate, blueberry scones, scones (both scones serves with cream), chocolate mud cake & banana carrot cake. We sat there for about almost an hour, wishing the time will stop upon us. Enjoying the hot tea with delicious dessert while being pampered with cool breeze.

As the day was just about to start picking up the heat, it starts to rain and the temperature went down. As I drove away from Sg Palas centre, there was smokey effect due to the hot road and cool air. Next stop is the Kea Farm, where you can get cheap vegetables, strawberry, flowers and packed flavours tea. Fruits here were gigantic & fresh! Without realizing, it was almost 4pm (initial plan was to leave Cameron around 4am) and yet we have 2 more places to go. No pictures because we are busy looking at the big huge farm products.

Next stop is the Strawberry Moments in Brinchang, for mouth watering dessert. Ordered honey strawberry pancake & strawberry struddles despite of having scones & cakes a moment before. While our mouth is still stuffed with pancakes, someone cant stop thinking of steamboat. So, right after having dessert, we stopped by at Lucky 78 for a steamboat treat!

Solely, I blamed the weather. It was wet & very cool for us Malaysian yet very weird to have such an England weather in Cameron whole day. Hot Tom Yum steamboat was perfect! Ordered two set which was more than enough for four of us. Enjoyed our hot tom yum and start to descend.

Had our fun ad-hoc trip and really wish to repeat this trip again. Next time we shall do home-made steamboat at campsite.

total damage :

RM30 each (petrol + return tol)

RM50 for food & spending

free accomodation at Sg Pauh campsite