Cameron Highlands; a highland region famous for its cool weather, tea plantations, strawberry, flowers and vegetables farms which is located in Pahang . A little more information and history about Cameron Highlands can be found at Wikipedia .

The Apartment we stayed

We took about an hour and a half drive from Ipoh to reach Brinchang; biggest town in Cameron Highlands at the moment. Upon reaching everyone unloaded their stuffs and quickly indulged ourselves with wild durians which we've bought halfway on the way to Cameron. It was simply DELICIOUS! * apologies for no durian pictures as I was busy helping myself to some of it! ^_^

Rice Cooker Steamboat anyone?

Later we were all treated with vege steamboat dinner using rice cooker! Those of you have yet to try out must really try it out as it takes ages to cook! As all of us has no experience to make the steamboat, it was not a fulfilling dinner for all of us :(

Mah Jong Session

"Mah Jong" session was the next itenary for those gamblers whose hand has been itching since before dinner.....It was a very funny moment looking at these bunch of gamblers playing with their facial expression....

Starbucks lor...

We later adjourned for some hot tea/coffee drinks at Starbucks as most of the other cafes and even mamaks are CLOSED at 11pm! Was a nice experience to have drinks with a bunch of close mates sipping warm drinks while feeling the cool breeze....

BOH Tea Plantation

We visited 3 tea plantations namely 2 from BOH and 1 from Cameron Valley during our stay at Cameron which is quite an interesting experience as all 3 plantations gave us a different feeling. All has their own "cafe" outleft which overlook the tea plantations but the most special is the Sg Palas BOH plantation whereby the cafe is situated on top of the hill with a portion of the cafe stretches out from its base. With open air design, the customers are able to enjoy their meal/drinks with beautiful view and nice cool breeze. It is a must experience for visitors visiting Cameron!

BIG RED Strawberry

During our stay, we also managed to visit 2 strawberry farms which 1 has vegetables farm and both has nursery selling flowers. It's a recommended experience for visitors to visits these strawberry farms to try plucking their own strawberries as you will have a more accomplished feeling plucking your own strawberries as my mates was all fired up during the process...One cannot forget those happy faces when they find the BIGGEST & RIPEST strawberries...

Beautiful CARPS

We also went to a temple where one of my mates is hoping to visit. This particular temple has many well carve statues of deities with historical meanings if you're able to read Chinese. Also right at the entrance there is a small pond where it's crystal clear water surprises you with carps of multitude colors and friendly ones they are with no qualms of rising above water level hoping to get some meal out strangers! One also can touch and feel the smooth and beautifully scaled fishes!

Sg Palas BOH Tea Plantation

7 of us went up and we were all satisfied even though the trip was short planned. If there were more time, there are some other locations which could be visited which is by the lake, waterfall, honey farm as well as orchid/rose gardens! Well I guess it's not just the destination but also the people you travel with that makes an overall GREAT TRIP!

7 make a FAMILY

I would like to thank all me mates for a wonderful trip and looking forward for more!

Caving Adventure...

Gua Tempurung which is located at Gopeng, Perak is about 30 minutes drive from Ipoh. The surroundings are pretty untouched though some facilities are being constructed for tourism purposes.

From the ticketing counter; we have several routes to choose 1 to 4 with 1 being the easiest and 4 the toughest and longest route! We chose the 3rd route instead as we have 2 elderly folks tagging along and because this route also includes wading through water....an experience that we hope to try out!

Before entering, I was given a warning on taking my camera "Nikki" along as the route we're taking might damage my camera but feeling that it would be a waste without going in with "Nikki" to capture the moments; I disobeyed their good intention advice.

Early into the cave we're already sweating; might be due to the humidity level there and also the long stairs climb. Manage to view lot's of beautifully shaped figures like human heads, legs, animals, dinosaurs etc but didn't manage to capture it as it's too far from my flash reach! :(

Most of the tour is really dark where torchlights are required! Our tour guide even gave us a try out pure darkness feeling when he asked everyone to switch off our torchlights and it's really pitched black! Then came the first challenging moment whereby we have to walk off the man made trail to a small crack in the cave wall to move to another location...luckily for me am not that big a size which I can go through but with assistance of course as the slope is slippery. There was even once when the route that we need to take is a 60 degrees slope which we need to slide down...OUCH!! Seriously not for the faint hearted....

There were several locations where we have to wade through ankle deep water though the water is clear and cold but it might have leeches in it as I got 1 stuck on my hand!!! Urggghh! There are also places where you have to squat down to move or even try to crawl as the ceiling is that low till your whole body is wet! Now I should have heed the warning about my camera but luckily I was prepared with several plastic bags to cover it...

Overall it's a tiring yet pleasurable experience which one must try if you're into adventures but beware of what you take inside as it would be soaked wet! Recommend to get a compact camera that is water resistant as it is really beautiful inside that cave to be stored as memory...

Coming NEXT...

Cameron Highlands