Bitten by the travel bug - Day 5 (Cameron)

The family is here!!! Yippie!  Mom and dad were supposed to arrive at KLIA at 7.30am which means we should leave latest 7am.  As mentioned, SIL didn’t sleep at all so she was our alarm clock.  I had to put the laundry in last night as Noel and I were running out of clothes.  Thank God Jane’s apartment came with washing machine.  I thought I will just hang our clothes in the van as we journey.

We left the house at 7 and reached KLIA about 7.40.  Everyone went down to meet my parents at the gate except me – the van driver.  Didn’t take long and we are off to CAMERON!!!! Yippie!! Mom has been wanting to go to Cameron, she’s never been.  The last time I’ve been there was maybe about 15 years ago?  Goodness.  Before even starting the journey, mom requested for food already!  Haha… yes, mom and dad cannot be hungry.  Not knowing where is the nearest kopitiam and not wanting to waste any time, we decided to dropby McD at the road side.  A good decision too, then we could buy bread, drinks etc for the journey since it is located at a big PETRONAS station.  Tummies full we hit the road!

The journey was uneventful.  We stopped at a few R&R for toilet breaks.  My sil, nephew and niece are all prone to carsickness.  With the help motion sickness pill, they slept most of the journey.  However, true enough, going up the winding road to Cameron, our little girl decided to empty her stomach content! Hahaha… But it gave us a chance to stop by the road side to enjoy the nice cool breeze.  Desmond decided to take over the driving (I must have been too slow for his liking; he is a driver too, just like me.  We like to drive and have been driving the church van to ferry people right from the day we got our license)

Up the hill again.  We target to go direct to Boh Sungai Palas Tea Garden for lunch / tea.  Fresh scones with cream and freshly made strawberry compote… YUMMMSSSS…. It was a Sunday and the crowd was T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E. Going up wasn’t so bad but we saw snaking queue of cars almost not moving coming down.  We thank God we were heading the opposite direction of the traffic.  The last time I went to Cameron was 15 years ago, but Desmond and his family came up last year so I assumed that they will know where to go.  We drove up and up and voila! We are at Tanah Rata!  Wait… tanah rata?  I thought Sg. Palas was in Brinchang?  Haha… WE MISSED THE TURNING!!!! Gosh Gosh Gosh Gosh!!!! To go back down and join the traffic would be insane.  We sadly decided to give it a miss… AND it will be closed tomorrow, it being a Monday.  So sad… L  It being noon and mom and dad needed their food already, we decided to just dropby any shop to eat.  Literally it was just “any” shop – mediocre food.  Our accommodation was in Brinchang, so we made our journey down and will stop at any place with strawberry or flower for mom to see.  That we did, which was boring since there wasn’t anymore strawberry to pick, but we did buy lots to eat.

 

Sungai Palas Boh was supposed to close at 4pm, and it was about 3pm when we decided to try to see if we can brave the traffic and catch the time.  We did try for a bit, but after considering what information was given by Waze, we decided to just forget about it.  So we stopped along the way here and there to see stuff and get souvenirs etc.  We stopped at KEA farm as well and enjoyed all the nice fresh sweet potatoes while walking around.  And then it decided to POUR!  Haiyah… this rain… kacau kacau saja.

Time to go to the apartment!  I saw a good deal on Groupon but when I contacted them, they said I don’t even have to buy Groupon and the price is still the same.  It was not so difficult to look for the apartment but what was difficult was that it was on a very steep hill and it being a manual van, your leg must really have the muscle!  I thank God that Desmond was driving!!

We got into our apartment fairly easily, though the steps and the lift location / system needed some getting use to.  Unloaded and lo and behold, what do we see from behind the van??? Mine and Noel’s erm… undergarments!!!! MUAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!! I hung our wet clothes on hangers and hooked them to the back of the seats and throughout the journey, the clothes somehow shifted and exposed the underwear!  Goodness gracious me! Imagine what other drivers behind us have been looking at!!! Gosh… so embarrassing!! Ah, thank God we are just foreigners in this land and that it was a rented van!

It was a 3 bedroom apartment so each of our little family unit was able to have our own room.  But the boys decided they wanted to sleep outside at the living room that night.  No issue for me boys… enjoy the “free” aircond!  After shower and resting for a bit, it was already 6pm and we decided to go for early dinner.  What else to eat in Cameron but have steamboat right?? Good thing we went early because a) it started to rain heavily and b) a HUGE group of students / teachers came in for their meal at the same restaurant.  It was havoc.  But we managed to eat in peace.

Next, no visit to Cameron is complete without visiting the pasar malam.  Just a few steps away.  The rain had stopped as we were finishing dinner.  Hurray!  We went our separate ways at the pasar and bought whatever we needed to.  Lots of fresh fruit, veg, corn! Etc… I wish we were going back to Kuching NOW so that I can buy all these cheap and fresh veg.  The ground was wet and puddles everywhere because it had just rained but it didn’t stop the crowd.  After waiting and waiting and looking for each other, we decided to walk back to the apartment.  The steep hill was really a challenge – more so when going down but slowly slowly wins the race right?  I dragged Noel out again because I felt that it was such a waste to just stay cooped up in the apartment when the weather was so nice and cool and there’s so many things to see!  Mom had wanted bedroom slippers (typical mom, wanting things after we got home) and SIL wanted some milo, crackers and maggi.  All the more reasons to go down to have a walk!  It was about 11pm by that time, but it felt safe to walk around still.  We explored Brinchang in the cold.  If we can’t go overseas, then we just enjoy the cold here right? J

Back to the apartment we all had a nice hot supper and then to bed.  SIL said at the pasar malam, one of the hawker said that Boh Sungai Palas will be open tomorrow eventhough it’s a Monday because it’s a school holiday… REALLY??? We should go try to go there!!! YIPPPIIIEEEE!!! Sleep kids!  We need to go out early to look for tea tomorrow!!!  The boys really did sleep out at the living room that night.  That’s what a family holiday is all about J  End of Day 5.