Where do Old Land Rovers go to die?

They dont..... they go to Cameron Highlands...... to work just as hard if not harder then when they were new.....

Impromptu trip to Cameron Highlands... Self Picking Strawberries Ahead...

The day after the kids "sploosh" birthday party.... Rose and I woke up and thought... hmmm... it was the raya holidays and we're not doing anything.... There was talk about going to Cameron Highlands for months... thought of going during our wedding anniversary... but... plans... u know lah... they get push around a lot...

Then it hit us that morning... "lets just call this place called Bala's Cottage in Cameron's and we'll see from there!!!"... somebody picks up and says "yes there are rooms available..... So we book two nites and we start hurrying around the house to pack and get ready.... we need to leave by 11am...

We hit the road and hoped that it wasnt jammed..... well.... it was not .... but when we wanted to stop at the Tapah reststop there was a jam almost 500 meters before the entrance .... we slowly diverted back on the highway........ cars were parked all over the place.... streams of people packed the stall of shops....

Without a second thought we headed to Tapah town instead and hoped that it wasnt as bad.... well it wasnt ...but the eateries were packed ... so KFC take out it was.....


(Tapah town looks peaceful but the eateries were packed)


As we ate in the car... i noticed this sign in front of us....... now thats something i dont see everyday.....

After our short lunch ... we pushed on towards Cameron's through the old twisty road from Tapah. Sorry no photos of the old road cos it was pretty darn twisty ...so best i have both hands on the wheel.... and Rose was too nervous to take shots...... anyway i was having fun driving...but there were a few blind corners which got me by the balls......

We left Tapah at about 2.50 and reached Bala's Cottage which is after Tanah Rata town about 4.30pm..... it was absolutely gorgeous.... i didnt really manage to capture its atmosphea in my pics.... but trust me ... it was really really cosy....


Bala's cottage from our little terrace chalet....

A little walk around the cottage grounds..... my mum would love the 'English Garden'

Dinner by the fire at the Dinning Area........ comes with a price thought.... and if ur on a budget... eat out yeah...

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The next morning we took a drive to Brinchang. Visited the Rose Muzeum near the Rose Valley.... which has such and such number of types of Rose's under one roof.... including the rare Black Rose..... First thing i need to inform you is that the so called Black Rose is just a very dark shade of ....RED... which most people would call Maroon....

Anyway i found the weeds growing around the area more interesting... as the two shots below illustrates.... well there were other intesting plants there too... which u can see in the slide show below this post....

Oh yeah before we visited the Rose Muzium ... we drove up to the Bharat Tea plantation observation cafe thingy at Rose Valley.... which was a waste of petrol... thats why i almost forgot about it....There is another Bharat Cafe that we passed before reaching Tanah Rata on the way up the day before ...looked much better... but we didnt stop cos we wanted to reach Bala's before 5pm.... well maybe the next time then...


After that we took the slip road to Gunung Brinchang... which is the highest paved road in Malaysia.... We get really good views of BOH Plantations along the way..... very nice....



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The roads were very tricky.... it was interesting watching big MPVs like the Toyota Alfard maneuver up these roads..... We stopped at a strawberry farm...to pick strawberries.... not as execiting as i thought it wld be.... But i did find the cherry tomatos very photogenic....

There was a signboard which i noticed while driving but didnt manage to get a shot.... It read "Self Picking Strawberry's... 500 meters"...... kekekekeke...

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I was getting tired and hungry... so we headed back to Brinchang Town and had lunch at an Indian shop.... then after that we just bummed at Bala's..... and was looking forward to Tea and Scones in the garden..... at what else... Tea time lah....

Reading a book while waiting for our tea and scones.... it was raining so under the patio will do just fine thank you....

Tea and Scones... worth the wait.... and the cold cold rain....

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It rained pretty much the rest of the day and nite...and the next morning..... i was freezing my ass off.... overall the trip was very very relaxing.... apart from the cold.... and that the room for the amount we paid was pretty small and old (it is one of the oldest in cameron's) ... but it felt so cosy and and relaxing....

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We drove a little bit more in Brinchang that morning and visited the Big Red Strawberry Park which was a little touristy and then after that bought lots of fresh veggies.... we then headed home...... but instead of using the old road back to Tapah.... we used the new Simpang Pulai pass.... very very nice two lane road which you can cruise at 80 to 90 kph with ease.... Top Gear kind of road.....

The Simpang Pulai Road.... a little longer but way less taxing then the Old Tapah-Ringlet road...

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