Getting High

Remember Cameron Highlands? When was the last time you went up? The last time I went, my age could be counted in single digits, and I was wearing clothes from Kiki Lala. So the parental unit decided it's time to go again since my brother has never been up there, that poor untravelled soul.

So we woke up at the ungodly hour of 6 in the frickin MORNING.

 Look at that sky. The last time I saw it that colour, I was an Upper Sixer o.O God, I feel positively ancient. Has it really been THREE years?

 Look at that gorgeous sky! Watching the sun rise is awesome.

 We stopped by the small town of Bidor to eat the famous duck noodles.

 Not sure if the dim sum is famous too, but heck we were hungry! Makan only!

 The duck noodles - wantan mee-type noodles and duck in herbal soup. Not bad! My mum was grumpy over the lack of veggie though. "Wah, not even one leaf?!"

It's duck noodles, not veggie noodles, mum... But I got her point.

 The sun was shining, the sky was blue, 

 ... the telephone pole was straight and majestic.

This was supposed to be a shot of the hills. It turned out to be a shot of a pole, with some hills at the back.

The worst thing is: I took three attempts, AND ALL THREE HAVE A POLE SMACK IN THE CENTRE OF THE PICTURE! wtf. I gave up after that. This is the nicest pole picture. Enjoy. =(

 We made a detour to check out this waterfall! Lots of people merrily splashing around, but not being the most nature-loving people, we stayed dry and took pictures instead.

 Daddy, Mummy, Ah Boy and me! Our ONLY all-in-one picture.

A windy ride later (windows down, woohoo!), we arrived at our hotel, Bala's Holiday Chalet.

 As you can see, it is absolutely quaint and full of English charm! The name is a little incongruous in the rustic Tudor-cottage-esque surroundings, but Bala's is a simply gorgeous hotel.

 Super awesome for photo ops!

 We got a suite, which is SUPER CUTE! Look at it! It's in a terraced row of cottages! The one we got is for four people, so it has two queen-sized beds, one on the ground floor, another in the loft above. Some suites are for two, so the loft is a charming little sitting room with a sofa. This row of suites is above the main building (where there are other suites and rooms as well)), and is accessible by a pretty steep flight of stairs. Not good for older people, and HORRIBLE if you've got tonnes of luggage. No worries, the other suites and rooms are pretty accessible!

 But these suites are awesome.

 Daddy playing 'Lord of the Manor' in the cozy wing chair.

 The loft upstairs is right under the roof! The floor is wooden, and if you sit downstairs and listen to people walk around upstairs, it sounds like a herd of elephants stampeding around. A bit heart-stopping, to be honest!

 The dining area in the main building, all decked out for Christmas. The fireplace is lit at night! Talk about atmosphere.

 Prowling the grounds, I came across this sign. Bearing in mind the building used to be a boarding school for the children of the English people posted here, I wonder who Fredy is and where he is now.

After a rainy, ass-freezing night (I was smart enough to pack a long-sleeved t-shirt, but apparently my smartness stops there because I packed SHORTS bloody hell) spent curled up in a ball under the cozy blankets half-afraid to move cos to stick a limb out of my warm nest was to get immediate frostbite, we woke up bright and early to have breakfast in the Boh tea plantation.

We thought "Ah, what can be better than sipping hot tea and nibbling on scones, overlooking the lush green splendour of a plantation?"

You see, the problem was: to get to the hot tea, scones and panoramic view, first we had to climb UP.

In the misty, windy cold.

On empty tanks.

 You see the glass structure on top of the hill? That's the cafe.

 Unfazed, the parents set off.

Thank goodness, the slightly slippery dirt path soon made way for proper steps.

 Unfortunately, the steps later gave way to

 TREE ROOTS.

TREE ROOTS, I ask you.

 Shivering, hungry May Lee, wrapped in a scarf and pashmina and yet still feeling a chill, was NOT amused.

 Once we got to the top, though, we were like "Waaaaaahhhhhhh"

It's really pretty! The glass walls ensure green as far as the eye can see.

 Beautiful.

After stuffing our faces with scones, pies, cakes and cups of hot HOT tea, we thawed out enough to take pictures! Well, I thawed out. My dad and brother were being all manly and "Pffft. What cold? Like this also cold? Cheh! What la you. Not TOUGH."

Whatever, guys. I know you were sekkretly shivering.

Pictures!

 THIS, my dear readers, is a brass rolling table thingy.

 And THIS is the machine in which the brass roller thing.. well.. rolls. The tea. To make it.. uh.. squashed.

Sorry, I suck. =(

Oooh I do know ONE thing! It's positively ancient - it was new in the 30's - but they still use it to produce tea! Wtf right? After all this time, they still haven't come up with more techy machines to produce tea? Where is the touchscreen LCD screen? Where are the streamlined chrome bits? I bet it doesn't even have a 128 kb memory stick! 

The HORROR.

 Found a scenic route down that didn't have tree roots as steps!

It's actually a road for taxis and stuff. Since there weren't many taxis, we were totally strolling down the middle of the road. And taking pictures!

And what is Camerons without flowers, right? I took LOTS of pictures of flowers, but I figured I wouldn't spam this post with boring botanical pictures. So here are a couple, instead.

 These trumpet flowers are EVERYWHERE. Like seriously.

Well I guess this is it. We didn't go to any strawberry farms, although we did snigger at some signs that said "SELF-PLUCKING STRAWBERRY FARM". I guess we prefer our strawberries on dishes, with melted chocolate, ala Vanilla Place in Empire.

P/S: The lady boss owner of Bala's is really quite rude. Note to all service industry people, do try not to speak in a language your guests do not understand. It's awkward to be halfway talking to you, and then you turn away to shout in Tamil at some person across the hall. And also, don't EVER call me "Hallo", as in "Excuse, excuse! Hallo! The dining room isn't open yet!".

Ever.

=)