Went for a trip with
婆婆,
三姨姨 and Janice
表姐.... This is Kathleen's 2nd trip overseas and her first trip without daddy.
Day 0
We took a Konsortium Coach from Singapore at night. The coach will travel to Cameron Highlands via Tuas 2nd link. Each seat comes with its own TV with quite up-to-date shows. The seat can also be reclined to about 45 degrees. Mommy watch Clash of the Titans (the 2010 version) and Kathleen watched cartoons (they on the TV only after leaving Singapore. Licensing issues?). She watched the cartoons until past midnight before she decided to sleep.
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| Kathleen trying out the headphones but the strap is too long for her and she had to hold on to it to prevent the ear piece from sliding down below her ears! |
Day 1
The bus stopped for a few breaks throughout the whole night but Kathleen managed to sleep on-and-off throughout the whole coach trip including the winding journey up the highlands! It was freezing cold in the coach and Kathleen had to clothed in winter clothes and mommy had to wear 2 layers of socks!
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| Kathleen sleeping in her seat, with winter jacket, gloves and winter socks |
The bus first reached Ringlet and then Tanah Rata. We tried to ask the coach to stop nearer to our hotel Century Pines but they refused and dropped us off near the tourism information center instead. From there, we had to walk about 15minutes to our hotel, with luggages and all. It was before 9am yet we could feel that it will not be a cooling day!
The hotel room was not yet available and so we decided to go out for breakfast. We had roti prata for breakfast.
三姨姨 checked out Kang Holidays nearby and the lady there is kind enough to advise my sister on the things to see, and that since there are so many of us, it is easier for us to get a taxi driver who charge by per hour rather than to join a half day tour. We also booked our Cameron-KL coach with Kang Holidays as they have a coach which will pick us up at our hotel and send us to Chinatown in KL rather than the usual big coach which requires us to go to the tourist information center for pickup and dropped us off at Bukit Jalil (the usual bus terminal is currently under renovation)
So we went to the nearby bus terminal and found a taxi driver who is willing to drive us around for RM25 per hour.
First destination is the Sungei Palais Boh Tea Plantation. The uncle stopped before the factory to show us tea bushes at the roadside and to see the wide expanse of the tea plantation. Each bush can grow for decades and plucking of the leaves is done once every 20 days, he told us. The people will pluck off the leaves at the stem, and the stem will shoot off another new stem at another corner and continue to grow again. He also explained that all taxis and tour coaches have a special pass pasted on the windscreen which allows them to drive up to the Boh factory while people driving their own cars have to park their cars at the car park lot and then walk a winding path up to the factory (lucky cos its definitely a winding uphill path!)
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| Uncle talking about tea leaves, leaving each of the kids a small branch each |
We went to the factory and the short factory tour which showed how tea leaves are made before proceeding to the tea cafe for some photo taking and tea.
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| Kathleen with her favourite 三姨姨 |
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| Tea fields are seen from the balcony of the tea cafe |
Next, we went to one of the rose gardens...
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| Flowers that look like high heel shoes |
After that, we went to the Bee Farm (nothing much, though mommy did buy a set of wooden ladybird bracelets for Kathleen and she entertained herself with them throughout the whole trip pretending that they are daddy, mommy and baby ladybird) and Butterfly Park (lots of insects and reptiles which make Janice very happy). Janice forget to pack her camera and so borrowed mommy's camera and spent at least 20minutes taking pictures of all the insects and reptiles while the rest sat and wait. She later went into the enclosure and spent time catching butterflies (not by holding the wings which will kill the butterflies) and teaching other kids how to do it correctly.
Next is the Big Red Strawberry Farm. They have hydroponics vegetables and potted strawberries.
三姨姨'bought' 2 plastic baskets which will allow 2 person each to go into the strawberry areas to cut the strawberries. But there is no one guarding the individual gates to each row so all 5 of us went in. We are supposed to cut the strawberries by cutting the upper stem (rather than near to the fruit) and each basket is supposed to have minimal 1/2 kg of strawberries costing about RM20 each.
As there are many tourists, most of the ripe strawberries had been cut by the other tourists that appear before us. Kathleen is very eager to participate and had to be restrained by mommy cos she does not know how to choose the ripe ones. The weather is also hot and sunny which makes it not a very comfortable activity!
For those that are not able to fill up to 0.5kg, the weighing machine will top it up with the strawberries that they have plucked beforehand (from other places inaccessible to tourists I bet). So we got a little of topups. We wanted to have some food at the stalls there but the queue was so long we decided to return to Tanah Rata again.
The taxi uncle dropped us off at Tanah Rata and we had fast food at MarryBrown before walking back to the hotel.
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| the hotel room balcony at Century Pines. We are on the 2nd floor which is dangerous cos anyone can climb from one balcony to another using the lobby roof! |
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| strawberry galore! |
We tasted the strawberries and they are not very sour (either slightly sour or slightly sweet). Yipee! But Kathleen still does not dare to eat it.
Day 2
Next day is free and easy. We decided to hike trail number 4, the easiest trail in Tanah Rata which will lead to the Parit Falls. The trail happens to be just next to the hotel!
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| Buffet breakfast |
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| Christmas decor in the hotel lobby |
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| Signboard next to Century Pines indicating the path to Parit Falls |
The path is supposedly paved, but some parts of the path has been overgrown with grass or broken down, and some are just well trodden mudpaths. On the right side is a steep fall into the river... dangerous! Janice found a broken off branch and use it as a makeshift walking stick. Kathleen is very afraid of the dirt and refuses to walk most of time.
三姨姨 to the rescue as she tried to keep Kathleen's spirits up and encourage her to keep walking! And sweets do the trick! Just keep feeding her with sweets! (bad mommy)
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| narrow path |
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| strange looking grass found along the path |
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| 三姨姨 showing the seeds underneath the fern leaves |
We soon reached a open space with a pavilion and there is a bridge ahead. On the bridge, we can see our first destination, a red bridge across the gushing river.
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| picture taken from the bridge |
We finally reached the red sheltered bridge and took a breather! The hike from hotel to the bridge had taken us abot 45 minutes!
Janice wanted to continue to look for the view tower and so on we go. The steps are steeper and some parts are just muddy steps!
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| On we go! |
We soon reached this cement steps on our right with the signboard that said the observation tower is under maintenance, while straight ahead is another path that goes down (we can hear cars in the distance). Thinking that the sign is outdated, we climbed up the cement steps, and then up alot of muddy steep slippery steps (sometimes
婆婆 even have to use her hands!).
Then then we saw it.. the viewing tower! Its really under maintenance!!!!! *wahhhhh* Still have to take some pictures to show that we walked more than 1 hour to reach there!
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| Janice posing with her walking stick with 婆婆 |
After resting, we went down all the slippery path again, and reached the cross junction (with that signboard). We decided to try the other path which leads towards the sound of the cars. Thank goodness it was a paved and short path and we reach the main road very fast.
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| Stop! Time to pop another sweet! |
From there, we walked along the main road for about 20minutes before reaching our hotel.
The kids then went to the playground in the park across the road from the hotel. Kathleen had fun there, and Janice even found a colourful lizard to terrorise. But she later sprained her wrist then she missed her grip on a monkey bar and her right wrist was swollen.
It started to rain and we went back to the hotel. Once the rain stopped, we went out again, this time to try the highly raved scones at T-cafe! Mmm.. overrated, I have to say, and the service is quite slow....
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| Kathleen playing with the table number tabs while waiting for the food to come |
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| A shot of the skyline taken from the hotel balcony |
Went back to rest again, and then out we go again. This time round we took a taxi to Brinchang for their weekend night market (they are opened even on weekdays during the school holidays) and some steamboat.
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| One of the stalls selling cut honeycombs at RM2 per cup. Sweet! |
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| cameron apples, anyone? |
Started to rain again when we went to the restaurant and its cold! The steamboat comes in 2 soup base (chicken and tom yam) and mostly stuff such as fish ball and vegetables and bee hoon. Think it costs about RM18 per person (Kathleen dines free).
Day 3
Last day at Cameron Highlands. We wake up early in order to catch the coach which was supposed to pick us up at 8am.
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| finally, misty mountain! |
The coach was on-time, and pick up other passengers before it goes the windy way down again. The winding path was supposedly (according to a signboard) 15km and took us about 1.5hrs (1 hr of really winding route before 0.5hr of less winding road) before it reaches the level ground and expressway. We also pass by the beautiful Iskandar Falls. Kathleen fell asleep after reaching Ringlet and did not wake up until we are on the highway so she was not giddy at all. Good!!!!!! :)
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| Travelling along the monotonous highway and then suddenly there are many tall concrete buildings in the horizon. We have reached Kuala Lumpur! |
The coach dropped us off at Swiss Inn, and our hotel, The 5 Elements is just across the street! We check in (they have our room early. Yeah!) and then proceed to the famous chicken stall across the road for chicken rice. We sure are very glad to see some typical Chinese food and rice after the few days in Cameron :P
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| the fat pork with yam is yummy! |
After lunch, went for abit of shopping at Petaling Street (Janice found her favorite designer tees!). We found a Chinese medicinal hall there and the uncle there just swing Janice's swollen wrist a few times and she can now turn her wrist! After shopping, we went back to the hotel for the kids to take their nap before we took the LRT from Pasar Seni to KLCC to meet up with Uncle Danny (Janice's daddy). The Malaysians are very nice. They gave up their seats immediately when they see the little girl though it is peak hour.
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| Kathleen on the LRT holding the magnetic ticket (like those with a mangetic striped that was used in Singapore MRTs many years ago). She is wearing the daddy, mommy and baby ladybird bracelets on her left hand |
Had a reservation at Trader's Hotel's Sky Bar. We are late, but thank goodness our reservation is still available!
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| The skybar also has a swimming pool alongside |
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| View from skybar to park next to KLCC. There is a beautiful fountain, a playground and even a children wading pool (light blue)! |
Mommy had wanated to go up the Petronas Twin tower, but as the tickets are free and on first-come-first-serve basis (queueing up at 7am!), she looks for alternatives instead, therefore, the visit to Sky bar.
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| night view of Petronas Twin Tower as seen from Traders' Skybar (the bright oval shape on top right corner is the reflection of the Skybar's lighting on the glass) |
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| Kathleen trying to get her favourite 姨姨 to pose with her |
All of us shared some finger food, and then Janice followed Uncle Danny (he works in KL) home while mommy,
姨姨 and 婆婆 went for supper before we went back to the hotel.
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| Our hotel room |
As mommy had booked twin beds, mommy pushed the small round PVC stool and small round table and put them between the 2 beds so that Kathleen will not fall off the bed at night. She then have a fun time using the stool as a bridge and keep jumping from one bed to another via the 'bridge'. Playful girl!
Day 4
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| Picture of hotel room window. The grey-blue curvy roof is Petaling Street, where there are stalls selling T shirts and DVDs etc |
Checkout from the hotel and went for more shopping at Petaling Street and the nearby Central Market. Bought a cat T-shirt for Kathleen.
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| Janice visiting the Doctor Fish.... |
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| ... while Kathleen enjoyed some ice cream with toasted bread at a Old Town White Coffee branch |
We went back to collect the luggages from the hotel, and it started to rain heavily. So we took a cab to Uncle Danny's place and waited for the rain to stop.
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| Uncle Danny's apartment. The romain blinds are remote-controlled! |
After the rain stopped, we went to KLCC again (cos we did not have time to take pictures of the place the day before)
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| Christmas decor at KLCC. She was wearing the newly bought cat t-shirt |
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| The fountain. Lots of people sitting there waiting for the fountain to start at 6pm |
After we took the pictures, 婆婆, mommy and Kathleen quickly took the LRT from KLCC to KL Sentral and then switched to the KLIA Express (both are under the same roof) (we took the Express instead of cab as it was peak hour and we are afraid of being caught in the famous KL traffic jam) for a half an hour non-stop ride to KLIA Main Terminal (adult RM35, child RM15 for the Express).
One strange thing that mommy noticed was that there are lots of people queueing at the ticketing machines at KLCC station to buy single trip tickets. Maybe they do not have stored value cards.....
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| On the KLIA Express |
We reached the KL International Airport (KLIA) with less than 2 hours to spare, and have to quickly made our way to the boarding building (the connecting skytrain between the checkin building and boarding building is under revamp, and so buses are deployed to ferry the passengers, turning a easy 5 minute ride into a 15 minute rush) so we end up skipping dinner! The fun thing about the bus ride was that it goes onto the road which the planes are and you can see the planes close up.
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| on the bus on the way to boarding building |
And on the jetstar flight, they run out of many choices of food so 婆婆 end up did not order anything to eat!
This time round, Kathleen is strong enough to unbuckle the seat belt on her own :)
We reached Singapore Changi Airport around 10.10pm and Kathleen was so tired she fell asleep before Daddy arrived at the airport. So ends her short trip to Malaysia.....
