a little rude mishmash of life: cameron penang

had a week off work and was deciding where to go. many nice places to visit of course but that would means spending more money. am trying to save as much for my upcoming autumn trip (long trip). friends suggested why not go to msia, so i went.

after many coordination with many people, it was decided to be a sin-cameron-penang-kl-sin journey. wah haha.

the bus left singapore at 2230 and reached the windy roads of cameron highlands at about 5am. it takes guts to look out of the window while the bus is making its way up. no street lights so the eery looking trees were only illuminated by the bus' lonesome headlights. one hour and i arrived at the town of brinchang, approximately 15o0m above sea level.

the bus was early and all passengers were sent off blurry-eyed to have breakfast. well, i suppose we have to eat something. but noodles and rice were a bit too much for me so i chose, chee cheong fun. which turns out to be a big mistake. well. its like you can choose beehoon or kway teow etc for your fish ball noodles right? ah ha, the chee cheong fun actually is not just the sesame-seed-with-soyasauce. its chee cheong fun 'noodle' PLUS ingredients. burp.

short while later, this man turned up at the bus and introduced himself. he represented a tour agency who organises day trips around cameron. well, if you happen to drive to cameron, it will probably be more convenient as you can drive around the whole area which happens to be quite big. but for non-car people, joining a day tour or two is fine.

i got in for two, one for the afternoon (some vege tour thing) and the other one for the next morning (some nature thing).

the weather is nice, about 19deg.

the beautiful cameron highlands.

pretty flowers can be found too.

for the first vege tour, a mini van took everyone around. first stop, small-by-the-roadside-stall, selling vege. the bus driver/tour guide explained things.

supposed to be watercress.

then we went to a chrysanthemum farm.

next on, visited the oh so famous strawberry farms! the very ignorant me did not know how strawberries became strawberries. such a shame.

first you will see them white flowers. can you see the little yellow thing among the white petals? they will grow out to be green fruit (left of photo).

then, little green fruit just grows bigger and turns into strawberries~

then we headed for vege farm. lots of lettuce here! but boy are they fresh. and cheap. we are so overcharged for salads here.

at the same farm, they have strawberries too but a different and newer growing method.

strawberry thief!

you can actually harvest your own strawberry. they will give you a basket and a scissor. just weigh the berries and they'll pack it for you.

aren't they gorgeous.

next door was a cactus farm. but they have other plants too.

i thought i spotted a 4leaf clover, alas...

next morning, we were up for the nature tour. assembled at a sleepy hour of 0930. same guy brought us around as well.

first stop was to the top of mt.brinchang, almost. where you can see the wonderful tea plantations. yes, another famous product of this region.

tea plants.

upclose. the workers will snip off the young green leaves and off they go to the factory for processing.

as clouds descend.

we were then taken up to the highest point of gunung brinchang. 2032m.

just a little distance from the top, we were taken into the 'mossy forest'. as explained by the guide, layers and layers of moss grew on top of each other, creating a mysterious and strange forest. the 'ground' you step on is solid yet soft as you are actually on perhaps a thousand if not more, layers of moss. well, my boots came on to be dirty with all the soft mud.

pictures are not too clear cos had to balance myself by hanging onto the branches and couldnt hold the camera properly with muddied hands.

but look at the forest, it just reminds me of the enchanted forest where you expect goblins and magical creatures to bounce just infront of you.

after the mini-workout, we went to the Boh Tea factory.

one of the machinery they use for rolling the tea leaves.

all workers get accommodations, see those blue houses.

oh, got some sweet corn, can be eaten raw and they taste really nice and crunchy. this photo is hilarious. i call it.

the hawaiin dancin' corn~

it is nice to be among clouds, as you can see, the clouds can just roll in anytime.

clear.

here they come.

the next morning, we had to leave cameron for penang. managed to buy bus tickets. bus was 8am. so bloody early. got to have breakfast and see the sunrise.

the bus took two hours to reach Ipoh. due to a tyre problem, we had to switch buses. was actually seated in a comfortable bus but ended up taking those inter-city buses, aircon yes, seats small. no choice. almost made a boo-boo. since this bus wasnt going to penang directly, it had to drop off passengers at butterworth. i happily hopped off and got my backpack before i got yelled back on the bus. cos we were not at our destination yet. ah haha. havent been to penang, that's why.

finally, penang was within reach when we crossed the penang bridge, very long bridge. pulau pinang, apparently, is an island, just like sin. not too big, as described by this particular penang friend. haha.

two friends drove from kl (they are from penang) and picked us up. then we went to friend's house which was near the beach, at ferringhi.

they brought their dog, ashley, back too.

we got to see penang and most of the time, i think, we were eating.

the first day actually there were plenty of food. just that i was so overwhelmed i forgot to take any pictures. the way they eat at the hawker centres or coffee shops is to order MANY dishes, like char kway teow, fried oysters etc. for example, if there are ten people, there would probably be at least 17 items. woooo.

anyway, this is penang's indian goreng.. or something like that. but so spicy for me, i think that's why the photo is blurred. the chilli must have gotten into my eyes. haha.

this is some sort of seafood broth. you can choose the type of noodles and ingredients. this came with prawns, fish, frog legs and kuay teow.

fried oysters anyone?

burgers. yummy!

food aside, near to ferringhi where we stayed, there is a daily pasar malam. all sorts of stuff you can find, also can see plenty of locals and tourists.

floats for the beach!

m and l, talking about something interesting i suppose.

breakfast was good the next day. we walked down and found this bread place. eggs!

then we strolled to the beach. many water sports like banana boating, jet skis, para sailing can be done. being a cat, i stayed on dry land of course.