Sojourn in Cameron Highlands

We grabbed the chance when friends offered to host us at their apartment at Cameron Highlands last Thursday. Initially, we wanted to spend only one night in Tanah Rata but then they urged us to extend our stay to a second night.

Knowing that we would be joining a long queue of people driving south at the end of the Raya holidays, we left the house early before eight o'clock. Making good time, we reached Ipoh at about 10 o'clock and turned off the expressway at Simpang Pulai. Then we hit an expected traffic congestion after arriving at the Kampong Raja village. What was supposed to be a two-hour leisurely drive from Simpang Pulai to Tanah Rata turned into a four-hour bumper-to-bumper. Worst was the last 20 kilometres. Despite the pleasantly cool weather of 18 Celsius, I was quite tired at the end of the journey there.

Maybe I should say here that it had been more than 15 years since we were last in Cameron Highlands. At that time, it was with the whole family from my wife's side. On this trip however, it was just the two of us at our friends' place. Thus, we decided not to play tourists. No visits to the tourist traps there. Strawberry farms? No. Cactus farms? Also, a big No. But food? Unfortunately, this is a necessity. Therefore, yes. 

At the risk of turning this narrative into a story about food in Cameron Highlands, I must say that we skipped a late lunch and decided for a tea-time snack of scones and chicken pies at The Lord's Cafe in Tanah Rata. Easily, this place served about the cheapest scones in Cameron Highlands. There's one thing I found about local cafes serving scones. The scones are small - the biggest we've ever had was in Australia, by the way - and invariably, whipped cream was offered instead of clotted cream as available in the UK, New Zealand or Australia. But I suppose it is difficult to find clotted cream anywhere in this part of the world. 

Dinner was steamboat in Brinchang. I had come to keep my expectations low when it comes to steamboat. I'm not exactly a fan of it. Something I can't do without. But one doesn't come to Cameron Highlands without visiting a steamboat restaurant here; and there are many! Maybe because of this low expectation, I was surprised that the steamboat at this Cameron Organic Steamboat Restaurant tasted good. The vegetables were all sourced from their own organic farm in Cameron Highlands. But I suppose the soup stock also plays an important part. I don't know what went into this stock but wonder of wonders, I didn't feel thirsty after consuming it. So at least, I believe there's no or little monosodium glutamate in it.

The next morning, my friends took us on a five-kilometre walk to Brinchang. After descending some steps to the back of the apartment, they led us through a predominantly Malay area before we emerged at the southern end of Tanah Rata's only golf course. We skirted the perimeter and joined up with the main road that led to Brinchang. And there, a wanthan mee breakfast awaited us. The shop claimed to have curry wanthan mee but it wasn't anything I had seen before: simply a plate of dry wanthan mee with a few spoonfuls of curry mee soup added, I did feel disappointed but the redeeming point was the gorgeously delicious char siew. My wife's choice was simpler: she chose the soupy curry mee. The hearty breakfast was followed by another five-kilometre walk back to the apartment, retracing our steps back. 

After that, we skipped lunch not because we were full but because the main road was jam-packed with cars. This is a perennial problem with Cameron Highlands. During the peak holiday seasons, the worst time to come out was after nine o'clock in the morning. Right until four o'clock in the afternoon, tourists in their cars would be choking up the roads as they head to the markets, move around to visit the tourist spots or checking in and out of their accommodations. So we decided to return to the apartment and ate whatever leftovers in the refrigerator. We waited until about seven o'clock before we wandered out to Brinchang for dinner, finally deciding on a shop named Delicious & Happiness Kitchen which offered cooked Chinese food on demand. We settled on four dishes: pork. chicken and two types of vegetables.

Picture from New Straits Times

Dinner over, we walked over to the Cameron Centrum which was the newest development in the Highlands. It comprised a shopping mall on the podium block, occupied by the Billion supermarket as the main commercial tenant, and several rows of high-end condominium blocks. 

Picture from New Straits Times

Beside the complex was the newest and widest road ever constructed in Cameron Highlands. Strange that I had not noticed it when I drove through it two days earlier! We awoke early on the third day of our brief stay in Cameron Highlands, scooted off to Brinchang for our last hearty breakfast before making our way down the windy road to Simpang Pulai and thence the long drive home.