A little Cameron break

I haven't done a long-distance drive for quite some time. If I want to go to Kuala Lumpur, for instance, my go-to mode of transport nowadays is the ETS train service which KTMB introduced in 2014. So, the furthest I have probably driven in recent years is Taiping. A few days ago, friends invited us to stay at their apartment in Cameron Highlands and we jumped at the opportunity. But there was a nagging doubt at the back of my mind about whether a much older me could still manage a long drive. After all, getting up to Tanah Rata, one of the three main towns in Cameron Highlands, would take about four hours, and possibly longer if we ran into traffic jams in the highlands.

Well, I did manage it and arrived in Cameron Highlands to a wet, windy and rather cold afternoon. Temperatures had dropped to 16°C or even lower overnight during the previous week, which was something we hadn't experienced in any of our recent visits. It brought back memories of Cameron Highlands in the 1970s and 1980s, when there was much less development and therefore far fewer people around. Perhaps that was why it seemed so much colder then. But for this trip, it was fortunate that we had come prepared with thicker clothing. 

This was a very free-and-easy three days for us. We weren't interested in visiting the lavender farms or strawberry farms, or any of the usual tourist attractions in the highlands. Neither did we make the trip to Brinchang for food. In fact, the furthest we ventured was the Tanah Rata town centre, where we had all our meals. 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the restaurants there served very good Indian food, or at least the two we tried did. Singh Capati Urban Restaurant served a remarkable range of Punjabi dishes and I really can't praise them enough. The masala thosai at Highland Spice Restaurant was better than any I've eaten in Penang. While walking along the main street, we came across Cameron AA Curry House, only to discover that it had closed since we last ate there about a year ago. It was a little sad to see a familiar place gone.

We had a black pepper steak at Rosette Cafe and were impressed with how well it was prepared. The meat was soft and tender, just the way I like it. One morning we had braised pork knuckle koay teow at Hui Wei Restaurant and, of course, no trip to Cameron Highlands would be complete without scones and cheesecake at The Lord's Cafe.

All too soon, our three days were up and it was time to head home. Before leaving, though, we took a quick drive around Tanah Rata. It wasn't really planned, but somehow that little drive ended with us having scones and a spot of English tea at the old Smokehouse Hotel. We hadn't been there for more than 30 years, so it was a pleasure walking around the grounds and exploring the hotel interior again. It brought back memories of another old hotel we had stayed in, the Red Lion Inn in Dittisham, and for a little while, we were quite happy just to be there and take in the surroundings before finally making our way home.