Tea versus Strawberry....... Cameron Highlands

Cameron Valley tea plantation near Tanah Rata

Looking for holiday destination? Why not try one of the Malaysian Highlands, Cameron Highlands. CH is one of the popular highland holiday destinations. Its boundary touches Kelantan at the north, Perak at the west and Pahang at the northwestern. The usual means of transfer from Kuala Lumpur to CH is by car with two main routes either via Tapah which approximately 200 kilometers and via Simpang Pulai which about 300 kilometers. Although the different between distances is about 100 kilometers, the journey time for both routes usually takes 3 1/2 hours. Simpang Pulai route is wider and less steep compared to the Tapah route which is well known for choking narrow road, nauseating corner and breaking neck steepness.

Narrow road to BOH tea centre and traffic jam near the 'S' corner.

The very green scenery of tea tree at Cameron Valley, Tanah Rata

Why Malaysian love to spend their weekend in CH? The main reason is the cool temperature. During the day, the temperature seldom rises above 26 °C, at night, the temperature can sometimes drop to as low as 9 °C, a temperature range somewhat like London in Summer!

The tea plantation and the young tea leaves

CH was first developed by the British in the 1920s. It is made up of three sub-districts, namely Ringlet, Ulu Telom and Tanah Rata, which the later serves as the administrative centre of the plateau. All are nestled at an altitude of more than 1,200 metres. The retreat consists of three townships namely Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Brinchang and five settlements namely the Bertam Valley, Kea Farm, Tringkap, Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja.

Smoke house at Tanah Rata.....a nice place to get the so English feeling.....try their tea and scones with strawberry jam

Very beautiful surrounding with Tudor architecture

The secret English garden

Other than the comfortable temperature, CH is also well known with tea plantations such at BOH tea and Cameron Valley, strawberry farms, vegetable farms and markets, sweet corns farms, cactus and flowers.

Cactus point located at the 'S' corner......where you can buy variety of cactus

Colourful flowers in various locations; the flower farm, cactus point and gardens in Tanah Rata

Sweet corns and the grilled sweet corns.....very tasty, moist and sweet

Mushrooms at 'S' Corner Centre...a shop selling strawberry, tea, mushrooms and souvenirs

Cameron Valley tea houses are located on the entrance of CH either just before the Tanah Rata from Tapah or at Kuala Terla from Simpang Pulai. On the other hand, the main BOH tea centre is located at Sungei Palas, which require you to drive via a somewhat narrow suicidal path for 2 kilometers from Kea Farm. Having specialised tea and cakes is a must to do thing here while enjoying the very very very green rows of tea tree as a scenery.

BOH tea plantation, Sungei Palas

BOH tea centre, Sungei Palas

Specialised tea and melted chocolate cake....yummyyyyy

BOH tea centre.......hanging at the edge with breathtaking scenery

If you wish to take photos while picking the strawberry, usually you need to pay for around RM25 which covers entrance for two persons and 1/2 kilograms of strawberry. A much cheaper option is available, why not visit MARDI Agropark. The entrance fee will cost you RM3 per person, you cannot pick the strawberry at the experimental plots, but you can touch the strawberry thus act like you picking them for photo. Here you can also see variety of flowers and other fruits and vegetables such as pears, apples, grapes and tomatoes.

Strawberry plot at MARDI Agropark in Tanah Rata

The sweet sour strawberry....and crazy madly strawberry shop

Looking for high quality honey?! The are few honey bee farms at CH, the two popular farms are Tringkap Bee Farm with bee museum and Ee Feng Gu Bee Farm with garden. All entrances are free. Be brave walking in the garden where the bees are flying freely.

Ee Feng Gu Bee farm......boxes of bee hive

Other places to visit may include the Water Cress Farm, Vegetable Farm and Butterfly Farm. Admission fees may be required, however, it will be cheap i.e. RM1 to 5 per person.

Vegetable plot with hydroponic system

Water cress.....can be cooked as dishes or blended for drinks

Water cress farm with water cascades near Kuala Terla

At night, CH has nothing much to offer. What you can do is either having a nice dinner or go to the Brinchang night market. Try the strawberry, deep fried vegetables and sweet corns, quite cheap and tasty.

Deep fried vegetables; fried purple, orange sweet potato and pumpkin balls

If you wish to buy vegetables, raw sweet corns and flowers, why not go to Kea Farm. It is quite easy to identify Kea Farm. You will see many cars were parks just beside a road near the Equatorial Hotel.

Vegetable and flower stalls at Kea Farm; mountains of sweet potatoes

Although CH is a tourist destination for relaxation, the traffic jams can be a nightmare. This usually occurs at school holidays or even Saturday and Sunday especially at lunch time and evening. No alternative route will be available, so just be patience, soon you'll be there!

Lata Iskandar near Ringlet