Cameron Highlands - Genting Highlands Xmas Trip 2015

It's Christmas 2015 time and New Year 2016 Trip. And boy, did we celebrate! Not with wine or beer….but TEA!

(p/s: I can't drink =x)

I took a flight to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore and headed up to the Cameron Highlands, about 2-3 hours journey approximately 200 kilometres north of KL and about 1-2 hours journey approximately 90 kilometers from Ipoh. 

The Cameron Highlands are known for a few things including hiking, strawberry farms, agriculture, steamboat (I’ll get to that), and temperatures about 15 degrees lower than hot and humid KL. But none of those compare to what this place is really known for and that’s their tea. 

Cameron Highlands is a beautiful holiday destination and the only place where you can find tea plantations and numerous strawberries in Malaysia. At about 1,500 metres above sea level, it is the highest area on the mainland and enjoys a cool climate and fresh air, with temperatures ranging between 15° and 25° Celsius, perfect place to unwind,  get in touch with the nature. Hence, you get to feel breezy and colder weather in Malaysia.

From Kuala Lumpur, I took a bus to Cameron Highlands
Booked the tickets online via www.busonlineticket.com
Therefore I boarded the bus at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS)

 And on the way you can see local markets nearby Hutan Lipur Waterfall

And yes on the first day of arrival at approximately 5pm

The whole area had no current and people were dining in the dark

At first I thought candlelight dinner everywhere was kinda romantic

Just to find out upon reaching our hostel

There's no electricity in Tanah Rata

Gosh, luckily this only lasted for an hour or so

And ta-da we had our steamboat dinner

We selected May Flower Steamboat as it was highly recommended

The next day we decided to visit all the places of interest here

So we started off walking everywhere in Tanah Rata

Then we book cabs to tea plantations

 So this is how cabbages looked like when they are still growing
 Leaves wide opened (=

BOH Plantation Tea Center 

 Wading through the tea leaves

 Okay I love red backpacks anyway

Big Red Strawberry Farm in Brinchang

A very crowded place and nothing impressive

We reached there bout noon and were informed that we were unable to pluck strawberries

And told us that today's session closed

A little disappointed though but what can we do

We ain't gonna come back the next day

Nice cacti but I wouldn't want to bring it back to Singapore

I don't have "green"hands and even cacti won't survive

 The must try strawberry chocolate fondue
 This thing costs me rm3 which is kinda expensive huh

If you seen the crowds here at the eateries

You won't even want to taste their strawberry products

There were a lot of flies and it was humid

So that's all for Big Red Strawberry Farm

Another view at Bharat Tea Plantation. The plantation was established by Mr. Shuparshad, who was also a famous grocer and transporter in Cameron Highlands. The plantation covers an area of 1620 acres.

This would be a great place to take photo

Located just right beside the main road

Easily accessed and worth visiting

 One of the private land we walked passed
 Good weather and awesome view

As for tea time we stopped by this place

But the scone wasn't that fantastic 

The employee wasn't alert and they wanted to double charge us

Flies everywhere and luckily I didn't get diarrhoea

Brinchang night market is located at the northern end of the town

The night market started as early as 4 pm

And it's only available on Friday and Saturday

We walked around the night market and left before it's dark

As we will be walking back to Tanah Rata from Brinchang

The sea coconut drink, steamed sweet potato, fried rice with chicken, and sweet corn were nice choices for dinner

 Another round of strawberry fondue
 I can conclude that most of the strawberries here are sourish

The buildings in Brinchang are more well-maintained

And has more vibrant colours on it making it pleasant to the eyes

Whereas Tanah Rata has older yellowish buildings

Our tea time again, this time we had Indian cuisine

Then we depart all the way back to KL 

And from there we took a cab ride up Genting Highlands

Checked into Resorts World Genting

A very luxurious place to stay and it was very comfy

I will never get bored with cold weather places

Actually I don't even need a jacket 

I'm IMMUNED ^^

 This looked magical right?
 Just another deco items at Genting Highlands

 And guessed what?
We had dinner at Terrace Place as it was highly recommended online
So we decided to break our piggy bank and give it a try
Considered very "atas" eateries (=

 After dinner, there's nothing much to do
The theme park was closed for renovation
I can't wait for the new upcoming theme park
Hopefully 21st Century Fox build a better theme park
With more exciting rides for me opps

 And we decided to try the Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibition
As well as the Haunted House at Genting Highlands
I can say the experience was okay
The Haunted House finished in less than 3minutes
The price was considered quite expensive
Nonetheless once in a lifetime is enough

This was taken at approximately 10pm

When the carpark was covered with fog

Just 1 night and we came back to KL

I am always amazed with Christmas celebration here in Kuala Lumpur

Every year will pop by this shopping mall to have a look at their deco

In 2015, Pavillion welcomes us to its biggest and brightest celebration

They lit up the tallest Christmas tree of its kind in Asia, with individual crystals held up by 3,100 pieces of strands measuring 2m each

The tree’s estimated value – about RM3mil

 Located in the middle of  the centre court which was hard to miss

 That pretty sums up my trip to Cameron and Genting Highlands
 Before flying back to Singapore, met my Snoopy at the airport
 Tschüss ^^

The verdict

I still prefer to stay at Tanah Rata over Brinchang

This is because the air at Tanah Rata is fresher compared to Brinchang

And boy, the traffic was horrible at Cameron Highlands

So, I guess walking is the best exercise and it's cool there

Hong Kong Day 6 and 7 - Avenue of Star, Lamma Island

金華冰廳 Kam Wah

G/F, 47 Bute Street (Prince Edward)

Exit B2, Prince Edward MTR Station Breakfast (Mon-Sun:06:30-12:00)

Their French toast not bad for a coffeeshop standard

 They are most famous for their polo bun
Aka pineapple bun by the chinese
I preferred the one with butter slice, yum

Avenue of Stars

Waterfront Podium Garden, Tsim Sha Tsui East

For more info, click here

From MTR East Tsim Sha Tsui Station, take the lift next to Exit P1 and choose the ‘Pd’ floor.  Alternatively, use the staircase or the escalator adjacent to Tsim Sha Tsui East (Mody Road) Bus Terminus.

OR 

East Tsim Sha Tsui MTR, Exit J

 Also known as Hollywood of the East
This famous harbourfront features many hand prints of actors and actresses

 Although it was noon, we stayed for a little while
 Just wandering around and surprised ourselves with what we can discover

Not long later, I decided to go Lamma Island 

It is not in my list of places of interest

We took a short ferry ride there

There were so many bicycles at the ferry terminus

I don't think they are for rent as nobody was there when we reached

Therefore, we hiked up very steep hill and reached the windmill area

Too bad nobody was selling cold drinks

We wailed away time by taking selfies

Then the storm seemed to be approaching us 

We hurriedly left, wiping sweat

More pictures of Lamma Island

But we didn't want to wet our feet so we just continue

Moving to the next destination

And we happened to stopby a seafood restaurant

Thinking that the storm is coming 

Our umbrella spoilt on the very first day on arrival

But this is a very decision to eat seafood on Lamma Island

Until now I still feel that pinch of pain

The meal consisted a good portion of fried rice

A steam fish good for 2 people 

And a few mantis prawns bout 2 pieces

The meal for 2 costs us nearly USD 160

Totally not worth it but we took our sweet time

The food wasn't fantastic at all

We were trapped in thunder storm so that was the price to pay

We left Lamma Island and had Mcd instead

Every time I visit other countries

I will at least take a look at their menu

It was Kungfu Panda at that time 

Then we had our late night movie to end the day

Again at Langham Place so that we can walk home after the movie ends

The next day morning we took bus to the airport

And returned, refunded the remaining cash in the Octopus card

We took Cathay Pacific flight but that day the flight got delayed due to haze

So we were given compensation vouchers to enjoy some food in the transit area

I thought only Hong Kong has this outlet so I went to try

Returning Singapore I saw this outlet at the airport

LOL such a big joke

 Since it's the Mid Autumn Festival
 We had mooncakes on board ^^

And my favourite moment

We had Haagen-Daaz as dessert (= 

I love cookies and cream flavour so much