Before anyone make fun of me, let me put a disclaimer that this next sentence will sound funny to some of you. At the age of 32, I have officially ticked Cameron Highlands from my places-to-travel list. Hooray. Finally. Good for you. All thanks to my sister-in-law for making this trip happen. Frankly speaking, I had been waiting for Zaid to take me on a honeymoon trip to Cameron Highlands, but he is never a fan of any adventure that involves heavy traffic. Whenever I suggested this place, he would always nag about the traffic. But I get it now, so I am not complaining.
Anyway, this was a last-minute plan. I was still in Kota Kinabalu when my family in law was planning the trip, so I had to book a flight ticket back to Kuala Lumpur after staying about a month and a half in Kota Kinabalu. Yes, travelling back and forth by plane is a bit tiring especially when you are my age. We went to Cameron Highlands on Thursday last week. Since it was still the school holiday season, we decided to start our journey on weekdays. We spent two nights at the Century Pines Resort. It was a nice hotel by the way. We switched rooms with my sister-in-law, and we had a bathtub in our room where I took a long soak in it while reading a book. My kind of therapy.
We arrived at the hotel at 1.30pm but could only check in about an hour later. We didn’t do much on our first day, just resting in our hotel room, went to the night market, and had our dinner at the Glory 78 Steamboat Snack Corner. The next morning, I woke up early and took a shower. One thing about me is that I am always excited when it comes to having breakfast at the hotel. The food was good especially the Kuey Teow Goreng. Unfortunately, they did not serve the same menu the next day. What a bummer. I was aiming for the Kuey Teow Goreng again.
On the second day, we went to the Lavender Garden. The traffic was horrible. Again, I am not complaining here, just telling story. We left the hotel at around 10.30am and only reached the destination about an hour later. At the garden, we had ice-creams, snacks, bought some chocolates, and took a lot of pictures. Initially, we were planning to visit the Cameron Valley Tea after lunch, but it was already late and raining, and we were tired from the traffic, so we decided to move the activity to the next day. I couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant that we went to that night, but the service was terrible. I was very hungry to a point where I lost the smile on my face waiting for my food to be served.
In the morning on our third day in Cameron Highlands, I had a dilemma. I wanted to spend time in the bathtub again, but I was also worried if we were going to be late. I looked at the time, and then thought – screw my fear, I have time. So, there I was, enjoying my time while it lasted. After checkout, we went to the Cameron Valley Tea. The view was beautiful. It reminds me of the Sabah Tea Garden in Ranau.
Anyway, we walked through the tea plantation after indulging in the Masala Tea, Teh Tarik, Blueberry Cheese Cake, and Carrot Cake. Looking at the stiff stairs, I was doubting myself. I thought it would be difficult for me to walk back to the entrance but I was wrong. I surprised myself to see that I still have the Mount Kinabalu stamina in me. For your information, I went on a Mount Kinabalu climbing expedition in 2014. Compared to the other two friends who went with me, I didn’t have a lot of hiking experience. So, I was doubting myself then, but I made it to the top. When we reached the gate of the tea plantation, I was smiling on the inside. Remember the book that I was reading before about tackling fear? I realized that I have been too hard on myself all this time. I let fear took over my mind. In the book that I am currently reading, it talks about how we react is related to our mental conditioning in the past. I thought being a plus size woman that I am now would mean that there are limits to my adventure, but those are merely fears talking and taking over the best of me. This kind of experience does help me through my self-discovery journey, and I am grateful for that.
We left the Cameron Valley Tea at noon, and then went to the Strawberry Garden to buy some strawberries. When I was living in Australia, Nutella dipped strawberries was my favourite snack. These days, we are boycotting Nutella of course. But the feeling of eating strawberries with chocolate reminds me of that memory. After shopping some strawberries, we made a pit stop at Restoran Sup Darat Tapah to have our late lunch. Everyone was hungry, especially Zaid's aunts. We arrived home safely at around 9.00pm. Overall, it was a good trip. I would love to repeat it again but definitely not on the weekends nor on the school holiday season cause the heavy traffic was a red flag for me.
