New Sights of Cameron Highlands

OK, so now you've seen (or heard) of the traditional Cameron Highlands attractions. So let's focus on what you probably haven't.

For the two nights, we stayed at dad's terrace house at Tanah Rata.

The house where we stayed.

It was used as an art gallery when dad held his exhibition in Cameron Highlands.

It was a double storey terrace house. My parents usually opt for single-storey houses, and I was quite surprised.

My sister climbing up the stairs. She's never stayed in a double-storey house before, I think.

Something interesting about the unit is its address. It was situated between number 3 and number 5. Mr-Number-3 is a Malay, while Mdm-Number-5 an Indian.

Ask a 5-year-old the number between 3 and 5, and I'm sure he (or she) will answer 4.

But no, it was named "3A". So much for superstitious Chinese.

That's real thoughtful of the developers. Sadly, the sweetness ends there. Despite the way the Chinese proverb puts it "it takes time to know someone's heart", it didn't take long for me to notice the shoddy construction of the house.

See anything?

Take a look at the doorstep. Notice anything?

Yeah I know we have nice shoes, but look closer.

Rats. Missing tiles.

OMG. The tiles are dropping off.

That's not all. I proceeded up the stairs.

Wow.

The second top wooden plank is especially narrow. Maybe I should plan to climb and descend the stairs two at a time to avoid it.

The wooden steps of the stairs are of uneven length. Not to mention some of the wooden pieces rock in their places when stepped on.

Terrible construction. Possibly even worse than the Malaysian Court House. Remember the one that leaked before it was opened?

Anyway some of dad's artworks are still there. I recognise many of them from his exhibition in Good Hope Art Gallery, Singapore.

Some of the paintings on exhibit.

The biggest, yellowest, and the centre of attention of the exhibition in Singapore wasn't there, though. It was sold for S$10,000 during the opening ceremony of the Singapore exhibition, I think.

After some rest, dad and I painted the floor of the house.

CH Art House, by E. H. Yeo and son.

"CH Art House". I'm not really satisfied with it, actually, but it was dad who er, designed it.

OK moving back to things to see in Cameron Highlands, I noticed that since my last visit to Cameron Highlands, many banks popped out of the ground like mushrooms after the rain.

One of the many new banks I didn't remember seeing in CH.

There's AmBank by a new fancy restaurant I've never noticed before that night.

There are also several new foot reflexology shops in Tanah Rata. Suitable for beaten mountain hikers.

Foot Reflexology. The three Chinese words say "Thousand-Mile-Feet". How lame.

Another one just few shoplots away.

I even spotted one grocery store with a wall covered with slippers of all colours and sizes.

All sorts of slippers you want.

I don't understand why they paint them. I mean, when you wear them nobody can see the paintings anymore. When you're not, nobody knows to whom those beautiful slippers belong to. So what's the point?

Even the bus terminal has been renovated.

The bus terminal of Cameron Highlands.

Looks like a poor imitation of some ancient castle. Does it have a "Made in China" mark?

Oh they even haveSports Toto.

Ah! Look at the cute ice-cream stall.

An ice-cream stall beside the road.

But they weren't selling ice-cream. What sort of freak would enjoy ice-cream in the chilly weather of Cameron Highlands anyway?

But nevermind, most people would opt for food. There's the good ol' Marrybrown in Tanah Rata, the only branch of Marrybrown with no sign of closing down.

This Marrybrown has been here for ages and still going strong.

But then there is a new fast food outlet in Brinchang. I was totally surprised, I gasped, jumped, and rounded my eyes upon seeing the smiling colonel of KFC while dad drove past. Too bad I couldn't catch a photo of it.

Edit (16/10): I got a photo of the KFC from one of my friends' er, friend. Apparently we happened to visited CH the very same week.

Credit to Vege. Thanks for the photo!

OK, maybe Marrybrown isn't going on that strong.

For those who enjoy being slow and steady, there's a new Starbucks in Tanah Rata too.

Starbucks Coffee!!! In Cameron Highlands! OMG

Yes... you heard right! Starbucks!

My goodness. CH is going commercial.

OK, maybe Marrybrown isn't going on that well.

It's a bit sad actually. Three years ago, I spotted opportunities of opening fast food outlets in Cameron Highlands. I mean, other than Marrybrown, there wasn't any other around, and food around CH isn't that nice. I told mum "hey, I can surely make a profit by opening a McDonald's here." And she totally agreed with me.

Ah well, stupid KFC took my business. Nevermind, I still have a second spot at Taman Bunga Raya.

Well, for those who don't like fast food there are the traditional food stalls and restaurants nearby, don't worry.

"Gerai Segar". Fresh Stall, it says.

Oh, I got one photo from the Sam Poh Temple, as promised in the prequel of this post. Just one though, I think dad deleted the others.

That's mum and my sister praying in the Temple. Erm, for her moral project. Sister's, not mum's.

On the way back to Klang Valley from Cameron Highlands, be sure to stop by Bidor. There's this stall which is famous for its Chinese cookies.

Look for Pun Chun Restaurant.

The yellow ones have lotus filling, tasted not bad. The white one on the right was called "Almond Flavoured Wife Cookies" (杏仁老婆饼). Simply fabulous! They cost RM1.70 each by the way.

I think that's all for my trip to Cameron Highlands. Coming up soon - More Sights of UNMC!