Refreshing Sights of Cameron Highlands

Dad loves Cameron Highlands.

He loves that place so much that he spent his effort, time, and money to visit it once every few weeks.

For those who haven't heard of it, or those who can't recall what it is, Cameron Highlands is one of the major tourism spots in Malaysia. At 1.5km above sea level, it is significantly cooler than other Malaysia lowlands. It is famous for its farming, mainly tea, vegetables, fruits, and flowers.

On the way to Cameron Highlands (CH). Rocky mountains!

Dad took us there for Hari Raya. It's good to visit the place once in a while. At least I managed to get content for my blog during an otherwise boring and meaningless Raya break.

A misty day at Cameron Highlands. Now, that's what I call a skyscraper!

Actually I used to visit Cameron a lot, several times a year. But such frequent visits are no longer possible, since my sister, parents, and I share different holidays.

Tea farm of Cameron Highlands. Taken from Wikipedia.

CH consists of just one main road - stick to it and you'll get to most of the major towns. Usually dad drove us up from the Ringlet end - the older entrance. It was built decades ago, and has many beautiful sights, with the disadvantage of being very narrow and bendy.

This time around, however, we entered from the opposite end, reaching Blue Valley and Kampung Raja first. This path is newer and noticeably wider, much straighter too. At least until the part where it joins the old roads.

One place dad likes to hang around in CH is the Convent.

The main building of SK Convent CH.

A small, humble primary school with only about 40 entrants per year, the ancient structure stands majestically over Tanah Rata, overseeing the busy road below.

View of Tanah Rata town from SK Convent.

Teaching and learning were not held in school that day. However, many tourists stopped by to visit the school. They were, like me, snapping their cameras away wildly, and took quite a long time to look around the relatively small area.


Mum, Dad, and my sister were painting. As usual, they attract the attention of tourists as they work away on their pieces of art.

I don't draw, but I can't deny that the school has various sights suitable for the brushes.

Nice skyline from SK Convent.

They even have this little fish pond.

The fish pond.

But why would they put two cranes in it?

This was seen at the Convent too, although I'm not quite sure what it is. Mary?

Then we went around to the playground (or park as some people prefer to call it).

Ferns in a tree hole.

Everything is blossoming in Cameron Highlands, even the ferns.

We also spotted a big bunch of sunflowers. But the sun was nowhere to be seen and the flowers were confused on which direction to face.

The sunflowers.

If you like flowers, Cameron Highlands can never fail to impress you. Wild or otherwise, everything from the smallest buds to the dropped petals looks good and smells fresh right to the heart.

Some flowers beside the road.

And mind you, we were just visiting the park and I simply snapped photos of the flowers beside the road. I haven't even started on the rose gardens, cactus parks, and butterfly parks yet.

The road where I shot the flowers.

But should these plants tempt you, I advise against picking some home in attempt to plant them. Mum tried doing it several times with little success. Many couldn't survive the hot climate in Klang, and those that survived didn't grow to be as pretty as those in Cameron.

Some weird berry-like stuff my sister found. Sorta colourful, huh? Wonder if they're poisonous.

If it so happens that you are allergic to pollens, worry not. There are various other attractions in Cameron Highlands. But since we've been to those places countless times already, we didn't stop by them this time around.

They include the famous tea farm.


The mentioned rose gardens, cactus and butterfly parks. There are two rose gardens. The older and smaller one can be visited free of charge, while the bigger and more commercialised one... Um, can't tell you much about it, having only visited it once.

Oh, there's also the bee farm, where you can purchase pure honey. When I say pure honey, I mean pure honey. Totally unprocessed, you can even see the pollens floating on top. Nope, they're non-toxic. Safer than drinking Chinese milk nowadays =D.


Then there's the Sam Poh Temple (三保寺 in Chinese). More flowers here, along with the koi pond and many sculptures to be checked out. I'll try to get some old photos of the Temple and share them here in the near future - very near.

Cameron Highlands isn't really famous for its delicacy, but you can get the freshest fruits here. There's the self-pluck strawberry farm, where you can pay a fee and pick a small bucket full of berries.

If you like durian, you can choose to visit this place during the durian season. These are not the artificial D24 type durians for noobs or pretend-to-be-durian-lovers - they are the wild durians, those with strong stink stench aroma and powerful bitter taste, for the real durian lovers.

Or maybe you can even try their stink beans, more commonly known as petai.

I don't recommend one to stay too long, a night or two should be sufficient. Which reminds me, other than the journey up, the other unusual thing about our trip this time is that we spent two nights there instead of one.

On the way down, however, we followed the old road. I am grateful that dad chose this path, as we passed by the famous Lata Iskandar waterfall.

The Cameron Highlands waterfall.

Dad stopped and I took this opportunity to snap several pictures.


I seriously recommend one to stop here for a break from the winding roads of Cameron Highlands. It isn't everyday we city dwellers get to see a waterfall of crystal clear water.



And that's the end of our journey to Cameron Highlands, and also the end of the Raya holidays.

However, check back often, for more photos!

Coming up next:
New Sights of Cameron Highlands - what I didn't expect to see!

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