Camland Strawberry Suite Getaway

And so our last weekend was spent up at Camland. And there were a number of firsts for us for this trip.

It's the first time we're having a holiday up at Camland with Chief, Aidan, otousan, Germ, lad, 'Vin, Esteban, Puddy and Juangtis. Our last couple of trips were with Klangites.

It's Aidan's first road trip. He took the journey rather well, all things considered. On the other hand...

While it's our first time driving up to Camland, we ought to make a note to always take a travel sickness pill before beginning the long wind up Camland. Because even as the driver we felt a wee bit green some 20km from Brinchang already and was counting down the kilometers.

It's the first time we were heading up Camland at night! All these time everyone kept saying how dangerous it is to head up there at night and we can see why. The road condition wasn't bad, thankfully, and it didn't rain, but the lack of any lights on a winding road meant slow going.

Now, when we followed our Klangite friends up to Camland, we admit we don't pay attention to the road, being more busy 1) fiddling with our iPod; 2) chitchatting; or 3) sleeping. So this time we knew we had to do a bit of homework and check for maps and such. Which led us here. While definitely helpful, what caught our attention was the following bit:

Which route to take? Tapah or Simpang Pulai?
Your choice:
Tapah - CH
- shorter drive time if you're driving from the south (KL)
- get to experience the "real" highland driving
- can stop by at Lata Iskandar waterfall and dip your feet in the water
- wave at the aborigine kids along the road

Blink.

Right. Imagine now waving at the kids as we drive up the Tapah - Camland route at night, if there were kids to wave at in the first place.

So. Picked Chief, Puddy and Juangtis up, left KL at 7pm and reached our destination at nearly 11pm (well we stopped for KFC). Strawberry Suites had our jaw hanging wide open!

A cozy living room with the fireplace grilled up, large bedrooms, a separate dining room - this trip really was meant for comfort.

Our first night was spent playing Munchkins - well, rather, we just help set up and introduced a bit on rules, then while the others were playing and with lad to clarify rules, we spent the night making friends with a bottle of Baileys.

Next day after a breakfast of soss and eggs and toast, it was time to round about Camlands - Sg Palas Boh Tea Centre being our first stop. This time we were in time to follow a grumpy tour guide (we thinks he's done this waaay too often and is bored sick of it) who showed us about the factory. And now we know - the contents of our tea bag? Tea dust. It stuck so much in our head that when we were buying tea at the shop, we looked at the varieties and went, "Right, so there's the loose tea leaves, and there's the tea dus- we mean tea bags."

:P

After a quick sit-down for tea it was off for lunch at Brinchang. Then to Kasimanis Strawberry Farm and goodness knows where else to see cacti already. Since lad didn't manage to get a frisbee to bring along for the trip, he bought birds instead.

A Nightingale and a 'Pergrine' (yes, spelt like that). Due to an old podcast by mrbrown, they've been named 'Ong Chiao' and 'Lam Chiao' (sometimes purposely mispronounced).

Headed back to the bungalow to play with the birds while waiting for tea and scones. We thinks the caretakers make their own strawberry jam - the lot of us go through almost an entire jar each time they serve us. After tea it was more birdplaying while waiting for dinner.

Oh yes, this was one makan trip.

While waiting for dinner Juangtis and us were introduced to Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and was totally engrossed in the game. Puzzles after puzzles after puzzles! A great game for the NDS.

When it was time to leave for dinner we found the guys outside balancing on tables and chairs...turns out Lam Chiao got stuck in the gutter. Hilarious - it was as if a real bird broke a wing and was stuck on the roof. Only with a real bird you don't have us using branches and a broom to try and rescue it. Anyways all our efforts were in vain - Lam Chiao was stuck for good.

Steamboat dinner at Tanah Rata, followed by the pasar malam at Brinchang where we saw this for the first time.

Crystal guavas. They looked like large green water balloons. We were offered a sample and it was very sweet. [So we bought some home, and mum tells us that it's been soaked in syrup or something so that it's super sweet, and that they'd used some sort of colouring to get it green. Oh, and not to buy any more.]

Came back and introduced Puddy and Chief to the Puerto Rico boardgame, a mistake we still think as PR has a sorta high learning curve for boardgame newbies. Lad acted as advisor for Puddy and we teamed up with the Chief - however, part-time advisors aren't really good advisors: lad went off for San Miguel and we were busy with Professor Layton. The game ended late and it was time for bed as we all wanted to make it back in time for Mother's Day dinner on Sunday.

Instant noodle breakfast then we cleared off to Kea Farm, where roses were selling at RM5 for 24 stalks, and veggies were going at 14 packs for RM10. At this point both cars were FULL (ok we think 'Vin will still say that there's space in Aidan but there's already too many things). Then we stopped by Bidor for lunch before we reached back KL at 4.30pm.

After Mother's Day dinner, we crashed and slept for a blissful 9 hours straight.

A great trip, only it was a bit short because we could only leave on Friday night and had to be back early Sunday afternoon.