After Penang, we stopped over at Cameron Highlands for two nights. Unless you’re just looking for some R&R, two nights at Cameron Highlands is probably a tad excessive. Even with all the activities to do in Cameron Highlands, we found ourselves struggling to fill the hours. In retrospect, we should have spent the extra night in Penang instead.
We stayed at the Lake House in Cameron Highlands which was a lovely, picturesque little resort at the bottom of Cameron Highlands. If you’re planning a trip there, you may want to take the road in from Tapah because it is a lot shorter than the road from Simpang Pulai. Most people will probably tell you to go via Simpang Pulai because that’s the better route to take to Cameron Highlands. Unfortunately, it isn’t the case if you’re staying at the Lake House.
The Lake House is a quaint little hotel that almost makes you feel as if you’ve gone back in time – except for the fact that they have a very modern safe in the cupboard and electric powered lights and fans. The service is excellent and they staff are delightful. It is the perfect getaway for a couple, but not so much for a family – a co-sleeping one, anyway. Since Aristotle refused to sleep in the cot, the four of us crammed onto the double bed with hubby and me sleeping with our legs hanging off the bed. I’m sure the two boys were none-the-wiser, but hubby and I couldn’t wait to get home after two nights of that.
The Lake House has a drawing room with books, games and a flat-screen TV (the other piece of modern luxury to grace the otherwise historic hotel). Other than that, there isn’t really much else to do at night except sleep. There’s no internet either so I got a lot of sleep.
Things to do in Cameron Highlands
Tea House
There are lots of tea houses in Cameron Highlands where you can stop by and take a load off. Most of them are overlooking the tea plantations so you can appreciate the view while you enjoy a fresh cuppa, and purchase some tea afterwards.
Nursery
We took the boys to see a nursery where we bought six cacti. I figured I’d get started on that plant project I have always been meaning to do with Aristotle. He’s named them Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James and Percy. Let’s see how well they grow over the next month or so…
Aristotle also had the opportunity to practice his photographic skills with Daddy. We’re still working on that one…
Boh Tea Plantation
Next up was the tea plantation. We learned all about how the tea leaves are picked and processed. The tea is ground, dried and sorted into two grades – high quality and regular quality. It is then packaged for sale.
There is a short video about the history of the Boh Tea Plantation and you can also follow a short trail where you can pick your own tea leaves from. The tea shop here seemed to have a greater variety of tea compared to the tea house we were at earlier.
Strawberry Picking
There are many strawberry farms with invitations to tourists to pick their own strawberries. Entry is free. All you have to do is pay for the strawberries you pick. It was interesting to note that the bright red strawberries that we normally deem to be “sweet” in the shops are not sweet at all. The sweet strawberries are a dark red colour that look almost black. I should have taken pictures but I only remembered after we’d eaten them…
Bee Farm
They also have a bee farm which we didn’t visit because Aristotle made a friend at the hotel so we ended up spending the afternoon at the hotel instead of heading to the bee farm.
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