cameron highlands '17, day 1

the husband is a huge fan of Cameron Highlands, specifically the strawberries. so naturally since the kids were off from school and the roster was clear last weekend, off we went. he even went to purchase his own plugged-in chiller box (all the way from Jakarta lol), we even brought a gigantic cooler box for the trip.

our first pit stop was to get to our homestay in Tanah Rata that i managed to find through friends and the internet. the husband didn't want to spend too much for accommodation (konon) and asked to see if there were any available homestays about at a reasonable price. frankly there are a lot of homestays here, it all depends on whether you're happy or not with its current conditions. if you're a particular person about everything - got aircond or not? got hot water or not? (like my husband) then you're better off checking into a hotel. if possible he wanted to bring the entire contents of his bedroom T__T. at this rate we might as well just rent a U-Haul =D

i got the place for rm250 a night. the owner was a very nice person. informed her what time we'd be arriving, handed over the keys and went on her way. what i didn't know was that her homestay was on the topmost floor of the apartment, specifically the FOURTH floor. with no elevators.  hahahahahhahahahahhahahahahha adeiiiii imagine all the heavylifting of bags up four freaking flights of stairs of seven individuals. die lar.

the weather was awesome, although i think it could be slightly colder. it was slightly drizzling as we arrived.

scenic view from our homestay

The Lord's Cafe, Tanah Rata

it was already 4pm by the time we got everyone settled, so we headed off to the café that i never got to go the last time i was here due to wrong timing. i even messaged the café in advance to ask if they were still open to avoid disappointment =P. as it was, they were still open, yay!!!! the café was really tiny and cozy. not to mention very antique-ish.

btw, do tell me of any interesting café that sell awesome scones, will ya? this is my first time scone-hunting in Cameron (seriously, before this it's always about the sightseeing, vege and the strawberries lol) and i'm open to more scones-cafehopping in the future.

the crazy / famished husband ordered FIVE SCONES for us. one for the maid, one for the husband, one for me, and two for the kids to share. unfortunately despite having an English father-in-law, they no have the England blood in them. i ended up having to polish three of them in one go. #sconesoverdose

my friend Munira always raves about how scones should always come with proper clotted cream if you want to gain the whole scone-eating experience. scones should be eaten warm, for starters. and they should also be served with a slightly larger helping of jam, butter and cream. see the photo? they charge if you want extra sides.

scones!

the Lord's Cafe

budak grumpy baru bangun tido

just before leaving we took a photo of the kids just outside the café. out of nowhere this old English lady joined the crowd and became an extra in the photo. LOL. seems like Sophia's got herself a new grandma! hahahahha.

LOL!

Taman Abang Steamboat & Grill, Tanah Rata

my roommate suggested this place for dinner. in fact you can google and there'd be a lot of good reviews for this place if you're looking forward to a steamboat dinner. steamboat's practically staple here in Cameron Highlands.

Taman Abang Steamboat main entrance

the place was nearby the homestay, but since it was a weekend, we couldn't book in advance, so we headed out early , because we anticipated that the crowd would be huge that night, and we were right. the procedure here is, you have to pay at the counter first before they will give you a table. we were lucky they managed to get a table large enough to seat the 7 of us. everything was free flow. we paid rm175 in total, cash basis please. kids ages 6 and below eat for free.

i didn't take a lot of photos because with four hangry kids you  really need to utilize both hands to tend to them AND to the steamboat (if not, who's going to cook dinner?). they had a considerable amount of choices to eat here, all kinds of veges, meat, seafood, noodles - to mention a few off the top of my head - including ice cream, which was inclusive the total price.

some of the food available

the only photo i have HAHAHAHA

so that's it for day One. it was already late and we wanted to get an early start tomorrow. nanite!