Holiday in Cameron Higlands Pt. III

You know, after reviewing all the photos taken, I have shot about 830 photos. If I were using a normal film camera, this would mean I would have used about 22 to 23 rolls of (36 exposures) film. Bundle that with the processing cost, it would have cost me a small fortune to have all the photos printed out so I can select the ones I liked. But luckily, because everyone has a digital camera nowadays, the total cost for me would be the electricity to charge the Nikon D50's batteries twice. (Because I already have two 1GB SD cards).

Anyway, today is the last day of our holiday in Cameron Highlands. Which brings us to the day's activity, which is to buy all the fresh vegetable stuff we needed and get back home safely. Just like the first day of our arrival, the weather has turned gloomy again. But don't get me wrong. If you were in UK, this is a normal day. Except here in Cameron Highlands, there is the added pleasure of cold rain and the occasional hazardous wind which guarantees the visit to your friendly Doctor. As we were so busy with the shopping, I forgot about refueling the car. And not only that, I forgot about buying some mangoes but I don't remember seeing much. After leaving Kampung Raja, I had to turn back to Brinchang (20Km away) for petrol. No point having the car run out of petrol in the mountains. Based on the fuel gauge, I would be able to make it to Simpang Pulai but because there were six of us in the car, that assumption is out of the window. Suffice to say, by the time we reached home, it was already very dark and after unpacking and arranging the vegetables for our relatives, we only had enough energy to climb onto the bed.............

And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Sun got beaten by Mr. Cloud

We always make sure Kristine brushes her teeth in the mornings
and before bedtime. This is just in case that if she decides to bite
anyone, the risk of infection is minimal and leaves you with that
minty taste. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Kristine is looking bored. There is a very good reason to this........

Because we had to make sure all our stuff fits into
the car. Note the stuff that is already there. We
still need more space later on for our shopping.
I should have borrowed the company van but
because they had other jobs to do, it would be
very difficult to get it. Moreover, the way the
van guzzles petrol, I would be dead broke by
the time we reached halfway up the mountains

First thing first. We need to go to Raju's (across Kea Farm)
to get some strawberries (dried and fresh ones). The way
to the farm is via a steep hill. And I was surprised that the
tourist bus can climb this hill. Anyway, we were lucky as
we arrived just enough time to sample the free stuff before
the tourist bus offload all the annoying bunch of tourists

In the middle would be the dried strawberries while in the background
would be the fresh strawberries. The dried ones taste nice.

Since I was busy taking photos, the girls took my share of the strawberries.
As most strawberries in Cameron Higlands tend to be a bit sour, you'd have
to dip them into sugar (if there is any) or that sinful tasting whipped cream.

At the farm, this is how the strawberries were cultivated. Here, the
weather is cool and the soil is rich. So, it is perfect for them. But I
wonder why Genting Highlands did not follow suit.

Coming out of the strawberry farm, just literally across the road would be the
Kea Farm. And this is the only stretch (apart from the one in Brinchang) which
causes traffic jam and also this is the only main road (from Simpang Pulai) to
and from Cameron Highlands. There are another route but its in the opposite
direction (this one has a wicked winding road which is very dangerous when
wet). So, you have lorries coming out of the market, and cars going inot the
market to try to find some parking where at the same time, a lot of people
would be, well, walking all over the place. And throughout the whole time,
the rain would come and go.

I had to drive carefully since there is rain. But the scenery in the mountains
was beautiful because there were a lot of mists and clouds. Still, there were
no untoward incidents but I had some fun making sure other Avanzas did
not get the chance to come close. There is a gadget which I installed which
made the car feel quite responsive (more on this later)

However there was one Ah Beng in a souped white Wira which tried its best
to overtake us. In the end, I had to give way because of the way he drove the
car. He even overtook when there is oncoming traffic. And I was so happy
when I saw the Police stopping him later on. However, because we're moving,
I did not have the time to frame the shot. If I did, it would be priceless.

Stopping at Tapah, Kaelynn was very excited with the water fountains.

Not feeling left out, Kristine wasted no time and dragged me back to the same
spot so she could have her picture taken as well. We did not have enough time
for the girls together since we need to get back home as soon as possible as
some of us were not feeling well already, especially Kristine and Kaelynn as
they vomited in the mountains. Luckily we did not take the other route as
would need a lot of plastic bags. And I mean a lot.

A fully loaded car; six people, lot of luggage,
lots of shopping and ony 62.5 litres of petrol.
I think we only used up about 50 or so litres,
thanks to that gadget.

I saw this cap rocket and bought 10 of them. I was so happy
with it. This is the only thing I bought for myself.

Unfortunately, when I opened the damn thing, the glow-in-the-dark
rocket came in four pieces where it doubles up as a pen. And the tip
is nothing more than just a bent chomed metal. Yeah, got cheated.

Oh, I took this photo when we're there, at about 1500m above sea level.
It looked as if the whole this was about to explode

And this was taken at home, after we came back (120 metres). The cover
was so sunken, it looked as if someone tried to pound it with a fist.