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Trip to
Cameron Highlands
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I never thought I'd get another chance to
savour the cool fresh air and feel the peaceful serenity of Cameron
Highlands again until Salmiah invited me to accompany her to
a seminar sponsored by her employer at this popular mountain resort.
I can recall that the last time that I went to Cameron Highlands was about two
years ago when I accepted the invitation from my younger brother, Rosman
and sister, Rosnah to join them and their family for a
barbecue by the side of a stream at Tanah Rata. But that was a day trip.
This time, it was for four days and three nights. We stayed
at the Equatorial Hotel, standing at 1,600m above sea
level and located about 4 km from Brinchang town.
We left Ampang at about 4.00 pm that day (Tuesday, 19 May
2009) and took the North-South
Expressway. We stopped for awhile at Rawang Rest and Service Area to
fill up the petrol tank and perform the "solat asar" (prayer). We
then made our way to Simpang Pulai Tol Plaza, preferring to
use the new and better-constructed road to our destination, instead of
using what I thought was a less-safe winding road from Tapah Tol Plaza. We
reached the hotel at about 8.00 pm. We could have reached
it earlier if not for the drizzling rain, which slowed us
down after we encountered
it about 10 km from the Tol Plaza. |
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Entrance to the
Equatorial Hotel |
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The Equatorial Hotel |
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The hotel is
surroundered by apartments |
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Entrance to Hotel Lobby |
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As soon as
we got out of the car to check into the hotel, we could
immediately feel the cool and refreshing air of Cameron
Highlands. However excited we were to arrive at this place,
we didn't venture out that night, preferring to
rest in the cosy hotel room after the long drive. We settled
down for the night after we had our dinner at the hotel's
Coffee Room.
The next
morning we had buffet breakfast and I managed to meet some
of Salmiah's working colleagues. I also met Najeeb, whom I
first met many years ago when he was formerly working in
Perlis. Now he is attached to Langkawi.
After breakfast, Salmiah went to her seminar and I took a
walk to the nearest farm to buy myself a half-kilogram of
freshly-picked strawberries (RM15.00), six (6) pieces of
large "jagung mutiara" (pearl corn) at RM10.00 and a packet
of sweet potatoes at RM2.00.
After Salmiah finished her seminar at about 4.15 pm, we took
a drive to Brinchang town and stopped by a Malay restaurant
to have the famous Cameron Highlands vegetable soup. It was
really delicious. It contained an assortment of vegetables
and boiled with seafood. On the way back, we stopped by some
roadside stalls to look at some of the fruits and vegetables
there. We compared their
prices from stall to stall so that we would know where to buy after we checked out from the hotel two (2)
days later. |
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Flowers of many
types and colours grow abundantly in Cameron Highlands
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Tiny cactuses of all
kinds are available in Cameron Highlands
selling for 6 at RM10.00 |
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We brought along an electric steamer with us and used it to
steam-cook the vegetables. Whilst Salmiah had dinner in the
hotel with her colleagues that night, I steam-cooked two (2)
pieces of pearl corns and two pieces of sweet potatoes for
my dinner. The delicious strawberries became my "snack"
throughout the day. Come to think of it, if you want to look
after your diet and slim down your body, this is a good
place to do that, where vegetables and fruits are your
everyday meals.
Most of the time in this cool and tranquil place, I spent my
time reading a book about Khalifah Abu Bakar As Siddiq. He
was the first "Khalifah" (Muslim ruler) after Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) had passed away. His character and
leadership qualities is an example for a leader of any
country to emulate, so as to make this world a
better place to live in. Why I said so was because this
God-fearing man
was very concerned only about the welfare of the people under
his rule.
Ever since he embraced Islam, he
spent most of his cash and properties towards helping the
Prophet (PBUH) to introduce and spread Islam to the Arab
countries. He
bought out and freed at
least five (5) Muslim slaves, who were tortured by their
former masters for becoming Muslims.
Immediately after he became the "Khalifah", he announced to
the people that the fact that he was chosen as their leader,
did not mean that he was the best among them. He said that if he did the
right thing, they should support him and if he did the wrong
thing, they should correct him. The weak among them would be
strong to him for he would support them and the strong among
them would be weak to him because he would take away from
the strong to support the weak.
Initially, he carried his things to the market to do
business as usual, until one day along the way, he
encountered Omar Al-Khatab, who asked him, "Where are you
going with those things, ya Amirul Mukmnin?" ("Amirul
Mukminin" means the ruler of the people).
Abu Bakar replied," To the market to do business as usual."
Omar said," But you are a Khalifah, you shouldn't be doing
this?"
"But I've to earn my living, haven't I? How am I going to
feed my family if I don't have an income?" replied
Abu Bakar.
Omar then brought him to meet Abu Ubaidah, who was the
Keeper of the "Baitul Mal" (Treasury), who then determined how
much salary Abu Bakar should get as the "Amirul Mukminin"
(President/Prime Minister). His salary was only a meagre
sum, just sufficient to feed him and his family. Only after that did he stop
going to the market to do business.
Abu Bakar stayed about 3 km from Medina and during the first
six (6) months as the Prime Minister, he walked back and
forth to Medina to lead the five-times-a-day prayer in the
mosque and also
to administer the country. He seldom took a horse or camel
unless he had to travel long distance, preferring to walk
instead. He didn't have any bodyguard with him and preferred
to walk alone everywhere.
He did everything with his own hands and preferred not to
seek for help. For example, when he was on a camel and
something fell down, he himself would pick it up, refusing
to let anyone else to do it for him.
When he died, he left behind only one (1) dinar in his savings.
I had the opportunity to finish reading the book about him
and his achievements with all the free time that I had in
this popular mountain resort. |
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Yours truly at the
Butterfly Farm |
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Salmiah at the
Butterfly Farm shop |
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Yours truly at the Hotels' Coffee Room |
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Salmiah at the Hotel's Coffee Rom |
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Now back to my stay in the hotel. On the third day, I ventured
out of the hotel room to have a look at the swimming pool at
level 5. There was nobody at the pool. I walked to the edge
of the pool to touch the water. It was cold and not heated
up as expected in a cold place like this. I then walked down
to level 4 to have a look at the gym, but it was locked,
with a sign asking guests to get the key from the reception
if they wish to use the gymn facility. I then went down to
level 1 and observed that apart from the business centre,
which was closed, there was also the karaoke room known as "Singalot."
The Coffee Room, where breakfast, lunch and dinner were
served, was also located on Level 1. There was also a table
counter, which provided a tour service for those
interested to visit Cameron Highlands in more detail.
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After Salmiah finished her seminar, we decided to take a
walk to the nearest vegetable stalls to buy two (2) packets
of mushrooms of different variety, a packet of tomatoes, a
bunch of asparagus and two (2) packets of fresh
strawberries. That night, whilst Salmiah had steamboat
dinner with her colleagues, I had steam vegetables for
dinner, which consisted of an assortment of mushrooms, tomatoes and asparagus.
You should try it sometime, it was appetisingly delicious!
On Friday, 22nd May 09, the day for us to bid farewell
to Cameron Highlands finally arrived. Salmiah's seminar ended at 10.00
am that day. Since the checking-out time was at 12.30
pm, we decided to do our "shopping" first before we checked
out. We packed our stuff and shove them in the boot of
the car and drove to the places that we had scouted two
(2) days earlier and bought some corns, strawberries and an
assortment of fresh vegetables.
When we had finished shopping, we went back to the hotel
to check out. Salmiah invited me to join her for lunch
because most of her colleagues had decided to leave early
and skip the lunch. Only one out of the five lunch tables was
occupied that day. |
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Salmiah and yours truly |
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After lunch, we left the hotel at about 1.45 pm. We
decided to use the same road that we used on the way up.
When we reached the foot of the hills, we stopped at a
Petronas station to fill up the petrol tank and perform
the "solat jamak takdim" (2 different prayer
times conducted together). After that we entered the
North-South Expressway at Gopeng Tol Plaza and drove
non-stop to reach Ampang at about 5.15 pm.
Finally, it puzzled me how the corns didn't taste as
sweet or the strawberries as delicious as when we had
them in the mountains. Could it be because the hotter
weather at Ampang had adversely affected their taste? I
would be glad to share your experience regarding this
matter if you had been to Cameron Highlands before and
bought the corns and strawberries. |
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Yours truly infront of
Butterfly Farm |
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