chillin' in cameron

of course it's not chilly at all in cameron highlands. we're in malaysia! but it was definitely cooler up there. especially the time when we went last weekend. i was up there fr a 3 day-2 nite stay with 3 other friends and it rained evry evening, causing the temperature to drop nicely below 25 degrees! i was the designated driver for the trip, volunteered for the task actually, of course, and boy..was it really challenging. it's mostly all uphill and winding roads, with sharp turns..and the rain made it wet and slippery..ahh..this driver's heaven. hehe.
before going up cameron, we actually went up to ipoh and spent a night at my ol opah's house. the next day we left for taiping, for a friend's wedding. the wedding was actually the main agenda. because of this guy's wedding, we decided to make it into a slightly bigger trip and go somewhere for a short break from work and all. and we didnt really feel like going too far off so somehow or rather we chose cameron. it is just off the tapah exit, right on our way down from taiping to melaka.
so anyway, we had quite a relaxing time there altho there's not much up there actually. we went to the boh plantations (luv the drive up there!! tiny narrow road with sharper turns), cameron valley plantations, robinson waterfalls (the falls are nice but we were really disappointed with all the rubbish lying around there, really disguisting!), the MARDI gardens (took great pictures of the flowers there, really happy!), and the rest of the time was spent eating, drinking tea, tea and more tea (yes, many became constipated..hehe), running thru heavy rain, and of course shopping (women can shop anywhere i tell ya). the fresh flowers and vegetables were really tempting. 2 dozens of fresh roses cost only rm5!! and this on a mother's day weekend! now they even have these 'preserved' fresh flowers that they claim can last up to 5 years as long as we keep them dry. it's done by some preserving chemical thingy that they put into the plant that keeps them looking fresh for a long time. a really huge bouquet made up of different types of flowers (except roses..they cant do it on roses for some reason) costs rm10. so yeah, guess what the car was filled up with by the end of our stay there. flowers, strawberries (mostly dried, the fresh ones are still too sour to devour) and tea!
the nights, because of the rain and our car which for some reason refused to de-fog, making it impossible to drive at nite even by moi...were spent lounging in our sweaters in our hotel room. we actually went there expecting our reservations was made at a great acclaimed 4-star resort hotel but alas-we were quite disappointed. the 4-star claim was probably self-made. personally it seemed more 3-star if not less. oh well.
we left on monday, and by the way, most places there, including the boh plantation and MARDI, are closed on monday. on the way back, we stopped at the newly 'renovated' tapah PLUS r&r (well new to me.. i usually dont make stops when i drive up and down ipoh), then stopped again at seremban 2. we arrived in melaka at exactly midnite.
so all in all, i thought we had quite a relaxing time there. the best thing i would say was the company i had. we were a fun bunch, always laughing at/about sth every 5 mins..and for me..that's the best way to de-stress.