My thoughts on Cameron Highlands

It was raining when we arrived at Cameron Highlands. I had the runs the first night we got there.

My elder sister surmised that it was the pasar malam food that we bought. I was the only one who ate a packet of spicy bee hoon. The only good thing about the diarrhoea was: it usually happened in the morning and at night when I was at the hotel and after I had food.

Before we went, I heard from my aunt and family that Cameron Highlands is colder than Genting. It got me a little worried as I remembered how freezing Genting was and I don't like cold places.

However, I found Cameron Highlands relatively bearable. Just very wet. Genting was cold and dry (if my memory serves me well) while Cameron Highlands was cold and wet.

For the 2 days that we were there, we heard the siren of the ambulance four times. We thought it worrying but thank God nothing bad happened to us despite the long and windy road up and down the hills. Baby and her cousin threw up in the car though. Having read online that there were two roads, Tapah and Simpang Pulai, we chose Simpang Pulai as it was newer, wider and had gentler slopes compared to Tapah's narrow and pot-holed road. Besides, Simpang Pulai was nearer to Brinchang.

I was a little disappointed that Cameron Highlands wasn't quite what I had imagined. From what I have heard, Cameron Highlands is an expanse of greenery with fresh, crisp air. It has rows of beautiful roses in different colours. It is a piece of untainted land which inhabits simple people who own farms and plantations.

From what I have seen, Cameron Highlands is quite the contrary. It is very residential and touristy. We stayed in the Brinchang area as it was close to most attractions. We saw many hotels and motels in our hotel area, and many restaurants that catered to tourists, as marked by their red table cloths. On our way up Cameron Highlands, we passed by many farms and plantations that targeted tourists ie. "Pick your own strawberries/fruits" signs.

Food was not fantastic at Cameron Highlands, something that is in common with Genting Highlands. Something I find puzzling about Malaysia is: tourist attractions usually serve awful food. You'd think that they would have perfected their culinary skills after having tested them on hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists every year.

Cameron Highlands is no different from any other towns that are inhabited by ordinary folks. It is just very tourist-dependent for its livelihood. Nevertheless, we made the best of our time there and for someone who hates long drives, it was good to have explored a small part of Malaysia.