Our first DIY self drive tour at Ipoh/Cameron Highlands (5D/4N) -- Day 3

Comes the day for us to leave Cameron Highlands... I took this chance to take some pictures of the bright day view from our balcony...

 

We had our fast and easy breakfast in the room before we check out... did not want to go for the buffet breakfast, so had the oat biscuits and drinks we got during the trip.  We planned to visit the Watercress Valley and the Lavender Farm along the way down to Ipoh to check in our hotel.

   

 

 

This is the only Water Cress Valley I found in the whole town.  And I remember visiting such a farm when I visited Cameron about 28 years back? Hahaha... ok, am still 28 years old... :p Anyway, seems we are the first customer... and it's still closed when we arrived!!! That was about 10am... But as we were trying to find hint of the opening hours, the boss arrived and open the doors for us and following 2-3 groups of visitors after us. 

 

This farm stated a entry fee to see the water cress growing below, but if we were to dine in, it's FOC! 

 

 

Some narrow way down to the water cress growing area...

 

View from the bottom up to the restaurant...

 

An awesome view of the water cress... 

 

Just to let you know, water cress are actually growing in pond of water... so if you are not aware, you may fall into one of the pond of water cress... hahaha... 

 

I saw some coyotes growing on top of the rest area next to the pond...

 

We decided to stay for a brunch before heading down to the other attractions and Ipoh... since we had a light breakfast, so shall settle for some 'home-cooked' food here with fresh vegetables being grown here as dishes!! 

 

Some awesome view from our table overlooking the farms and plantations around.. A view which we would not get staying in Singapore... Nice, relax and cool...  

 

 

See our spread of food!!!!  But we were very busy while taking our meal... Reason being, there were tons and tons of houseflies flying around our dishes!! And my children got really irritating busy feeding themselves and busy fanning to chase away the houseflies!!! 

 

We were trying really hard to fill our stomach so as to leave the place as quick as possible!! Haha... along the way, we saw the Rose Garden, and I remember the hotel reception told us to visit this Rose Garden and not the Rose Valley near our hotel... So here we are... By the way, we need to pay for the entrance fee to get it... The entrance was not very attractive or welcoming... haha... but we went in nevertheless....

 

Upon entry, my children were attracted to the sound of the peacock here... and off they ran to see the peacock!!  Yes, the peacock opened up it's feathers, but his feathers were getting pathetic too... :p

 

 

Here's the roses in the garden... lots of roses, but we did not see a variations around...

 

 

Traditional swing in the garden, and my children were thrilled... Nope, my Alvan is not inside, cos he's super afraid of swings!! Hahaha... 

 

A small pond in the garden....  

 

Weird looking gourds around the pond...  

 

Whose face is bigger and prettier??  :p 

 

Selfie of us in front of a man made small water fall... 

 

Not much photos taken in the garden, as the flowers to me all looks the same and what I saw here are what I know and see in Singapore... so... yup, worth the visit but decided not to take too many photos... :p

 

Our next and final stop at Cameron is the Lavender Garden!!  It's huge and really done up nicely just for visitors to pay and go in!  Sorry, no nice lavender smell, but just pretty flowers and yes, Strawberries again! 

 

A very nicely done up background for visitors to take nice shots....

 

 

 

Ha! You sure think we had some Hokkaido Ice cream in Cameron??!!... Yes, the brand is 'Hokkaido' but definitely NOT from Hokkaido!!  Hahaha...

 

My happy boy with his chocolate ice cream!

 

 

 

 

A super huge pumpkin for photo sake... no idea how would pumpkin be linked to Lavender??!!

 

A nice gerberas gardens, where visitors can pluck and pay at the cashier if you wanna get a nice gerbera home!!

 

 

Yes, you can pay for self-pick strawberries here too... but this section was close when we visit... BUT they do have MORE strawberries on the pot as compared to the Big Sweet Strawberry farm we visited yesterday...

 

And by the time we are done, it started pouring!!! So, we are stuck at this farm for some time... and hubby can't resist the temptations of fresh strawberries!!!  So, here we are, munching on fresh small strawberries!! Hahaha... nope, there were not as sweet as those we had yesterday...  

 

When the rain got smaller, we decided to proceed to our next destination, Ipoh and head to our hotel to do our check in before 4pm, else they will release our room!!!

Luckily, we managed to check in on time and the room was really clean and new, big enough for our family of 5... We decided to drive out for dinner and look around the town since its almost dinner time.  And decided on this Ong Kee chicken rice... ehm, sad to say, their chicken rice served was just plain white rice... chicken was also normal.. but their bean sprout was really nice... me n hubby managed to finish a big plate which we thought can serve 5 adults! Haha...

Just opposite this chicken rice stall, we saw a few shops selling baked salted chicken!!! So decided to buy a drumstick back to try and also bought some Ipoh white coffee, since we are here... After which we just drive around to look around making sure we know where the locations are for some of the food we bookmarked to eat! Haha... but we dun see any shopping malls around, and most of the shops are closed at 7pm...so decided to do some shopping at the Ipoh Parade mall right next to our hotel!

Our first DIY self drive tour at Ipoh/Cameron Highlands (5D/4N) -- Day 2

  The beautiful sunrise picture is taken by my hubby... cos am not an early person... Unlike my hubby who's a very early person, he loves to catch sunrise and sunset... hahaha... I would love to try but I think I love my sleep more... haha... but this view is really very very nice...

  

 

We managed to find an Old Town restaurant just before we reached our hotel... so decided to go for our breakfast before we start our own tour!!! Had thought of going for the hotel buffet breakfast, but after our last dinner encounter, we thought old town would be a better option, especially knowing what our children likes...

Our first destination was the Boh Tea plantation... In fact, Monday was supposed to be their closing day but due to the school holidays they decide to open it! So we were lucky!!!

After a long and very narrow way up to the plantation car park, we realised it's another short climb up to the top!!!!  Haha... but it's free entrance and a very cool, quiet and relax hill top!!!

 

Do you see a glass house up the hill top? It's the tea center cafe and a mini tea museum and Boh Tea factory...

I was really surprised to see many Caucasian visitors!!!  But the way up was pretty narrow and steep too..  the view is really awesome up there... 

 

 

We love the green green tea hills and tea plantations here... A very beautiful wefie...

 

This is their mini walk through history of the Boh Tea factory here in Cameron Highlands...

 Another view from the top, looking down the way we came up from the car park... the patchy green lot at the left are tea leaves...

 

  Tea plantation at the hill foot... 

 

Our next destination is the Big Red strawberry farm... And the road is abit curvy and due to some road works, there was some jam as the way over is only 1 lane per direction...

 

 

Here we are... at the Big Red Strawberry Farm... time for our lunch too!!!!  The way up to the strawberry car park was extremely steep and narrow!!!! A very scary way up.... Haha... Here's my baby strawberry!

 

And can you see the crowd and long long queue behind my Ashley? And the menu on strawberries are super extensive!!!! Spoilt for choices...

  Besides strawberries, this farm also grows lettuce for salads!!! 

 

 And they have many kiddy rides around the tables... good for children... lucky I did not have coins with me... and there's no changing machines around... hahaha... It's a good thing that there is FREE wifi available here... and my baby is busy catching his YouTube!

 

See our Strawberry feast here!!! Their milk shakes are nice... very yummy and fresh strawberries... not very sour, just a nice touch of sweet and sour... very refreshing... and healthy lunch we had!!! 

 

 

My 2 boys enjoying their French fries!!!  Their salad is very fresh too... cos everything is grown in this farm, even parsley!!! 

 

The potted plants behind my children are strawberries, but not much ripe ones so can't see from my photo here... 

Can you spot the grapes growing on top of this walkway??? 

 

A bigger bunch of grapes spotted here... hahaha... 

 

And red leaf lettuce too!! 

 

 

Try to spot the small red strawberries...   They do allow visitors to pluck their own strawberries, but it was not available on the day of our visit... maybe no more ripe ones... but they only allow 2 adults to go in with a basket to pluck, no kids allowed... too bad... :(

 

Selfie with a 'light-blub' at my side... hahaha....

My 3 strawberries... hahaha...

 

My cool Alvan with his new shades... 

 

My men in the house... 

 

Hydrangeas....  So happy to see them here... but I think I still like my blue hydrangeas... (ehm, I had hydrangeas hand bouquet for our ROM... so... sweet memories... :P)

 

It was starting to drizzle when we left the strawberry farm... And on the way down back to our hotel ,we stop over at a Mix Crop market... there's a lot of potted plants on sale here... very interesting but too bad we can't bring them back home... :( 

 

Sorry, I only saw the sign saying no holding of their potted plants to take photos... hahaha... :p 

 

They sell really cheap fresh roses!!! 3 bouquets for RM10!!!  I may buy these fresh flowers if we were staying here... LOL... 

 

It started pouring after our shopping here and only got a small umbrella in WL's backpack... so he decided to bring the 2 kids back to the car and back to fetch me and baby... else we would be stuck at this marketplace for some time...

 

So, we decided to pop by the small shopping mall at the foot of our hotel (where we had our Old Town for breakfast this morning...) And kids were thrilled as they had wanted to take some kiddy rides this morning but it was not open when we left... so being stuck at the mall, their fun time begins.... I had wanted to do some shopping, but the mall was really pathetic, only 3 restaurants and 2 cafes and some kiosks around, no REAL shops for me... boo....  

 

 

Oh, we had some spare time after the kids had their rides, so we thought to explore the Bee farm next to the mall... as the rain had stop too!!!  We thought we can explore something fun here, but their bee farm is not manned!!!  And we just need to follow their sign board and reached a B3 to their outdoor farm!!!  So WL decided not to go ahead, just in case we get sting by their bees!!!  Hahaha...  Yes, another pathetic shot of US and a crying baby... They sell a lot of honey products, but, something I thought we can easily get elsewhere and save us the trouble of lagging heavy honey back home!! 

 

By the time we head back to the mall, it's DINNER time... so we decided to have early dinner here... I had been wanting to have steamboat since we arrived, I guess it's due to the cold weather here... and Steamboat is practically available anywhere around the whole town!! 

 

There's only this ONE steamboat restaurant in this mall, so will have to settle for this... decided to try a porridge steamboat... I think it's a bad choice, cos my children refused to try and ended up, me and hubby had to finished food cooked in porridge with some burned smell food... hahaha... anyway, I did enjoy my steamboat dinner.... super duper full!!! Oh yes, forgot to mention, the reason why our food was burned in the porridge base is due to the charcoal at the bottom!! So, no way to control the fire, and we can't be gobbling down super hot food into my stomach... so, burned food! :p

 

 

 

And so, we ended our Day 2 with a hot yummy steamboat... will have to check out tomorrow morning and start our trip down to Ipoh and start our food trail there!! :)