Day 4 Camerons 22 Aug 2010

My interest in visiting an organic farm was piqued after Hoi Yan's post on receiving an organic box of vegetables. From their website, farm visits can be arranged, so a visit to an organic farm was planned for Day 4.

After the farm visit, we bid Shannon and family "Adieu!" as they made their way back to KL.

Han missed the company of the 2 girls and moped for a while.

But immediately cheered up when I informed him that we would be meeting his two cousins.




The 2 toddlers couldn't keep their hands of each other. There were lots of kissing and hugging.



We visited the Boh factory again. Ean flung his nursey rhyme book down the deck. When JY scaled down the slope to retreive it, I noticed the logs. The boys had a whale of a time being pirates on them.

Fai's toothpick art while waiting for dinner in Brinchang.

Day 3 Camerons 21 Aug 2010

My photos are in a bit of a mix up again.

So for Day 3 I am gonna start with a gem of a stall in Tringkap. We parked along the main road and I happened to spot a stall hidden from view. We needed to use the loo badly, so this shop was chosen. The wantan was stuffed with lots of succelent morsels of prawn and minced meat and the wantan skin was translucent and my dad gave its kopi two thumbs up.


From then on, no other coffee was good enough, coffee from other shops paled in comparison. So if you are in need of a good Kopi Kaw, head for Tringkap



I didn't expect the kids to have such a good time at Time Tunnel Museum. They role-played and became cooks, kopi tiam patrons, waiters...they spent at least 30 minutes on this section. Fai took lots of pictures such as the one on the left before leaving because he wants the same thing at home.



They don't make pedal cars like they used to. I love the green Vespa. The attention to detail is amazing.

A few years back, Kent and I were reminiscing about Kalkitos. And what do you know, there was a display case on it. Aaaaah! Memories!

We left for Mossy Forest at about 8.30am. This is the condition of the road leading up to the forest and Gunung Brinchang.

Steps leading into the Mossy Forest. There were no signboards. So the moment you come to a clearing with this wooden steps - You have arrived!

The kids were beside themselves with excitement as we made our way up the stairs. It was freezing cold, my fingers were getting numb from the chilly air.

and the view was magnificent. Undulating mountains, mossy trees, pitcher plants....just lovely.

Cats

They have soft fur, they purr and they have a rumbling motor somewhere in their belly. Who can resist cats. My kids can't.

Mom and Dad picked up these 2 strays from a nasi lemak stall in Pasir Panjang. ML had just reclaimed her 2 cats from Kebun and my parents needed a mouse catcher.

That day, my boys were so occupied with the cats that I had more free time than I knew what to do with.

Han has a soft spot for this grey kitten.

Patches was hand-fed by the boys till its stomach protruded. It fell asleep after an exhausting day - Fai made it climb a ladder and created an obstacle course for it as well.

Ean took some time getting acquinted with the cats.

Day 2 Camerons 20 Aug 2010

Cacti from Cactus Valley. RM10 for 6 pots. Fai and JY had a fine time choosing.

The Sg Palas Boh tea factory'a cafe was beautifully done. This is the entrance that greets you as you take a short hike up a slope from the visitor's carpark. The deck with hardwood flooring and bamboo poles as the ceiling. The view of the tea plantation was breathtaking. I could sit and enjoy the view the whole day. Fresh tea leaves are odourless. But the terrific smell of tea leaves being roasted greets you as you enter the factory. Factory tours are conducted regularly throughout the day. This guy conducted the factory tour. I asked him about the whereabouts of the mossy forest and the road conditions as I was still uncertain to whether cars could make the climb up Mount Brinchang. He told me that it was just down the road, pass the guardhouse, after a stream, there would be a fork, turn left to the Mossy Forest. The right would take you to the tea factory. However he mentioned that only 4WD could get to the mossy forest as the road was too steep and slippery for cars.

We don't listen very well and dad decided to have a look at the road conditions. Seeing that it was tar road, dad gave the green light. Tour guide out to get customers?

On the way out, we stopped by a dirt road and let the kids loose on the tea plantation. They ran and hid among the maze of tea shrubs with their imagination running wild. Fai's secret hiding place. Sshhhhh!Back at Tanah Rata we tried out the playground down the road from YeeKuMa's house. It was small but the lovely weather was irresistable.Poor overfed kitty. It didn't stand a chance against 3 boys bent on feeding it. After the feeding session, kitty managed 3 steps before collapsing into a slumber by a pillar. Kitty stayed as far away as possible when we visited the mamak shop 2 days later.

Daun Kadok

I love having Arian around. He shares my boys' love for movies, Transformers and slapstick comedy. He says his prayers before meals (in spite of Fai assuring him that " Over here, we don't need to do that!"), insists of washing his plate after meals and since his favourite colour is green, he eats his vegetables with gusto. And he likes my pumpkin :)
Left to play without boundaries and interference, they always come up with lots of interesting activites.
After a day of imaginative play (turning furniture upside down or piled up high to become pirate ships; and an enactment of Toy story 3 ), the boys decided to play in the backyard.
Initially Fai asked for garden scissors to make a sword out of a heliconia leaf. After he had done that, I asked him to trim the Kadok leaves that were trailing down into the drain.

Han and Arian joined in and that was the end of my daun kadok.

The kadok leaves ended up in this. Fai said it was for composting.

Look! Not a single kadok leaf! Fai said that all the 'weeds' are gone. Well, I will be replanting them tomorrow. They grow wild in my backyard and I have never eaten them. Now that YeeKuMa suggested frying them with eggs, I just might.

Arian was so caught up with this that KV had a tough time convincing him to leave.

"I want to stay 2 nights the next time" he says.

Day 1 Camerons 19 Aug 2010

I am terrible at uploading photos. So let me do a Quentin Tarantino (remember Pulp Fiction?). Nothing like a playground to end the day. The playground at Tanah Rata had everything for us. Benches for the grandparents to sit and chat, an obstacle course for the tween and a few playground stations to choose from. Flowering shrubs were everywhere and big shady trees fringed the park. The public toilet was closed and stayed closed. So we visited the loo in Century Pines Hotel instead.
We parked our cars in Century Pines and walked to the beginning of trial 4 leading to Parit Falls.
Gloomy skies did not dissuade us from venturing onto the jungle trail. It was an easy trail. Narrow dirt path next to a fast flowing muddy stream led us to a clearing with a pavillion and a rundown playground and an abandoned nature conservation centre.

This tree needs a hug. "Love Our Trees!" is the message here.

This bridge leads to a steep slope that trails up to the tree-that-needs-a-hug.

Parit aka Sewage Falls lived up to its name. Besides being a dirty brown, lots of plastic bags clung to the rocks and plastic bottles was caught in a whirlpool naxt to the falls. This place needs a clean up badly.

Fai didn't leave the car when we arrived at YeeKuMa's place at about 11am. Prefering to stay in the boot, drawing. The other kids joined him.

We had started the journey early. Leaving the house at 6am. The plan was to load the sleeping kids in so that I could drive in peace. Alas, the kids were wide awake. Jumping with excitement. Ean woke up at 4.30am, asking for fried rice!

Mom and Dad did lots of harvesting. We had more rambutans than we could eat, kedondong, a nangka and a cempedak that refused to ripen and some langsat from Temerloh.

YeeKuMa brought Tauge and YongTaufu from Ipoh (she hand-carried and travelled by bus) for our lunch. She is one very capable woman.

YeeKuMa also brought along some of her "treasures". Ean enjoyed blowing on this wooden recorder.

The kids playing with the melodion. ZEn played a few tunes on it. Han did a solo performance as well with En as emcee.

Road Trip to Camerons 19-23 Aug 2010 - Itinerary

19 August 2010, Thursday
6am depart house with sleeping kids for a peaceful drive to pick up mom and dad. This backfired. The kids all woke up and were super hyper.
6.45 am on North-South highway
Tapah for kaya and breakfast
Tapah-Ringlet-Tanah Rata
Trail 4 to Parit Falls
Playground
Rest

20 Aug, Friday
Boh Tea factory Sg Palas
strawberry farm

21 Aug, Sat
Mossy forest
Time Tunnel museum

22 Aug, Sunday
Organic Farm visit
Whatever pops up

23 Aug, Mon
Slow drive home


Reference blogs and websites that helped me plan this trip:

Jungle trails in Camerons:
www.cameronhighlandsinfo.com/jungle_trekking/

www.cameron-highland-destination.com/cameron-highlands-jungle-trail-map-a.html (take a look at Parit Falls link as well)

Mossy forest:
http://blog.malaysia-asia.my/2009/10/mossy-forest-at-cameron-highlands-in.html

http://j-travel.blogspot.com/2009/10/mossy-forest-of-cameron-highlands.html


Organic Farm:
www.cameron-highland-destination.com/organic-farming-vegetables.html

Organic Farm in Camerons 22 Aug 2010

While waiting for the Organic farmer to lead us to his farm, we had a good look at his Organic Steamboat Restaurant in Brinchang; Ean admired ZHui's dress and Mom talked about living without electricity and piped water relying only on a generator and rain water in Kebun.
Mr Lee arrived at about 10.15am and took us to his 3 acre organic farm.

Meet Mr Lee of Camerons Organic Produce, a 3rd generation Camerons farmer with the mission to educate the public about growing vegetables the organic way. He was thought by a Japanese Sifu for FREE whose mission is to go worldwide to spread the word on organic farming. All Mr Lee did was to purchase an enzyme from his Japanese master to fund his travelling expenses.

Mr Lee was a walking encyclopedia on Organic Farming from composting to natural pest control in plants.

A handful of compost. It was burning hot with steam wafting out. The composting was a 3 month process and made up of soya mill, rice husk, coconut fibre and the enzyme as a starter.

Fai asked JY " Are you in Heaven??!" when he noticed the rows and rows of Xiao Bai Cai - JY's favourite vegetable.Snails that were crawling all over the place. JY has an affinity to snails and she let then crawl all over her arm.Han, Zhui and Ean inspecting a ladybird. It flew away after a while and that reminded my mom of this rhyme:

Ladybird Ladybird fly away home

Your house is on fire and your children are gone

All except one and that's little Ann

And she crept under the frying pan

Do not miss a visit to this Organic farm whenever you are in Camerons. Do make prior arrangements with Mr Lee, 0197796638