Cameron Highlands Day 1

When I think about Cameron Highlands
It would be flowers, cool air, mountains, tea, pitcher plants
and RESIDENTIAL BIBLE SCHOOL!
(What a great thing to have RBS reunion last Saturday and today stay in HCC!)
BUT NEVER EVER I THINK OF STRAWBERRIES!!!

Anyway, this time we took another way up to Cameron Highlands.
A shorter way from Benta via Sg Koyan. (it's okay if you don't know this=)
There are currently four routes up to the Camerons.
One which many know is the nostalgically winding nauseating Tapah way.
Some who studied geography more would know the Simpang Pulai way which goes down to Ipoh.
Another one is the Gua Musang way.

The latest to the addition is the Sg Koyan way
made to help Pahang people to get fresher agricultural products
instead of bypassing other states like Perak and Selangor
but directly from Pahang aka Cameron Highlands!
(I'm a proud Pahangite!)
It hasn't really been opened yet, we thought it was.
We were warned of some stretches of road untarred...

And the whole journey does seem peaceful and tranquil.
There are huge tualang trees with big visible wild honey combs
and some baobab-looking trees as if we were in Africa.
Dotted along the way was Pos Betau and some other Orang Asli villages.
There was beautiful morning mist and the zephyr was cooling!

Mana tau reach one stretch there was a guard there saying we can't drive further
after driving about 1 hour plus.
That timid young man said we need a pass from Sg Koyan police station.
Previously we did went to that police station to confirm which was the road to Camerons.
But that policeman said the road is open and ditto.
WHAT PASS?
Now it really feels like a refugee being blocked from fleeing!
Especially when I've just visited some Myanmar Refugee School on Saturday!

The young man said he can let us through
but if anything happens and his supervisors find out
his menial salary will be cut.
So dad "paid" him RM 10 and both cars were allowed to enter.
(My uncle and aunt tagged along too)
Paying highway toll lah we consider it.
Moral dilemma? To bribe or go back to Sg Koyan get pass?
Lord, if we sinned forgive us!

That stretch of uncompleted road was treacherous!
Any moment our car can slide down into the ravines or river.
Just one wrong steer of the wheels, we're dead.
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Thank God that day was raya and it wasn't from 12-5PM
where the blasting of granite is carried out (this is a rock, geography experts! not grenade).
With much praying, we safely got through in one piece
and saw the signs of civilisation!
Bertam Valley vegetable farms!
Cauliflower (white, green and PURPLE!)
Onions, gao choi, kam jing fa, yuen choi (the sweet soup vege)
tomatoes, peppermint and all kinds of other choi (vege)
This is Mr D's canteen!

We went to a bee farm. Nothing interesting.
Overly commercialized tourism and throat-slitting prices.

AND THANK YOU SO MUCH TO PEOPLE WHO FAIL GEOGRAPHY
AND THINKS THAT CAMERON HIGHLANDS
IS ALL ABOUT STRAWBERRIES!!!!
The first thing we see when we enter Tanah Rata is strawberries.
Loads and loads of them.
Be it pillows, magnets, fresh and dried sickening strawberries, jam and even CALCULATORS!!!
Rows and rows of shops invaded by strawberries.
It's like there's a strawberry monster who casted a spell on all Camerons!
Ish, strawberries!

Anyway, we visited my dad's former employer.
My dad before his college years went to Camerons to work.
He did those butterflies and insect frames.
Like those Form 6 biology students stuff.
WHAT A COOL JOB!
Working at shopping malls or
McD or Giant or wherever is never going to be that fun.

My dad's employer was a really wonderful man.
All his three children were educated and are working overseas.
That above 70 years old man knows how to use Photoshop
and the webcam he uses is HD!
My dad and he have very good boss-employee relationship.
Coz my dad was a very hardworking worker.
And I want to be like him.
Dad brought some freshly dropped Kunyit Durians for his boss.
That old man was very happy and even took photographs to keep it in memory.
(Apparently next day, he was liked the durian so much
that he felt guilty not able to treat us dinner that night
and kept asking us to join him for dim sum breakfast next day!)

His wife was very hospitable and serve us red wine and hot milo!
All of my three siblings tasted some red wine.
Not really nice but we smiled. I personally find SAGC's wine better.
(Yeah, Christians have this "sacrament" called drinking the cup,
something Jesus asked Christians to do to remember Him.
And a little bit of wine is healthy.
So I drink a few mL of wine every Sunday to remember what Jesus did on the cross.
Don't get me wrong, Christians are not encouraging excessive drinking!)

Then, about 3PM we checked into HCC.
I saw Kak Tutip and Aunty Kam Fong
Two wonderful people who cooked food for the whole bunch RBS students like me.
HCC now is so nostalgic.
Too bad I didn't get to meet Isaac Tan.

Evening time, we went to Brinchang's night market.
And you know what, it's the CURSE OF STRAWBERRIES again!
EVERYWHERE is flooded with that detestable fruit.
Now I have thoughts it's the fruit that Eve and Adam ate!

All the stalls were selling dried strawberries mixed with honey.
Cameron's must have an oversupply of strawberries!
It's crazy! And as an economics student, I'm going to be rational.
Since it's a perfect competition market, it does no harm comparing prices.
All of them are same packaging and with some "tawar-menawar", one can get a good deal!

Calvin's guide to buy dried strawberries in Camerons:
[1] Don't buy it at tourist attraction centres which have no competitors. Competition keep prices low.
[2] Don't buy stalls that are at the front of the market. Normally they use their location to get you buy at a higher price. You'll regret very much as you continue to walk down the market and see prices lowering down as well. Don't get unnecessary depression and heartache!
[3] At my time the minimum price I checked was 1 kg of dried strawberries for RM20 and get a free packet of 100g dried strawberries.
[4] How to choose good dried strawberries? Choose the ones that are wet ones, it means they are just marinated with honey. They can be kept longer. The dry dry ones are in stock for a long time already.
[5] How to store strawberries? You can keep them at room temperature. (Some say can refrigerate but others say cannot, so dried strawberries: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK TO THE REFRIGERATOR!)

Word of caution: My dad's employer said that many of these dried strawberries are from China, not Camerons. To meet those strawberry demands, firms imported those dried things from China. The night market people will not tell you it's from China, but the packet never says the strawberries are produced in Camerons, only packed in Camerons. And you know China stuff like melamine, it might not be good for health. There's this SODIUM BENZOATE preservative in all the dried strawberries! If you tasted that the dried strawberry is bitter, then best not eat it. It might contain too much preservative.

Again, let's not stereotype all "Made in China" products. All things should be consumed in moderation. Many things you eat has sodium benzoate. So don't consider the strawberries (dried ones) I bought for my friends to eat as propaganda to kill all my beloved friends brain cells so they die in TEE. I simply couldn't find better stuff in Camerons. (There is no reverse psychology here okay, I'm going to dump them if no one eats. As proof, I'll eat it too! Die together and live together as friends.) AIYAH, IT'S SAFE TO EAT ONE LAR=P