Day 2 Cameron Highlands family itinerary – Tea and Strawberry

Day 2 of our Cameron Highlands family itinerary.

On Cameron Highlands (金馬崙高原), you will see farms everywhere, all sorts of vegetables, and spices, and the most famous crop must be Strawberry.

After our breakfast, we are ready for more exploration.
**it is not advisable to have a full breakfast. The food is good, but the winding road is unforgiving !

Cameron Highlands family itinerary
Cameron Highlands family itinerary

First stop, we visit an Orang Asli settlement. Orang Asli are the natives, people who live off the mountains and streams. From our hotel, it is a 45 min downhill drive (from Tanah Rata, near to Ringlet).

How about blowing a few poison darts for orientation? Daddy is joking, tourist’s darts are harmless but we still do not recommend you to run infront of the target board (which happens to be a cute teddy bear !)

After few practice sessions, everyone can be marksman 🙂

We took a peep into Uncle’s humble house. Orang Asli do not need creature comfort like TV, toilets or internet.
Daddy is just curious why they build their huts so near to the winding roads ! Is it not a safety and noise hazard?

We bid farewell to our friend (ah-bak is goodbye)

Next stop on our Cameron Highlands family itinerary, the famous Boh tea plantations. We navigate uphill again. For those driving, do take note that there are only two petrol stations in Cameron Highlands (Ringlet and Brinchang). Do not attempt to drive up or down Cameron when your petrol is blinking empty.

We see a lot of jeeps from WW2 era. Although Jeep are old, you should see how they first tailgate, then overtake you at sharp bends! You can literally smell their diesel exhaust! GIVE WAY to other four-wheel drives who need to go faster. Cameron Highway is easily 30% more challenging than Genting Highland‘s.

We reach the Boh Tea factory after 60min. We advise drivers to leave their cars behind and engage well seasoned guides to bring you up 🙂

After our van has reach the carpark, it is another 15min march up slope. The steps are steep, and gradient is easily 30degrees.

Surprisingly, our boys dashed up the hill with gusto, but Daddy manage to catch up halfway. Please do not detour from the footpath, as the steep slopes are often concealed by the tea bushes.

Let us introduce our friendly guide cum driver, Mr Muthu.

What can you see from the top? Endless tea leaves ! Love the shade of greens carpeting the whole mountain range.

We must be very friendly, a caucasian kid decided to “join” our family photo haha. At the peak, kids make new friends haha.

The wind keeps blowing at the top, and we wonder how cold it will get when day breaks. It must be an amazing experience to camp overnight and let the mist and dew wakes you up in the morning !

Daddy is happy to declare all kids pass the endurance test, let us take more photos.



Every corner we turn, we see more rows of tea leaves ! Picturesque background.

Going downhill is tricky too, we keep reminding kids not to run too fast as they might lose their footing and fall.

We visited a Bee Farm, but rows of flower and strawberries greeted us 🙂

The bees are in the backyard. Kang enjoys the sweet honey, Daddy ask him Honey comes from where?
We open a box which shows the cross section of a beehive. It is amazing to see the bees buzzing here and there so busy !

The caretaker told us these bees are harmless, as long as we keep our prying fingers away from their hive!

Are you hungry by now? SengkangBabies were starving, our breakfast was fully digested by the time we scale Boh Tea plantation earlier.

Back in our resort, our host has prepared a sumptuous and nice-smelling smoked lunch to indulge our tummies. Did Daddy mention he loves the garden setting, which is perfect for dating your beau.

Are you still wondering why the F&B is called Smokey Bear ? Daddy brought the kids to witness how our food is prepared (no pan, nor microwave, just smoke heated chicken chop and salmon !

The SALMON steak is a must-try! The juicy flesh and the crispy skin just melts in our mouth ! Daddy is hungry just looking at the fish. Even the smoked corn looks so appetising.

Boon Kang ordered fish and chip but he prefers the salmon.

Boon Xin just need fries, and she will not share them with anyone, easily :p

Chicken Chop for Daddy. The F&B outlets in Strawberry Park Resorts are halal, so no pork chop 🙂

Everyone agrees the Salmon steak is our favourite dish, yummy 🙂

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

3D2N Itinerary :
— Day 1 – Strawberry Park Resorts amenities
— Day 2 – Strawberry Farms and Tea plantation
— Day 3 – Glorious Sunrise at Brinchang

* Driving tips for Malaysia

We are recommending that you pop by Melissa’s fasionista blog for more Tea and Orang Asli photos 🙂

Our 3D2N albums is already uploaded on our Fanpage.

ps.. Cameron Highlands family itinerary and Meals are sponsored by Strawberry Park Resorts

Making Babies

Nope, Daddy is not going to talk about the act itself, as we are a family blog :p
Rather, the lack of babies and and how pro-family policies can be enhanced.

Money is always important (钱不是万能,..fill in the blank..不能), for childcare, medical, enrichment, education, food and other living costs. However, Daddy suspects that having a baby has become a “Lifestyle” choice.

A couple can travel anywhere, indulge in luxurious comfort but somehow along the way, having a baby becomes a liability. Career advancement will be affected, lifestyle will be curtailed, nobody likes to Sacrifice !

Naively, Daddy still choose to believe that “if a family is Happy“, more babies will come naturally. If we have to lower our lifestyle expectations, so be it.

In Singapore’s lack-of-babies context (or most urban cities), “Happy” is not a feeling, but the “assurance” that we have less things to worry about, when we decide to Ignore Durex have a baby.

“We wish to have a child, because we love to start a family.”. The last reason should be “I want a baby because of Incentive #A, or Bonus #B!”

Daddy’s wishlist are “More flexi-hours, pro-rate childcare leave aka the more kids the merrier, and paternity leaves”. It is way overdue for the Man to standup and be recognized as an equal partner, when it comes to parenting.

Ok, Men cannot breastfeed, but a strong Mummy and Daddy team will likely yield a stronger family.

=== ====

26Aug 10PM National Day Rallyour Prime Minister Lee gave us a peep into which policies will be tweaked so that (maybe) we will keep the storks busy.

1) Work life balance

2) Employer attitude – ok to go home early (not OT everyday)

3) Housing – priority for couple with young kids

4) Paternity Leave – PM admits it is time for society to stand up for Daddies

5) Medical – more affordable

6) Pre-school availability – nearer to home and workplaces, raising standard

7) Baby Bonus – Social ethos is more important than incentives

Hooray !! Bravo !!

=== ====

We keep hearing words like work-life balance, easier access to flats, paternity leave, easier access to good quality pre-schools. What is being discussed in Forums and workgroups ?

1) From PAP Woman’s wing

2) www.Population.sg is conducting a survey. Daddy would like to pro-rate childcare leaves, extra two days for every additional child. More Daddies can then have more opportunities to participate in kids’ school activities.

3) Mummy Ai Sakura is helping to encourage more Daddies to be active parents too. She is asking a few daddy bloggers to add a voice in her “Celebrate Fatherhood” article.

Daddy will be talking about how a couples get “promoted” to parents, and whether a Dad’s user-manual does exist :p
Stay tune for our article next Sun.

..disclaimer.. It does not mean only bloggers are good Daddies.

4) ChannelNewsAsia fanpage was fishing for some comments. Daddy wants local-attraction prices to be made more affordable. We are fortunate and grateful that our blog gives SengkangBabies a lot of freebies and privileges, but we sincerely hope more families can enjoy the Zoo, the BirdPark more often.

It is ridiculous to pay $100 for a family of four at the Zoo !
Our Zoo is good, but how many can afford?

5) PA has a dialogue too. Read their findings.

6) 早安您好 did it too, with Daddy as a guest, talking about how Dads can be more involved in parenting.

If all fails, remove the cinemas, iphones and internet access. When couples are in love, and they have lesser distractions, they do the “natural” thing.
Daddy hope Singapore does not have to come to this stage !