Random musings.....

I am currently reading a book called The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy. The book belongs to my colleague Sarah (one of my book supplier), she insist that its a must read and although i haven't finished it, i must agree that it is starting out to be a really good read. Here's a short paragraph from the book that i really liked. It was a message from a brother to his sister.

"The rule of the game is simple: if you want to write, you will write. And know this: if you want to fall in love, you will find someone to fall in love with. But take it from your older, battle-scarred brother: you should never set out to fall in love. Because those sort of romances always seem to end up as the stuff of cheap melodrama. Real love, on the other hand, sneaks up on you unawares...Then gives you a kick in the head." 

My Weekend at Cameron Highlands

My first trip to Cameron Highlands started out as a disaster; a disaster because we chose the wrong date to take a trip. It was a long weekend thanks to Labour Day, and it seemed as though the entire population of Malaysia were there. The jam was so bad that it took about two and a half hours to pass through a 3km stretch. No thanks to the rain and idiotic drivers who decided it was perfectly alright to endanger everyone’s lives by cutting in and out on the narrow hilly slope and speeding up the hill. But although the jam and rain ruined most of our carefully planned out activities, we did in the end have fun; all thanks to a great bunch of people.

We did spend a lot of time in our rented apartment (Parkland Hotel & Apartments) but it was time well spent as we played games and made fun of each others unfortunate accidents =p

http://www.pinganchorage.com.my/malaysia_hotel/cameron_highlands_parkland_hotel_apartments.htm

Anyways, below are some of the sights we managed to take in during our 3D 2N stay.

Would you wear these?

Brinchang Night Market

This night market was super packed with tourist and locals that it was a little annoying having to make our way through. People seemed to enjoy pushing instead of saying “excuse me.” The night market is definitely a street food haven for many thanks to the variety of food on offer such as ayam percik, apam balik, kebab, grilled corn, honey, strawberries dipped in chocolate and more strawberries! Even strawberry ear mufflers! This seemed to be quite a hit as I came across it pretty often during my three days stay. Seriously, it’s not that cold. 

Cameron Valley Tea Plantations (Bharat Plantations)

A trip to Cameron is not complete without a visit to a tea plantation. And so we made our way to Bharat Tea Plantation (I kept insisting my trip wouldn’t be complete without my tea and scones) The company which begin operations in 1933 now owns a total of four tea gardens which adds up to 1600 acres of tea planted on the hilly terrain. The view was unquestionably beautiful and the clean fresh air was more than enough to make me forget about the horrid jam we would be stuck in on the way back to our apartment.

Not so yummy scones

Cameron Valley Tea House

After our adventurous (for some) trek at the plantation, we then made our way to the tea house situated next to the plantation. The weather threatened to pour again but I was adamant to have my tea and scones. And sadly, I was disappointed. The tea was delicious, black with no milk and sugar, just the way I like it, but the scones (although it looked delicious) tasted bland and dry. Is it just me or is it weird to serve scones with whipped cream? I always thought scones were served with strawberry jam and clotted cream or sometimes butter. The only thing that stood out for me was the freshly made strawberry jam. So far, the best scones I’ve ever tasted are at Sweet Chats.

http://www.sweetchatcafe.com.my/

Strawberry Farm

Our last day was a breeze. The rain stopped and the jam decreased. Phew! Another place you have to visit in Cameron Highlands is the strawberry farms. There are a total of five strawberry farms in Cameron; the one we visited is called Kasimani’s Strawberry Farm. An exciting activity at a strawberry farm is getting to pick your own strawberries. Unfortunately we were a little too late for that (we reached around 10 am). The only strawberries visible were green! So strawberry picking abandoned, we made our way to the café to pig out (less than half and hour after breakfast) on fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. Yum yum!

Strawberries dipped in chocolate, yummy!

Lata Iskandar

Lata Iskandar is a waterfall located along the stretch of Tapah leading to Cameron Highlands. The view is incredibly beautiful and it is definitely a sight to behold as you make your way up or down the hill. What I’ve observed is that Malaysians love frequenting waterfall areas on holidays and weekends with their entire family. It was no different here, the area around the falls were packed with families picnicking with plates of nasi kandar and mee goreng; some even sitting in the water as they feast on chicken and rice. Whatever happened to finger sandwiches and light snacks?

So to summarise, the trip was……………fun! Seriously! There were ups and downs here and there with the heavy jam; rain and the crowd but the right company made it all worth it. =)

The bunch that made it all worth it =)

P/S: Please refrain from travelling to popular spots around Malaysia during public holidays for your own sanity.

Zombie Boy

Would you date this guy?

My colleague Sarah came across an interesting article on Tongue in Chic about Rick Genest, a Canadian guy who is also known as “Zombie Boy” because his entire body is tattooed to look like a human body that has decomposed into a corpse. The idea, which he came up with himself, is a tribute by Genest to his favourite movie genre, horror.

Sarah then had a thought, “I wonder what his parents think, or whether they approve of it.” And coincidently enough I found a rather vague answer on Wikipedia which says Genest waited till he was 16 to get his first tattoo out of respect for his parents. It didn’t state whether or not they were happy about it. (Would you want your son walking around looking like a corpse?)

After moving out at the age of 17, he started saving money by working odd jobs to finish his “project”. After three years and thousands of dollars later, the finish product which was completed by tattoo artist Frank Lewis, is a rather frightening sight in my opinion. 

After spending all that money, Genest eventually became broke and homeless; until someone created a Face Book page about his unusual tattoos. The FB page was chanced upon by Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga’s Fashion Director (surprise surprise) and the rest is history.

Genest is featured in Lady Gaga’s latest video Born This Way. He makes his appearance towards the middle of the video doing nothing much but standing looking… erm …dead. 

Check out the video here: