Cameronian Escapade

19th December 2009 - To mark the end of the decade, we decided to organize a community service cum social trip to Cameron Highlands. With a great help and arrangement from Lions Club of Hill View Cameron, we managed to visit the Orang Asli settlement. A total of 4 members of KL Unity, 3 from Leo Club of SMK Jinjang as well as a guest attended the activity. We arrived at Ringlet in the afternoon and it was drizzling, naturally considering it was the raining season then. After lunch, we rendezvous with the lions who briefed us roughly on the families there. As it was wet, they couldn't bring us into settlements deeper inside. So we visited the one that is closest to the town.

We first unloaded our stuff - mostly groceries, chocolates and sweets brought one day prior to the visit as well as some old clothes collected the week earlier. The kids were most excited and gathered around us. We went from house to house and the kids played their part in knocking each house's doors. =D We greeted every family and handed them some of the old clothes and groceries.



Then, it was Santa Clause time. We brought out the bags of sweets and chocolates and started giving up the kids. The kids eagerly but patiently stood in a line whilst Leo Sheng Wei and Leo Tze Yoong gave them a handful of confectioneries. It goes without saying that they were delighted and even the older ones loved them. Our short visit ended when we gave out all the stuff, and we took a group photo before saying our goodbyes to the families.



Next we checked into our apartment at Brinchang. We took some time to settle down and had a rest after a whole day of driving before heading out for a nearby Strawberry Farm. As it was close to late-evening, most of the shops there were about to close and we ended up at the pasar malam nearby. The pasar malam there was a tourist spot, although there were a number of delicacies sold, it was pretty much a hit-and-miss affair. After dinner we decided to head home. We didn't stay up pretty late, although we had a pack of poker cards and Monopoly Hong Kong to accompany us. It was great fun and by midnight, we slept like babies.

The next morning, we went down to Tanah Rata for our breakfast. There were a couple of western-style restaurants, which apparently have been opened for a long time. It wasn't too bad and after breakfast we visited several tourist attractions - namely the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation, honey bee farm and the Boh tea factory. The Cameron Valley stop had a cafe for -literally- yum cha sessions with a nice overall view of the plantation (As you can see below). As we had a heavy breakfast, we didn't stop long and went for the next stop.


By the time we reach the Boh tea factory, we were running a little late, so we decided to skip the factory visit and instead had a nice cup of hot tea. In the midst of misty cold weather it's quite bliss actually. Shortly after that, we headed back home and rather unsurprisingly, it was starting to jam (Being a long weekend). Thankfully it wasn't as bad as the Leo Forum jam back to KL and we managed to reach home by 7pm.

We had lots of fun there and hopefully there will be another orang asli settlement visit trip soon as according to the lions, the best time to visit the settlement is during June/July period when it's dry. It's because some settlements aren't as accessible and needs a few jeeps or Hilux to get there. I guess it will be interesting and hopefully it won't be too long before the next one comes along. =)

Roar!