Our Merdeka Holiday (Part 2)

05 September 2007, Wednesday

We started our journey to CHR late because we by the time Aiden got ready, after his milk, bath and fruits, and WE got ready ~ hubs had to drive to at least 2 petrol stations to top up the black oil in the car plus we had to drop the maid off at MIL's; it was already noon and very close to Aiden's lunch time. Our journey had barely started when we had to make a pit stop at the Sungai Buloh rest stop to feed Aiden his porridge.

Aiden was excited with all the commotion that he missed his morning nap. This was all the luggage we took, less than half compared to our first trip to Bukit Tinggi last year. The red SKII bag was filled with Aiden's paraphenalia

The journey up was so-so, Aiden was so tired from the out-of-norm activities in the morning that he was cranky and cried for most of the time during the journey up. He fell asleep for an hour just before reaching Tapah but promptly woke up when we reached Simpang Pulai. From then on, he was like a little terror in the car, cryingfor a good half hour before he managed to fall asleep again. This time he slept all the way to our hotel. For those who are planning to go, take the Simpang Pulai way. It's a good route to use.

We didn’t venture out on Day 1 but spent most of the time at the hotel; starting off with tea and scones at the Jim Thompson room. Perhaps we had set our expectations a little too high, as the scones were a disappointment, but given the ambience and level of service – one is willing to give this an oversight. The sandwiches and crispy spring rolls had made up for it.

At the Jim Thompson room prior to check in. Note the background....ahhh bliss

The bedroom was quaint looking, with a colonial feel to it, given the 4 poster bed, wooden flooring plus white wooden blinds on the windows. Personally the bathroom was a tad too small for me given that this is a boutique hotel, and I thought that they should have provided us with a proper baby cot versus a Graco play pen with a thin mattress.

Our bedroom. Notice the Graco play pen which is supposedly their baby cot. All the bedrooms come with a small balcony overlooking the golf course

The evening quickly passed and we had our first meal, dinner at the Dining Room. I must say that the service of the staff was close to excellent as they always made sure our needs were met. The quality of the food was quite good, and vegetables were very fresh. Hubs had a steak and I settled for cod fish. Although it was a 4 course dinner, we only managed 3, and had the waiter sent us our dessert in the room because Aiden needed his sleep.

We began Day 2 with a hearty breakfast, and went for a car ride around Cameron's. We did not make a lot of stops as Aiden fell promptly asleep once more in the car. I have not been to Cameron's for almost 3 years now, but I must say that development and commercialization sure is setting in at the highlands. You see stalls selling "fresh strawberries / jam" & "fried mushrooms" almost everywhere you turn. I'm glad that we chose to go on a weekday as we had most to the highlands to ourselves with little traffic.

At the Reading Room with Aiden doing his balancing act

Hubs was so kind to volunteer in taking care of Aiden for the rest of the afternoon when I decided to visit the Village Spa. I'll update about this in another post. Actually, the guilt lasted for maybe 10 – 15mins : from my room to the entrance of the spa. After that, it was just me, the aromatic oil and the masseur. Bliss….

Dinner was quite the repeat of Day 1 as Gonbei, the Japanese restaurant, was closed for maintenance. We reckon it was a just a nicer way to put it, but in reality it was because there were not enough guests in the establishment on a weekday. However, the staff was nice to prepare a Japanese set meal for us at the Dining Room. Verdict: not as good as Gonbei in KL. Given another chance, I would have chosen the set menu once more.

One set back with the hotel is the location as it is situated facing the main road leading towards Brinchang and out of Camerons. Being the eve of Merdeka Day, we were inundated with bikers between 11am till nearly 4am out having a good time. As it was also a stretch of straight road, they tended to speed and honk their horns. Normally, I would have brushed this away, but with a sleeping baby, every time a group of bikers sped by, I would cringe. Let's just say it was not a good night for all 3 of us, as Aiden woke up several times in the night crying.

It was our last Day at the resort, and having experienced a cranky baby in the car on our way up, we decided to leave Cameron's slightly earlier, timing it with his morning nap. After a quick stop at Kea Farm ~ what to do, I had to go buy my RM1 per packet vegetables and mushrooms; we made our home. It was a blissful ride as Aiden slept the moment we left the hotel all the way to Tapah.

I asked Hubs this question on our way home: "Did you enjoy the trip, B?" He just said "Let's wait till the baby is much older before we go on our next trip….yawn"

Nevertheless, I had an enjoyable time with both my babies and definitely am looking forward to many more to come.