Tell me, would you go ahead using the above road? It is not gazetted. A huge sign says ‘Sempadan Polis Daerah Gua Musang Tamat’ which means that the road onwards is not under the jurisdiction of the police. Gua Musang is 96KM away.

We stayed for one night at the Hotel Equatorial Cameron Highlands and were not too pleased with the facilities as there is NONE. We did not mind paying twice the money for half the space because we wanted somewhere with less tourists and some facilities for the kids. Hotel Equatorial is RM300 per night for one room apartment. Outside, private apartment is RM150 for two rooms.

Pool water is greenish yellow. No way am I going to allow my kids to soak in there. The lobby with pool and snooker tables were filled with country bumpkins who let their kids run havoc. I am not being snobbish but I believe every parents ought to keep an eye on their kids’ behaviour. The kitchen has electric stove but the hotel told me that one of their guest nearly burnt down the hotel using electric stove. Hence, they disabled all the stoves. And we are reminded to conserve water.

So, we decided to check out and stay in a two-room private apartment which we had stayed before. But after packing the stuffs into the car, the Itchybatt family got a little adventurous. We had enough of Cameron Highlands and wanted to venture elsewhere.

First, we wanted to go to KL.
My reaction was - Whoopee, I can attend the bloggers meet organised by Peter. But other than that, we have no other things to do in KL. Idea cancelled.

Then, we wanted to go to Pangkor.
But we had not packed for the beach. And I really hate the news of the constant earthquakes in Indonesia. Who knows when another mini tsunami may strike? Excuse la.

After that, we thought of driving to Gua Musang then Kota Bahru and stay for a night there before returning through the East-West highway. I already have akok and sup belut in mind.

So, we told ourselves. OK, let’s leave it to fate and see where we end up. This is where we end up - near Blue Valley. See the dark sky on the photo? The road in progress? Wilderness? Landslide? And thunder and lightning.

In the end? We made a U-turn. We decided to go to the best place in Malaysia. Where good foods are plenty and cheap. Lodging is free. All facilities provided. 24-hour internet! Plenty of rice dumplings.

Home sweet home. We were in Cameron Highlands for only one night instead of planned. It really is a nice place but we can only take so much of tourists. Look out for the lovely reviews on Bala Resthouse, T-Cafe and scenes from Cameron Highlands in my Penang Faces blog in the next few days.

Related posts:

1. Err…Cameron got internet connection?
2. Nudist beach
3. Kids and the unseen God
4. Kampungness is hard to remove
5. Me wanna ahpek sayok
6. YELLOW
7. Apartment haunted?