Thinking of somewhere a little colder than Singapore for a short getaway trip? Look no further! Besides the usual Genting Highlands, there is also Cameron Highlands. It was my graduation trip with my friends, we chose Cameron Highlands as we wanted to go somewhere peaceful and relaxing. Ipoh was included in this trip too as it was both my friends’ 家乡! In this 4D3N itinerary, I will uncover interesting activities that you can embark on in Cameron Highlands & Ipoh.
Transportation
We booked a flight to Ipoh, and took a bus up to Cameron Highlands at Ipoh Amanjaya Bus Terminal. The trip takes about 2.5 hours and ends at Tanah Rata Bus Terminal, Cameron Highlands. Bus Fare: From RM20 for round trip.
Day 1: Ipoh — Cameron Highlands
If you land in the morning or early afternoon in Ipoh, be sure to check out 大树头 for your first meal, I’m sure you will not regret it!
Breakfast/Brunch at 大树头
Yong Tau Foo is famous street food in Malaysia, and you can try them at 大树头：兵如港忠记大树头炸料。 They serve delectable Fried Yong Tau Foo, and you can choose from an array of ingredients, ranging from vegetables, beancurd skin to their signature (and also my favourite) fried turnip 炸沙葛！I personally recommend the flavourful black sauced kway teow, but you can also opt for beehoon mee or even Assam Laksa as the soup base. BONUS: They use thinner kway teow, and their beansprouts are fat and juicy, which are uniquely Ipoh.
Address: 1213, Jalan King, Taman Hoover, 31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opening hours: 8 am–5:30 pm daily, closed on Wed
After a fulfilling lunch, we went to the bus terminal for our bus ride to Cameron Highlands. Cameron Highlands has like “air-con weather” and I love it! We went to our Airbnb to check-in for the night. We settled down in the room before heading out for a simple dinner opposite the Airbnb. On the way to get our dinner, the road was so empty, so we decided to conduct our first photoshoot! It turned out pretty well and cool!
After a good night sleep, it’s time for our second day! We have arranged a tour with ‘Discover Cameron Travel & Tour’ to take us around Cameron Highlands. Our tour guide, Isma, drove his fancy Jeep car to fetch us and we started our adventure as early as 9am. On board with us were 2 Germans, a dashing man and a gorgeous lady. We had an enjoyable chat with them during the ride as we talked about their trips so far. Both were solo travellers and they happen to meet each other in the same hostel.
Our first destination was BOH Tea Plantation, upon reaching, I was amused by how beautiful the lush green of tea plantation looked from afar. The bright green horizon of tea valley is simply breath-taking! The fresh air, the picturesque view and the vast amount of land I can see in one look were definitely the highlight of this trip, 100/100! Our friendly tour guide, Isma, walked us up to the entrance of Mossy Forest and told us that we won’t regret going up as we would be able to see a great view high up at 6666ft. Indeed, the views were spectacular, and of course, a group photo here is mandatory.
After coming down from the peak of Mozzy Forest, we headed to the BOH tea centre for a cup of tea in their cafe. The tea leaves from the plantation were harvested and processed in the factory there, so the cup of tea we tasted was the freshest we could get. Having an afternoon tea with such a beautiful scenery of tea leaves was the best combination!
After lunch, we continued our journey with our tour guide to the butterfly farm. There were many species of butterflies, flying from flowers to flowers. Their wings were so pretty and some are so huge. This is the first time experiencing such close encounter with insects, luckily it’s just butterflies, not some scary looking insects like spiders! After our butterfly garden experience, we visited the strawberry farm and the local market whereby the locals were all selling fresh fruits and vegetables. Leading up to the strawberry farm was a rainbow staircase and we couldn’t resist ourselves and started our photoshoot. And we also have Wei Jie’s favourite angel wings!
We then proceeded to a museum to learn more about the brief history of Cameron Highlands and discovered many old antiques. The whole museum is filled with retro vibes from our grandparents’ generation. The tour ended with a visit to a Chinese temple, our final destination. We were very thankful to our tour guide, Isma, who had kept us entertained throughout the tour with his stories about the places that we visited in Cameron Highlands. I admire his passion on being a tour guide, and I hope he continues to share the beauty of Cameron Highlands with travellers coming from all over the world.
Being in Cameron Highlands was so relaxing and slow-paced, it makes us forget the hectic lives we have back in Singapore. As night falls, our stomach started to growl and as the weather was cold, we craved for something hot….like STEAMBOAT! Probably the best decision made in this trip!!! #Noregrets The corn soup and miso soup we ordered were so tasty. The ingredients, especially the vegetables, were so fresh, and they made the soup sweet. I usually only eat a small portion of vegetables in steamboat back in Singapore, but on that day, I ate a large portion of vegetables as they were simply too fresh and tasty.
After a fulfilling dinner, Choon Kit chanced upon a stylish cafe called CHATTO, and we decided not to give it a miss. The interior design of the cafe is made of pine wood, the light brown colour of the wooden furniture made the cafe so cosy and beautiful. I ordered their White Pearl Milk Hojicha and my friend ordered the bento set too! This is probably the best decision I have made in my life, I’m serious!!! The Hojicha milk tea tasted so heavenly. The Hojicha tea taste still lingers in my mouth even after finishing the drink for quite some time. A new found love for Hojicha! The white pearls added the needed texture for the drink, which was the perfect combination the drink needed. I felt like I have discovered a hidden treasure in Malaysia and I would really rank this milk tea brand No.1, beating all the milk tea brands I had in Singapore. WOW! XD We were all tired after a long day and the invigorating steamboat dinner and milk tea totally put a happy ending to our trip in Cameron Highlands. We headed back to our Airbnb to have a good night sleep. The pictures below show the interiors of CHATTO, as well as the living room of our Airbnb with a balcony facing nature.
It’s Day 3 of our trip, and we were headed back to Ipoh by bus. Our first destination is 二奶巷 Concubine Lane. The streets in the morning were bustling with locals and tourists. We were hungry and were ready to eat some of Ipoh’s local cuisines. Ipoh HorFun, the fat beansprouts and their Ipoh coffee is a must-have. The food were cheap and good, authentic flavours of Ipoh that we can’t taste in Singapore. The soup of the Ipoh Horfun was rich in prawn broth, which brings the dish to a whole new level. The beansprouts were fat and crunchy, you cant’t get 腻 from eating it.
After the meal, we explored the Concubine streets and their shophouses. I had a mission to do, which is to find the location 陈颖恩 took her photos when she came to Ipoh, and then take a picture of myself at the same spot. She is a Malaysian singer who took part in Sing! China 2017 and I really like her voice and became a fan of her ever since. It made the experience for me more entertaining and I managed to find 2 out of 3 locations of her photo shots. I can’t find the apple murals she took a picture at, and I will make sure to find it the next time I visit Ipoh. Along the way, we bought street foods like the ice ball and rainbow cheese toast.
I had an enjoyable time at Concubine Lane and afterwards, Kit’s relative fetched and drove us to Wei Jie’s relatives’ house. The house is in the kampong, very peaceful and close to nature, quite similar to my grandparents’ house in Batam. After putting our bags, we spent our lazy afternoon exploring and taking a walk around the kampong neighbourhood. It was reaching dinnertime after we came back from exploring, and Wei Jie’s relative drove us out to an outdoor night street for dinner and dessert. As expected, the beansprouts were so unique and tasty, we finished it so fast that we had to order one more plate of the large portion. We also had their signature Ipoh steamed chicken, 月光河粉，炒米粉面. While eating, an auntie came with bags of Tau Sa Piah pastries. She is very friendly, and since I intend to buy some pastries back home, I bought a few packets from her. She even let me try out samples of the different flavours (black sesame and white sesame) before I choose what I want. After dinner, we went for dessert as our stomach are always open for sweet treats. Their desserts have so much more variety compared to Singapore, and the toppings they use were filled to the brim in one bowl. So colourful!!!
Time flies, it was our last night for our 4D3N grad trip to Malaysia. The next day, we woke up and went for breakfast at this traditional coffeehouse. The dry version of this curry chicken noodle was very savoury and flavouful and I love it so much. How I wish there is such a breakfast dish in Singapore, I would wake up early for this plate of yummy noodle. Special thanks to Wei Jie and Choon Kit’s relatives for bringing us around in Ipoh, that I get to taste so much of Ipoh’s local cuisines. Our trip have come to the end and we head for the airport to catch our Scoot flight back to our Little Red Dot. #NOREGRETS #IPOHCAMERONSQUAD