CAMERON HIGHLAND, PAHANG OR PERAK??

Salam..What’s cookin’ ya’ll? How come I didn’t smell anything smokin’ lately?? (Err, please excuse my Jenny-From-The-Block slang. Okay, I know, it’s pathetic). My weekend has been extremely boring lately. I anticipated chilling with my girlfriends; instead I end up home alone watching Big Bang Parody on YouTube (which is excellent, by the way). Either they were really busy or they were trying to avoid me. Haha! At one point, I even thought of going for blind dates, with ANYONE, I don’t really care! Not that I’m being horny or anything (yikes!), I just desperately need something to kill the time until Monday comes. I’m now 30 and single. I lived and worked in a laid back small town. The main highlights here are either super cheap family stores or the Sunday market. Most of my friends are either married, or working in KL and Selangor. I mean, let’s face it. I can easily fall into depression in no time! Thank God I still have Anuar Zain and Big Bang to keep me sane, at least for now. The thing is, I can listen to them non-stop 24-7, but sadly they can’t listen to me. One way relationship doesn’t last long, you know. Aiyyoo…my life is so in vain la..It’s about time to go for that deep soul searching again…

Our travelogue venue for this month is, Cameron Highland in Perak. Grr…Can you feel the chill?? I’ve been here a few times before, but what I want to brag here is my D.I.Y vacation back in 2009! It was actually my 10th years college reunion gathering. I was one of the volunteered committee for this project and my task was to collect money & allocate the budget. At the beginning, the committees were very ambitious. But slowly we (they!) just lost the drive and the whole thing almost got canceled. Here I come to save the day! Hehehe…(Pls vomit anywhere convenient, at your own risk..)

You see, people started to bank-in money in my account, yet the person in-charged hasn’t even decided on the venue yet alone make reservation for our 2D1N event. Can you feel the pressure on me now?? I’m always very nervous with other people’s money. I don’t know why. I can’t sleep thinking about it. So out of no where, I just stepped in, drag a friend with me, and DRIVE to Cameron Highland for the first time. With the budget that we had set earlier, we went to a few places that we (read: I!) had searched earlier in internet. Finally, we came to Marina Chalet & Home Stay, located in Kg. Sedia, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highland. It’s located on slight hillside, surrounded by bushes of flowers and big old pine trees. It was homey and welcoming, nothing like the fancy chalets or resorts. The person who greeted us was of course, the chatty Makcik Marina herself. We were captivated by the host and the place in an instant! After much discussion on how to organize the rooms between married couples with children, married couple without children and the ‘soloist’, we end up booking ALL the rooms they have! Well, minus the log cottage build just near the entrance. It was just too ‘public’ for us. Hihi..

 The room rates ranged from RM130 (2 x queen bed with bathroom, front area), RM120 (1 x double bed with bathroom, private area), RM60 ~ RM80 (home stay style rooms with 2-4 single beds, sharing bathroom) and RM60 for the log cottage (mattress & pillow with small bathroom). (Note: room rates on 2009)

 Other than Marina Chalet, there were a few other home stays available in Kg. Sedia settlement. One has different charms from another. We have children playground, waterfall (What? Swimming? Are you crazy? It’s freezing peeps!) and the Surau just across the street from our chalet. The best thing was, we get to enjoy the strawberry and vegetable farms, which is just a walking distance from our chalet! How convenient was that! I’ve stayed in apartment in Brinchang area, which is the peak of Cameron Highland. Man, the place was crowded. There were too many people so you can’t really enjoy the experience. We definitely enjoyed the privacy we had in Kg Sedia. The place was totally ours! Do enjoy the pictures below.

waiting for our strawberry ice cream..shedappp uollz!

crazy time

yeah..walking & hopping!

Strawberry farm, walking distance from Marina Homesstay

@Marina Homestay

@Marina Homestay..Daebak!

Klik Klik

the early birds..

Registration..

BBQ time

Ladies..

Gents

Marina Homestay-in front of our room

Our gathering's banner!! Awesome rite?

Marina Homestay

Marina Homestay Cabin

Contact: Pn. Marina

Tel: 6054911295 @ 0169884433

http://marinachalet.blogspot.com/

Additional service: BBQ, Breakfast, Karaoke, etc.

Kg. Sg. Hj. Dorani, Sg. Besar, Selangor.

This place was made popular via an Islamic-theme Malay soap drama ‘Nur Kasih”, aired on TV3 back in 2009 (watch here: nurkasihtv3.blogspot.com). Kg. Sg. Hj. Dorani is where Adam (hero), Aidil (Adam's big bro), Nur (heroin) and Sarah (Nur’s little sister) spent their childhood. They meet again at this beautiful village as grown ups. The scenery was so mesmerizing, portraying closely the mood of every scenes of the drama. Romantic, sad, happy, well basically the venue really compliments the whole drama! My bff suggested spending a night at Dorani Bayu Resort (http://doranibayuresort.blogspot.com) which is a floating chalet facing the sea. 

    Well, not the open sea but more to the estuary actually. She had booked a room with the best view (so they say) which was only available after waiting a few months for it. Mind you, it’s not cheap. 1 night stay (meals excluded, only coffee & soaps) cost us RM160. But of course, I still agreed to it. We often goes to the beach or big cities for a getaway, so a trip of ‘balik kampung’ would definitely be a change and exciting. Hey, come to think of it, I hardly say no to any of my friend’s suggestion. See how kind I am! :0

So, we began our journey on Saturday morning. My bff drove her car and another friend joined us from KL at the resort. Approaching Hutan Melintang, we were greeted by a beautiful scenery of the green paddy field, bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. How delightful! 

It was a smooth drive (I wasn't the one driving though), however the signboard to Dorani Bayu Resort was not very clear especially for a first timer like us. We had to make a few U-turned here and there but we managed to reach the place safe and sound. It was a hot day, with blazing sun above us. Luckily the strong sea breeze cooled us off. There are 3 types of rooms available here; 1. floating chalet 2. dorm type 3.apartment type. This 'port' is a meeting place for anglers. Usually the men will leave their wife and kids at the resort before going for their fishing trip during night time. Here, they also offers paintball, archery, motivation camp, street soccer, and others. But we didn't try any of it as our main purpose was to enjoy the Kg. Sg. Dorani itself.

Floating Chalet

To our room





Outside Lobby

Lobby

Our room was the furthest of all the floating chalet terrace. We were so tired but had to drag our stuff (read: self!) to our room. But the view was superb! The room was comfortable and clean too. We even have our own small balcony facing the sea and the mangroves. Oh! Yes. There's also mangrove (not mango, okehh..) trees on the right side of our chalet.  It was indeed the room with the best view. 

Our Sanctuary 

Ajie at the balcony

Mangrove trees

What we did here:

1. Window shopping at Sg. Besar town – well known for their wide variety of tudung, kain ela, baju kurung, etc. They sell very cheap if you buy in bulk. Me only bought a pair of black Arabian jubah. 

2. Hunting for traditional crackers and Natta de Coco jelly – The small and traditional industries are very active here in Sg. Besar. There are many shops selling traditional goodies operated from their own house. I bought 3 container of Natta de Coco jelly with different flavours for RM10. Ajie and Kiera bought a few types of crackers too.

3. Cross country at Kg. Sg. Hj. Dorani – This village really wowed us! We were so captivated by the scenery. Green paddy field as wide as the ocean, nostalgic kampong houses on the sides of the road, local fruit trees here and there. Sudden thought of the drama scene where Adam told Nur that he had fallen in love with her, under the big tree near the paddy field. It was so romantic!  Hihihi..What else can we do here except cam-whoring! Yippie! BTW, you can also experience the kampong life yourself by joining the Home stay programs here.  Tourist shouldn’t miss it.

4. Window shopping (again) at the night market in Sg. Besar town. My friend Ajie, bought a weird looking hair band for me. ;) 

5. Dinner at Nelayan Restaurant, Dorani Bayu Resort - The food was tasty but there weren’t any special menu we could choose. Just the usual Seafood Tom Yam, Grilled Fish & Prawn with tamarind dip and Fried Squid.  

 

6. Bed time stories – We spent our time with girl talks and exchanging pictures from our cameras. You could actually hear the sea waves while lying on the bed. Oww..the sea breeze was soo refreshing!

7.  Sun rise & Cam-whore – Woke up a bit late, but managed to catch a glimpse of the sun rise from our balcony after our Subuh prayer. Nice. Forgot to snap the picture though. We then took a walk along the shores and mangrove trees. Cam-whore time! I did read somewhere that you can search for cockles or clamps during low tide. Unfortunately it was high tide so we couldn’t get our hands dirty.  By this time I could see a few men already started pulling their fishing thread.

 

 

Since this resort is quite far from food stalls or restaurant, we only had Maggie noodles and 3 in 1 coffee for breakfast. We checked-out before noon and drove to Bagan Noh Omar (BNO) to try the prawn noodles for our lunch. It was just so-so. Not to die for. But then again, the view was nice. We also had cold coconut jelly for desert, which was HEAVEN on a hot sunny day!

8. The star of the day: MENTARANG!! (a type of clam). We managed to find this creature sold just by the roadside. I never tasted it before, so I bought 1kg of it for RM20. Kiera bought 2kg  (or was it 3kg??) because her mom loves it so much. (Verdict: I didn't like the taste. It got mushy once you cooked them.

Packing mentarang for us

 

This is the 'mentarang'

Overall, we really enjoyed the getaway. It was simple, light and easy. Try it yourself, peeps!

Till next time, 

XOXO.