Malaysia Day Two: Cameron Highlands

(Catch up with Malaysia Day one too)
 
The next day was spent exploring Ipoh and having lunch at 1919 which had an array of food, my favourite was this platter of lightly battered goodness. Everything on it tasted delicious and albeit a bit unhealthy it tasted very light too. The sifu who showed us around Malaysia was so thoughtful too, he arranged a cake for me that day because it was my birthday. After lunch, it was time for the 2 hour drive up to Cameron Highlands.

Before that we had a quick durian pit stop, as well as grabbing some fresh mangosteens (all the heart emojis here) What I didn't know is that in Malaysia, durian pickers wait till the durian is ripe and falls off the tree- they don't pick it. So instead, it leaves the flesh super soft and succulent and has none of the lingering smell that people hate on the shells.

After the car journey, our first stop was the popular tourist destination- Cameron Lavendar Gardens a definite must visit. I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to the owner, who opened this spot three years ago, after locals called him crazy for buying the plot of land. He talked about his humble beginnings as a market trader for wholefoods and came up with this idea a few years ago. Now it's the no 1 tourist spot for Cameron Highlands, he was humble and hardworking. I always love hearing how people began their businesses, and I wish him all the success.

Aside from the beautiful lavendar and flowers resting here, you can also pick fresh strawberries and taste the delicious strawberry tea. I tried the lavendar ice cream and it was delicious and fragrant, goes to show- you can do so many things with just one item!

After settling into our accommodation for the night, it wasn't long till we were taken out for dinner. We got to explore the local food of Cameron highlands and it was delicious, it reminded me of the typical Hong Kong Cha Chan Teng/ Dai Pai Dong styles of restaurants. We had smelly beans in spicy XO sauce, sweet and sour ribs, spicy fish and local vegetables. As you can tell it was a lot of spicy food, so we had hot Chrysanthemum tea to wash it all down.

Day Three coming soon....