Writing Less and Less...

I realise that i have been writing less and less recently... life has become a monotonous routine? I tink so...there's nothing much to write about...nothing much that touches me... or if something does touch me, I might have been too busy to write abt it...and it was forgotten soon after...

I used to write abt some news articles? Abt movies I have seen? About songs that I like...? And there was one blog about my dear nephew...! He's into power rangers...madagasca...etc.... nowadays... BUT Spider remains his fav and not forgetting The Incredibles! haha...

Oh ya...I had gone for this Cameron Trip recently...this is something I shld have written about when I came back but was so ridiculously bz wif social gatherings...

It was the weekend of my birthday! I tink I am rather blessed cuz my birthday which falls on a Saturday this year falls on a long weekend which means I could take a short trip without sacrificing my leave! Anywayz...i was off to Cameron Highlands on Friday, 20th night. Nice coach...rather cold but i was kept warm in my 'Star' sweater and sweatpants, and of cuz my dear who was with me!

We went by the 2nd Link at Tuas, was my first time there and it was much more efficient than the woodlands one...i was out of the checkpoint so fast...I intend to insist on the 2nd link everytime i go over to M'sia from now on... haha...

Once we got over the border, it was time to hit the sack...there was a stop for toilet and some snacks...I tink i had abit since was abit hungry but din wanna take too much fearing the Merlion syndrome. I soon realised that it's a long way to cameron! I was stuck in the coach from 10pm....i tink we reached KL around 4am plus...and it was only KL... I have heard of nightmarish jams in KL, but thankfully it was in the wee hours in the morning, so the roads were clear. After KL, the coach began heading for cameron, i guess. The road was winding as it began its climb up the mountains...the turnings were sharp sometimes...and the excitement index would rise everytime there was another vehicle passing us since the roads were mostly narrow as well. It lasted for around 2 hrs. There were a couple of mini merlions on the coach who were quickly cleaned to aviod affecting the other passengers.

Reached the hotel at about 8.30am and proceeded to check in. I tink i am a very trusting person... I did not suspect anything when my bf asked me to take a seat while he proceeded to check in. I tink it was common for the guy to deal with such procedures, i guess...and i was tired out by the travelling. Anywayz...a surprise awaited me in the hotel room. The room was on the 12th floor of the hotel and the hotel was at the top of a mountain.. SO can u imagine that? We were practically in the clouds... *WOW*

As i got in, I saw a rose on the carpeted floor near the door...I commented to my bf that they had rather good service, isn't it? Leaving such pleasant welcome gifts for their guests. Though I added at the same time that they cld have got fresher roses... haha... But as i got in further, i saw that the rose was not alone... there were a couple more scattered around the room, on the bed, table, tv..etc... So I started to move back to the one on the floor...there was a note with it...I found that it was arranged by my bf and there were 9 roses in all for me, from him. I was stunned! haha..almost dinno how to react! Started moving towards the other roses and collecting all the cards around the room. They all had thoughtful words...mushy but truthful...and i know he must have spent a long time planning and writing these notes cuz he can't really qualify as one wif the gift of writing. *he has a blog but doesn't update* I tink i was probably too tired and still in shock by the roses and notes, that I tink i din manage to find all the roses... haha... In the end, i did manage to gather all of them and the last note told me to give him a hug! AND i did! nice huh... I mean he really put in so much effort to plan this and made it work. He had to email the hotel mgmt then snail mail the cards to the hotel..haha... heard that he started the planning a few weeks ago. :) *This is one of the most endearing quality of my bf, he makes the effort to plan something really nice and surprises me most of the time. Somehow i have high standards for gifts and celebrations for special occasions and to date, he hasn't disappointed me yet!*

After getting over the shock and getting some rest in the room, we went to have breakfast in the hotel coffee shop. Breakfast was normal with acceptable variety of different cuisines. Not much to complain about. I guess. After which, we went for a walk around the hotel, juz areas very near the hotel since we wanted to get some more rest and prepare for the country tour we booked ourselves in the afternoon. The air was cool and fresh outside the hotel. It was a sunny day...the air was cool and fresh... when the sun was not shining directly on the body, one might feel somewhat cold if the wind was also blowing. I tink it was PERFECT weather! Temp was constantly around 20 degrees celsius during the day...nice aircon coolness in the great outdoors...probably wldn't sweat much huh... It was my 2nd trip to Cameron Highlands, 1st time was a staggering 10 years ago! And I had nvr been to genting...so I was rather pleased with the weather there!

At 1pm, we started the country tour, first with a self-paid lunch in the town of Brinchang. We had some curry mee and laksa. One thing i like about going to new places is to have a taste of wat their local food is like. Even though they go by the same name, the taste somehow differs. And the price is also much lower. The servings were small but rather tasty... it would be enuff to last us for the afternoon. :) The driver cum tour guide picked us at 2pm and started bringing us to strawberry farm, rose garden, cactus valley, tea plantation...those are the places of interest over there at Cameron. The focus is mostly on nature as the soil and weather is perfect *not only for me* but also for growing all kinds of flowers, fruits and even tea. Was nice and educational. took many silly photos and had quite abit of fun! Oh yes, and the tea egg over there is truly delicious! Yummy!

We headed back to the hotel after the tour and since it was my birthday, we wanted to have a sumptuous dinner for celebration. We din see many people around the hotel when we came, so we thought the cafe wld be rather empty, thus did not make a reservation. Since it was a big nite, i took a long time to prepare. haha.. dear decided to make a bath for me... with rose petals on the bath...caught that on photo but refused to share it here! anywayz....bath and preparation took me 1 hr or so. As we hunt for a place to eat, i realised that i stood out from the rest of the guest since i was wearing more formal and considerably lesser. To our disappointment, the cafe offering the buffet was fully booked. I did not fancy chinese since we wanted to have steamboat on the 2nd night. The only alternative left was an over-priced set dinner at the more classy restaurant in the hotel. We settled for that since there was virtually no choice and i tink i looked like i was going to faint if i dun get food asap! :þ It was a candlelight 5 course dinner... with a soup, an appetiser followed by a sorbet, main course and a dessert. Wat's interesting is they served the sorbet before the main course, and according to the waiter, it was to clear the mouth of the taste of the previous 2 dishes and prepare it for the main course. The food was nice, and the servings were big but manageable. Though I thought the service was rather slow and we spent such a long time at dinner. after the dinner, we had some fun playing congkat...haha...at the restuarant itself. That's when i realised we would have been better off elsewhere having fun and being silly than to sit down at some fancy restaurant having expensive dinners. Was so slow and boring. Thus, there's no need for such extragance the next time. A simple picnic might be enuff, i tink his company is more impt! *blush*

After which, we settled back to our rooms and it was time to rest. We decided to slp till 9plus before going for breakfast since it was holiday. If we cld, we wld have slpt till noon! but cldn't waste the breakfast ya! :þ next day we juz lazed around, relaxing. Since it was weekend and long weekend for m'sia as well, there was a bazaar near the hotel, so we decided to check it out. most of the things on sales were fresh produces from the vege farms, flower nurseries..etc... there were also clothes, decorative items. Most commonly seen were flowers and strawberries! we bought 85 roses for RM24, if i'm not wrong. actually had wanted to buy 99 roses since it's so cheap there, and i tot 99 was a nice number. But we were cheated by the owner...so in the end, we only had 85 roses. haha...

Another special attraction at Cameron was plucking strawberries. These red berries are all plump and juicy! We had chosen a farm which had reasonable pricing for PYO (Pick Your Own) service but was rejected cuz "it was a long weekend and they needed to make sure there was enough berries for those who are coming the next day to pick" so we left with strawberries which were picked by their own staffs. We can only look enviously at those people who came a step earlier than us and managed to PYO.

After we got back to the hotel, we tried to arrange the roses into a bouquet. it was tough work, therefore we now look at florist with a new form of respect. first of all, 85 roses is heavy, and tt's really alot of roses! and these pretty roses are, yes, full of thorns! so we had to cut off the thorns, shorten some of them, and arrange them in a container in the hotel. the container happened to be the dustbin in the room. It's not juz an ordinary one, it's big enuff to hold all the roses! haha... Anyway...we spent the whole afternoon prep-ing the roses and did not get as much rest as we had planned. :(

Soon it was time to go to Brinchang town to have dinner and shop abit since we heard there's a night bazaar during weekends too. The place was rather vibrant, full of locals and tourists when we got there. First we looked for a place to eat...heard abt good steamboat at cameron...thus set out to eat that! was a disaster! i tink we went to the wrong store! Sigh... after tt, we juz walked around abit more...

Journey home was quite awful...cuz had to transfer from a less comfy coach to the 25- seater coach at KL. And the less comfy coach as old and slow...at one point, it even broke down. after meddling with the engine for a while, the driver sought help from the males on the coach to help to push the coach...there were complaints and grumblings...but if they knew the coach wld start moving again immediately after they give it a slight push, i guess they would have been more willing. We left Cameron at around 8am...and reached KL at abt 2pm plus..then waited for the transfer to take us back to S'pore. In the end, reached home ard 10/11plus or smtg like tt. There was a jam even at 2nd cuz it was a long weekend and probably half of S'pore's population went overseas! :þ

Well...tt was 21st May weekend. about 1 mth ago liao!

I guess I still do like to write...juz perhaps no energy to write? no time to write? and no motivation to write... dun feel the need to express myself as much anymore...

But it's fine...at least for now, i have something that would keep my 'readers' entertained for a while...

*The above post was written yesterday at 11am...but the layout of the blog got jumbled up after posting, thus I am juz re-posting it in the hope that the layout wld magically be back to normal* *Fingers are crossed*