Retirement Home, Scones and Charcoal Steamboat

There were a few pleasant surprises when we visited Cameron Highlands (CH) this time. Let me start with the week before - we thot of going to CH because of the Citibank reward points that we can convert to accomodation stay at the Equatorial Hotel in Brinchang. Well, that din materialize because such arrangement needs 21 days' advance notice. Of course, that did not deter us from going. We called several places including our favourite, Bala's Chalet. Unfortunately, most places within our budget were fully booked till we got Twin Pines. We were pleasantly surprised that the rate was at RM60 during the Raya holiday season. Since we do not have much options, we quickly made our bookings. The usual skeptic me was already fast imagining a room infested with cockroaches and insects. Who wouldnt? I mean all other places are well above RM120, so I really cant expect much from RM60, can I?

Ya know, sometimes its good that we set low expectations because we were indeed pleasantly surprised. Twin Pines original chalet was full house but I dun know how they made the arrangments, we were put in a "new block" (so they said) - a retirement home. To be exact, the place is called "KRS Pines Retirement Home". The place is basic - a reasonable spacious bathroom, 2 single beds, a cupboard, no TV but what I really like about the place is that it was really well-kept and CLEAN. The RM60 is well worth the value after all!

Fancy any scones? Well, we found this lovely place called Cameronian Inn, very nearby to Twin Pines. It's well-kept with a small but beautiful garden. We had our tea, scones with their homemade strawberry jam on one of the evenings. I really loved the scones!

If you are at CH, steamboat for dinner is a must. In our previous trips, we had our steamboat at various chinese restaurants and usually, they are a bit crowded especially during festive seasons. It was a raining evening and we were a bit reluctant to queue for our food after a long and tiring round of golf. So, we decided to pop in to one of the hotels. We saw a banner on special promotion - charcoal steamboat outside this Casa Del Rosa hotel. At first, we were a bit hesitant because there were no one in the restaurant. I mean, the ambience was terrific but there were no diners. Dun ask we why. So, we had our charcoal steamboat dinner - just the two of us with the whole restaurant all by ourselves for the whole 1 1/2 hours. We never had that kind of experience before. I mean the charges was not that pricey - only RM30 nett per pax. Yes, we had a great evening but pity the restaurant - is this normal, we really wouldnt know??

Yes, this trip is definitely a bingo for us!