Cameron Highlands Apples

You would be forgiven if you thought "Oh no, she got conned again with another dodgy apple from Cameron Highlands" (see Conned: Hybrid Guava Apple It Is Not). Forgiven, but wrong.  

My first thought when I walked into a farm and saw these plants was "What are these? Eggplants??" I wasn't alone in thinking that. A woman very authoritatively told her husband and kids that those were definitely eggplants. However, I wasn't as hundred percent sure as she was. And hubby was certain those were not eggplants. So I went and asked one of the farmhands. He said those were apples. Apples?? Yes, Cameron Highlands' very own apples. Are they sour or sweet? Sweet. They taste like honeydew. Ohhh.....

The farmhand said all the riped ones had been plucked. Being someone who loved to try new things, I didn't want to go home without getting some. After badgering him, he said if I saw any that was yellow with red stripes, I could pluck those. But I'd have to keep them in room temperature for about two days for them to completely ripen, otherwise they won't taste good.

Ready to be plucked, and should ripen in two days

We only managed to find six apples that could be plucked. I guess there must have been a lot of tourists that visited during the May 1st holiday, as this is not the peak season. 

Today, three of the apples ripened and they exuded a rich honeydew smell. After chilling them in the fridge for a few hours, we sank our teeth into them. And......they were wonderful. Very juicy, juicier than regular honeydew, and sweet, those apples taste exactly like honeydew. The skin was a little funny, though. Felt like plastic. I couldn't peel them with a peeler, but after I had cut them, I could peel it off by pulling at the edge and dragging it off in one neat tug. Another hybrid??!! But the farmhand did NOT say it's a hybrid apple-honeydew......

The apples were very juicy and sweet

Century Pines Resort @ Cameron Highlands

For some reason, hotels in Cameron Highlands are pretty run down, no matter whether they are in the range of RM100+, RM200+ or RM300+. Heritage Hotel, Hotel Equatorial, Hotel Casa De La Rossa, Smokehouse Hotel, are just some of them. I'm not sure why they couldn't be maintained better, but I suspect it could be due to either the damp weather or that Cameron is a seasonal holiday destination, and they do not have enough income during off-peak season. 


So, when I stumbled onto a review that Century Pines Resort at Tanah Rata has added on a new wing, I decided to check it out. 

The room was spacious, clean and comfortable with a super-king size bed

The housekeeping service was very prompt in attending to our requests to change the two light bulbs that weren't working. Someone knocked on our door less than six seconds after we hung up the phone.


The staff were very accommodating, too. At about 9pm, after the gym and sauna was closed, we asked if we could use them, and they immediately said yes, and one of them opened the doors for us right away.


The room came with a western and local buffet breakfast, and the spread is so far, the best that the hotels in Cameron has offered. I like that I could customize my orders although I think the chef wasn't too happy with my very detailed requests, like, "Could you make my omelette a little under-done please? I don't like those well-done ones" or, "Could you make me some French toasts, please? I like them well-soaked in the eggs before they're fried." 

The garden

The lobby

Other topics of the same trip:
Conned - Hybrid Guava-Apple It Is Not
The Best Scones in Cameron Highlands

Conned - Hybrid Guava-Apple It Is Not

Till today, Cameron Highlands remains one of my favourite places to unwind and relax, second after Penang. The last time we went to Cameron Highlands was in September 2009, and we thought it's time to revisit the place. There were not much changes, other than a couple of 'new' fruits. 

One of the fruits that could be seen everywhere in Cameron was Jambu-Epal, a hybrid of guava-apple. It comes in a packet of two, and sells for between RM8 and RM10 each, depending on the store, and RM15 for two packets. The colour of the fruit is a very bright apple-green colour. 

The colour is so unnaturally green that it looks like it has been colour-treated. When I posed the question of whether the fruit had colour dye added to it, the vendors denied it. They claimed that this is the natural colour of the fruit. The fruit, they claimed, is known as guava-apple and grown locally. It tastes like an apple but has the texture of a guava. 


On the day we left Cameron, we succumbed and bought two packets for RM15 after one of the vendors let us taste a small slice. On hindsight, the slice was too small for us to realise that the apple sweetness we tasted is not natural.

The shock came when we got home and I cut one of them. As I was washing it, I thought I saw greenish water running down the sink. As I rubbed the fruit more vigorously, I could feel the sliminess of the flesh of a fruit that has been de-skinned. 

What I discovered after I had cut it into slices and even removed the green part was that the guava-apple is none other than your ubiquitious regular guava, nothing more, nothing less. It must have been soaked in an extremely sweet green colour syrup for a very long time, for the saccharine sweetness has permeated all the way into the guava. Despite removing the green coloured part, it was still too unnaturally sweet to be eaten. 

I threw all four away. But before I did that, I washed and cut another one for the photos and this blog.

The green colour water that dripped from the fruit after I scrubbed it with my hands.

Time Tunnel @ Cameron Highlands

NB: This is the 3rd installment of my Sojourn in Cameron Highlands

1st part: Sojourn in Cameron Highlands

2nd part: Hotel Cassa dela Rosa

4th part: Where To Eat @ Cameron Highlands
-----------------------------------------

Since our last visit to Cameron Highlands in September 2007, a new attraction has been added. Time Tunnel is a "must see" if you're interested in what Cameron Highlands looked like in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, all the way to the present. 

The entrance fee is RM5 per adult, and there are a fair bit of memorabilia which could have been bought from the flea market at Amcorp Mall. Well, at least the black & white photo of Tanah Rata in the 1930s was purchased there.

However, if you're expecting a true museum of antique items, you'll be disappointed. The items collected and displayed in Time Tunnel only date as far back as the early 1960s.

When I first stepped inside the premises, I was like, "Wow! An antique dentist's chair!" to which my hubby said, "No, darling, it's an antique barber's chair!" Gosh, I felt so embarrassed at my lack of knowledge... :)

Dentist's chair? No, barber's chair

Me: Your grandfather, darling? 
Hubby: No, an aborigine, but might be your grandfather

I thought I saw this "mode of transport" in use by some hypermarket staff??

Austin J (Junior) Forty - a pedal car

Austin J (Junior) Forty by Austin Motor Company, Great Britain. There were some 32,000 of these cars produced in 1950 - 1960. It is made from sheet steel surplus metal from Austin Birmingham. Work was sent to a purpose-built factory in Wales, where disabled miners worked on the "Joycars" as part of a rehabilitation program. It has battery-operated headlights and the bonnet opened up to a detailed engine.

Cents were in paper notes, then, not in coins. One cent must have been able to buy you quite a bit of stuff.

Parit Waterfall in early 1960s....snow blanketed the place for 45 minutes

A funny A4 printout I saw.......there were many other such funny printouts.

4th part: Where To Eat @ Cameron Highlands

Hotel Casa dela Rossa in Cameron Highlands

Note: This is the second part of my sojourn in Cameron Highlands
1st part: Sojourn in Cameron Highlands
3rd part: Time Tunnel @ Cameron Highlands
4th part: Where To Eat @ Cameron Highlands
------------------------------------


We stayed at Hotel Casa dela Rossa, which means Castle of the Roses, located between Brinchang and Tanah Rata. Our reservation was made through a travel agent, and we got the room for RM162nett per night instead of the published rate of RM320nett per night.

Location-wise, it is a superb location, very quiet and peaceful, away from the towns in Cameron Highlands. And the service is excellent, with a team of friendly and efficient porter, receptionist and bellman. The room is clean, although it has a rather damp, mildew smell.

My only complaint is that the sauna has been closed down, and the hotel has not seen fit to update their list of facilities in their website.

That said, it is still one of the better place to stay, as most of the hotels in Cameron Highlands, including Equatorial and Smokehouse, are rather old and their rooms are shabby and in need of refurbishing.

View from the road

Honey, I'm home......

This corridor is reminiscent of the movie (and book) The Shining by Stephen King

The double room on Diana Floor, Garden View

The garden

3rd part: Time Tunnel @ Cameron Highlands

4th part: Where To Eat @ Cameron Highlands

Sojourn in Cameron Highlands

NB: This is the 1st part of my sojourn in Cameron Highlands.
2nd part: Hotel Casa dela Rossa in Cameron Highlands
3rd part: Tunnel Tunnel @ Cameron Highlands
4th part: Where To Eat @ Cameron Highlands
----------------------------

Some people like holidays with lots of hustle & bustle activities like shopping, going from one tourist destination to another. Others prefer a quiet, relaxing holiday where you can just hang out in your pajamas and be a bum all day long. I belong to the latter category.

Since I hate flying with a passion (I still remember those 18-hour non-stop-puking flights when I was a student in UK --- I even used up all the airsick bags in one particular flight!), I could only go to destinations where I could drive or take the rail.

So, it's always either to the beach, the jungle or the mountains when we need to unwind and relax.

Cameron Highlands was the voted place as the last time we were there was in September 2007. Aside from strawberries now being one of the largest export industry in the country (tea has taken a backseat), there weren't much changes.

The trip did, however, inspire me to do a write-up on Where To Eat and some interesting sights, which I shall break into separate posts for my easy reference in the future.

2nd part: Hotel Casa dela Rossa in Cameron Highlands

3rd part: Tunnel Tunnel @ Cameron Highlands

4th part: Where To Eat @ Cameron Highlands