Another Vacation - Cameron Highlands!

It was the Raya holidays and I made a couple of plans for this long weekend. First, I arranged a family photo shoot at Shalom on Saturday evening, then we will be heading to Cameron Highlands for a 3D/2N stay. So I woke up on Saturday morning with my mind preoccupied. I want to make sure that I keep Charlotte's meal and nap time on schedule so that she will be refreshed when comes to the photo shoot session. Then, I want to make sure that I make a list for Brenda to prepare for our Cameron Highlands trip, mostly list of things to pack and also food and medicine to bring...but I had to cancel the photo shoot that night because I fell from my house staircase and sprained my ankle :( I didn't want to cancel the Cameron Highlands trip because it will be a total disappointment for my parents as they have been looking forward to spend time with Charlotte. Luckily, my dad brought me to this Chinese "sin seh" and the swell and pain healed almost 80% over night (the treatment process was a very painful experience though). We proceeded with our plan to Cameron Highland the next day!

The apartment we rent was at Tanah Rata, the balcony of the unit that we were staying facing a children play area directly. That was the first and only attraction to Charlotte for our entire stay there. She woke up every morning asking for "slides! slides!". It was also our first time to let her really experience the fun of the slides and she loves it!

We didn't bring along any of Charlotte's favorite movies this trip as we wanted her to enjoy more outdoor activities. So, apart from the play ground we also brought along her motorcycle and bubbles. Bubbles was a good trick to keep her entertained while having her lunch. Also, I am glad that my mom was with us this trip. She planned and did all the cooking for Charlotte. So, Charlotte's meals for that few days were all taken care off without a sweat :)

We arrived at Tanah Rata around 3.00pm and after we got ourselves settled down it was time for Charlotte's 2nd nap of the day. All of us also took a rest and we headed for steamboat dinner at Brinchang. My dad bought 2kg of big fresh prawns especially for that dinner. It was supposed to be a very pleasant dinner experience, cool weather, warm food but it was raining heavily that night and our spirits were dampened a little by the wet weather. The overall experience was not as great as we thought it would be. Also, we planned to shop at the night market after dinner but the rain kept on pouring and we had to cancel that agenda too. So, we went back to the apartment early and call it a night. That night was freezing cold.

The main attraction at Cameron Highlands is it's beautiful agricultural presence. Flowers, vegetables and fruits farms are some of those famous tourist attraction that no one would missed. Our first stop the next morning was visiting to a self pluck strawberry farm. It was Charlotte's first and extraordinary experience as she gets to pluck the strawberries herself.

We ended up spending RM95 on 3 big boxes of strawberries, heh! heh! We then headed back to the apartment because it was Charlotte's nap time again and my mom prepared a simple lunch for everyone. We continue our visit to several more places after lunch, Cactus Farm, Honey Bee Apiary Farm and etc.

I read about the Ye Olde Smokehouse from Pei Sze's blog earlier and Pat and I were very interested to try out the food and experience the environment there. So we took Charlotte to check out the place in the afternoon. It has a very beautiful garden, the dining area looks very cozy with fine decoration. Charlotte had a nice time running around at the garden and we made reservation for dinner that night :)

We were not too worried if Charlotte would behave during dinner because the Smokehouse has a huge garden and a big, long hall to keep her entertained. Also, we had 2 maids (Brenda and my parent's maid) to take care of her. My mom cooked porridge for Charlotte and we brought it along to the Smokehouse. While waiting for our dinner to be served, the maids took Charlotte out playing at garden and also feeding her the porridge. The adults get to enjoy a a little nice quality time together.

Happy Birthday, KongKong!

Yes, it was also my dad's birthday that night and we celebrated it with fine dinner and wine ;)

All went well until the last day. Charlotte woke up at the wrong side of the bed. First, she wanted to go to the play ground but it was drizzling so we didn't allow her to go. Unfortunately, there were a few boys still playing in the rain. Charlotte couldn't understand why she was not allowed to play and that started her temper tantrum. We then distracted her by taking her for a bath. She was for a moment calmed down a little until we took her out from the bathtub. She didn't have enough and wanted to bath longer and wash her hair but the weather was very cold and we had to force her to get up from the bathtub. All that screaming and crying started again. After that, there was nothing we did that meet her "expectation". I brought her down to the play ground when the rain stopped. She pointed to the slides and I brought her there but then she pointed to the swing. So I walked towards the swing. She decided that the swing was no fun when I was about to sit down with her, and she wanted to go to the seesaw. We blew bubbles for her, but she didn't like the idea. We took out the motorcycle but she was not interested either. She kept changing her demand and almost nothing could calm her down. This temper tantrum lasted for 2 hours until she fell asleep in the car on our way back. I was so exhausted and hungry.

We were planning to visit to the tea plantation on our way back and also to get some fresh vegetables but we had to cancel that idea and headed straight home. Deep down I pray that Charlotte will be back to her cheerful mode when she wakes up from her nap.

To be continue...