Which road up did you take? Via Simpang Pulai or the old Tapah road? I've gone up to Cameron twice on the Simpang Pulai road at night. Very very very dark, windy roads, with very few cars. If you want to do this, highly recommend you travel in a convoy of cars so incase of breakdown you have friends to help out. But if you like driving, you will enjoy the uphill night climb. Especially when you get close to Kg Raja just before Brinchang, you will see lots of lit "domes" for the vegetable farms. I always thought they look like something from the X-Files.. hehe.

Hehe, price also very nice. Had a drink there one night, and wandered around a bit. Very nice place indeed. But at that price, I'd rather stay in their Pangkor Laut resort.. similar price but you get so much more.

Like Kimmie asked earlier... would you mind sharing further details of the tour? Where is the Kea farm where they picked you up, was it in Tanah Rata? Was a mid-morning to mid-afternoon tour or an early morning till noon tour? How was the weather? Cooler like Brinchang or just cool like Tanah Rata? Sunny? Sorry for so many questions... just quite interested to find out. Thanks.

Well, there are two packages actually i.e RM98 (Promotion =RM88 as shown in the picture below. contact no 012-9108111 (Wan Saleh)):


The full day tour (RM88), they will pick-u up from respective hotels ( I think -din chk wth them) but for the 1/2 day tour which they don't really offer but I insisted because I hv been to the mossy forest & also the tea plantation many times already..So they offered me RM28 discount for the 1/2 day tour which ended up longer than 1/2 day!! The starting/pick-up point was at the Kea Farm 1st Butterfly farm which is just ~200m further from Equatorial.

The full day journey started from Tanah Rata at 8:30am but they picked me at 9:30am due to the jam at Brinchang & Kea far (Holiday season now!)

The starting point of the off roiad at Lojing (Pos Brooke area) is at 650M so it's hot but still cooler than lowland. Once reaching the end of the 4WD road, my GPS read 880M. so abit cooling just like Bkt Bendera Penang. Once u started climbing & touching the hill area where Reffllesia Kerr ii colonies located, it's 1020M..so weather abit cooling but still not as cool as CH. Anyway, now is the "summer" mth in Malaysia so expecting higher than usual temperature. Last Saturday to Monday Morning, avg day temperature =23C and night temp =20C. Dawn temperature recorded by me in the early morning ~6am on Sunday =18C nia...During Nov & Dec mth, I have recorded low temperature of 15C b4. & day temp of 19C.

Out of 16ppl in 2 land rovers, only 3 Malaysian (My family-lah) & another Chinese looking couple (Probably Singaporean), others..all Mat Salleh! According to Francis (Our driver & guide wth super fluent England..making my england damn shameful), only ~2-5% of the refflesia tours are Malaysian...haizz...why Malaysian so scare masuk hutan ...This was the part I fell down...damn scary descending down this refflesia hill...My hand still hurt till now..



The river crossing:


BTW, the refflesia that I saw was huge...almost the size of my 11 yr old daughter:


@Kimmie...min 4 ppl required, but they received lotsa Mat Salleh customers ...so they will willing to accept even u are alone..just give hima a call or visit the parent agent here..same pricing: http://www.cameronsecrets.com/Articles/Loc...Rafflesia-Tour/

This post has been edited by stimix: Jun 4 2009, 11:07 AM

i was hoping for a more detailed pic of your daughter, uncle stimix.

did the rafflesia have pungent smell?

did you catch any periuk kera along the way?

thought of going cameron on 14th-16th JUN....
tried to book Rosa Passadena but was told fully booked during that time...
you guys got any suggestion of a budget place to stay for 2 within rm150 per nite?

I stayed at Rosa Pasadena this time booked in Mar'09 using my left over time sharing point.....well abit regretted bcos room facing Shell station & brinchang main road..noisy! Lucky after 9pm traffic reduced & hv better sleep. However the room is clean & medium sized but bathroom is small.

There are more hotels in CH such as Parkland, Rainbow (Part of Rosa also), Kavy (Budget, Titiwangsa (pretty new), Star regency..Brinchang is convenient as it's near the largest pasar Malam (The only thing I like about Brinchang) Otherwise, for makan, I travel all the way to Tanah Rata...for Mayflower steamboat daily!! Food in Brinchang are expensive & suxx!

In Tanah Rata, there are lotsa budget hotels...such as Twin Peak, KRS, Julian Cameron Inn, Downtown & etc...price from RM60-RM150 depending on season.

i have tried Parkland the last time i went there, not very good condition the rooms....
prefer somewhere cleaner and better environment...maybe will check out Titiwangsa and Rainbow.....thanks for the information anyway...

Infact all hotels located near main road are not recommended. Noisy...which include Rainbow, Titiwangsa, Iris hse & etc...If u are on budget & dun really mind the room size, go for KRS huesthouse located at the end of Jln Mengtigi Tanah Rata (Entrance near Maybank Tanah Rata. Although very basic & very small wth no TV but wth attached bathroom..but it's very clean & the shared Astro TV outside..sometime/most of the time nobody using & u can enjoy all channels to yourselve.

Sumore walking distance to Mayflower & Nyonya ferrn steamboats....I tasted both..Still vote for Mayflower although the portion is much lesser than Fern Nyonya.

but usually those main road will be quiet and empty by nite time rite?
cos night life there is really not much....actually budget is not a constraint....just want to have a relaxing trip there....
maybe will take up EQ or Strawberry Park in the end if no choice...

stimix thanks for info.u sound like an expert!often go to cameron? btw any idea when is the night market ?

Strawberry park so far the best & quiet resort for me although pretty old. Good choice but not cheap at this time. Actually for real relaxing...my vote is KRS guesthouse... cheap & value for money. Yeah after 9pm road will be pretty empty but once in a while, some mat rempit or screaming lorries will pass-by....I dun like this!

@kimmie..I broke my record in 2007 by going there almost every quarters & sometime detoured from PLUS highway jam just for Mayflower steamboat. Stopped doing this in 2008 during the fuel price hike...The pasar malam opened every weekend..Friday to Sunday...I can see few PaSAR malam stalls fronting the police station opened on Monday Morning too..probably cater for the Holiday

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Added on June 4, 2009, 3:11 pmSurprisingly this species Refllesia kerrii doesn't emit any smell ...Monkey cup no-lah but snake & wild ginger flowers ada-lahThis post has been edited by stimix: Jun 4 2009, 03:11 PM

any hotel recommended for a couple?

Omg~
Will update you guys once I'm back from there.

i plan to go CH with my fren...7 of us...we go there by bus... so we dont have transport at CH..can anyone tell that where should stay? branchang or tanah rata?
another question is: anyone stay at Hillview apartment before? it is ok? clean? big? between Hill view, Parkview and Honeymoon villa...which apartment is better?

hope to get reply from u all...please...urgent...

thank you for ur reply..

If no transport stick to Tanah Rata. bcos thjat's where the bus terminal for CH located.

All the hotels/apt u mentioned all located in Brinchang which is 5km further from Tanah Rata. It will be problem if without transport.

managed to book a room on 14th and 15th JUN (next week) at Hotel Titiwangsa....yeah!!

Have agent quote me RM 98 for the rainforest advanture tour, here to share the itinerary, its is consider cheap or expensive??? Wish to get commend for those have try before

Travel by 4X4 offroad drive vehicle
- Aborigine Village
- Waterfall/Swimming
- Jungle Tracking (1 to 2 hrs)
- Butterfly and Insect Observation
- Blow Pipe Hunting (demostration)
- Boh Tea Plantation & Tea Factory
- Strawberry Farm
- Rafflesia

dun forget it's a hill resort and the road is slopy
so the car/ lorry tend to keep low gear and rev high
i had sleepless night at titiwangsa, facing the front
facing the back is ok thou

standard pricing

oh, thanks for the tips...
i will request for a room facing the back if possible....

As driftmesiter said ..standard pricing but if u click on my above photo, currently TJ tour is running the full day package at RM88!

1/2 day is at RM60 without Boh Tea & strawberry farm...I choose 1/2 day. BTW, this trip is only for those wth stamina or atleast can tahan hiking inside thick jungle as you're required to hike atleast 1.5-2hr (~2.3km from the end of the logging road) before reaching the refflesia site. Alos refflesia is very seasonal, chances is during that week no refllesia blooming...or when u reach there, the refflesia almost dying

Is the Brinchang night market gonna be open on Sunday 14 June? Some ppl says open every night on school holidays, some says only on weekends.