Parable of a Romantic Getaway

27th Dec. 2008 marks my 6th wedding anniversary. Since I do not know what will happen in years to come, I had planned to go someplace where both Mr. X and I had never been and off we went to discover an island and a highland. I felt that for this time, I needed it to be special time-off, just us, with no kids to mess around.

A visit to the island was also to kill one bird with a stone. My ex-boss had called me up and offered me and Mr. X to join him in his new workplace last month. I thought that the offer was quite "timely" and most welcomed, since both of us are really dying to start a new life adventure together. But a caveat there, the job offers really have better be damn worth it to make us move all the way to northern part of peninsular.

Chronicles of a passage:

25th Dec. 2008 (Thursday)

• Departed from JB at 10am. Took the PLUS expressway right through Bidor exit.
• Passed by Teluk Intan (thought to stop by the tilted Clock Tower (Pisa Tower of Malaysia) but was no where to be seen. Then found a newly opened McDonald, had lunch there).
• Arrived in Lumut at 4pm, called Mr. S who later fetched us from the car park at the Jetty Terminal and straight brought us to the new workplace. Had a tour of the place, and later to my surprise, he showed us a presentation slides which he had prepared for a customer the day before (really felt like a VIP). It was such an honor. He was hoping, I could tell, for us to join them. Well, it all depends. Finally he sent us back to the jetty to catch the 6.15 ferry to the Pangkor Island.
• Arrived in Pangkor at 7pm, checked in at Pangkor Holiday Resort.

26th Dec. 2008 (Friday)

• Decided to rent a motorbike to round discover the island. Stopped by at Pantai Teluk Nipah, saw a friendly boat operator who offered to take us to round a few nearby islands and do snorkeling at Pulau Giam.
• Mr. X really was enjoying himself snorkeling while I, had a few dips and decided that snorkeling and all water activities are just not for me. Water phobic still. Hence, I tried to catch fish at the edge of the water. The crystal clear water manifested a few types of fish and many other sea creatures.
• Went back to hotel around 2pm and continued discovery of the island later in the afternoon.
• Time to buy stuff for people - ikan kering, sotong kering, udang kering, sate ikan, etc.

27th Dec. 2008 (Saturday)

• Checked out around 9am, took the 9.45 ferry back to Lumut.
• Decided that a stop in Cameron Highland would not be such a bad idea after all. Mr. X last visited this highland when he was in standard 5 (1986), while me was back in Form 4 (1991).
• Took the Jelapang entrance and exit at Simpang Pulai. Overshot road to Ipoh, luckily a friend who happens to live there advised us to turn and find the right junction opposite Jakel. Road signages in Malaysia really need to improve. A lot!
• Swift journey up, up till we reached Kg Raja, the traffic was at bumper to bumper crawl for 2 freaking hours! Apparently the Brinchang town was a bottleneck, coupled with many tourist stops for fresh veges and souvenirs along the way. (Mr. X suggested that a station has to be created, so all buses should stop there. Then people can only go up by trucks - not a bad idea eh). Roads in Cameron are getting narrower but the number of visitors is getting larger.
• Reached Brinchang town around 6pm, tried to find hotels/motels from the most expensive to the most cheapest, none had a space for us. Tried at Tanah Rata, same story. It was already 7++pm.
• Decided to sleep in the car. This was the most exciting part of it all. The last time I slept in the car was during student days traveling around the US. Same with Mr. X. Talk about an adventure. Thanks to the MPV Odyssey, we had ample space.

28th Dec. 2008 (Sunday)

• Woke up early to pray and then catch the sunrise and most exciting, the fog creation when we exhaled. Huh...how we missed those days when it was really cool...went to Boh plantation but it was yet to open, so just snapped pix.
• Stopped by a row of stalls to get stuff for people - fresh veges and fruits.
• Stopped by another tea plantation - Cameron Valley. Managed to take pix with a few workers plucking tea leaves as background. Had a tea sipping episode overseeing the spectacular view of the tea plantation. Just nice.
• Final stop at a Strawberry Farm. Self plucking strawberries was a dream for Mr. X all along the traffic jam journey the day before. RM25 for half kg, RM40 for 1kg of self-plucked strawberries. Mr. X also couldn't resist to buy 3 cactuses for the kids, one each.
• Drove down also along the Simpang Pulai - as advised by a friend, this new hiway is much better than the Tapah road. While descending, I slowly developed a headache, and about 10 minutes to reach the flat land, I threw up. Hmmm...this is also another moment worth noting. I had never vomitted in the car for a long time due to road sickness. Apparently the journey down Cameron Highland managed to break the record.
• Stopped by at Rawang for a break, went home. Reached JB at 9pm.

View of fishermen's village along the coastal road of Pulau Pangkor. Pix taken from the ferry.

Candle light dinner at Tanah Rata (blackout la...). Waited 1 hour to be served. Mr. X said they deserve to only live on the mountains, and don't get down.

Medium tea serving. 4 cups for 2 people - one for Teh O, one for Teh Susu each.

Self-plucked strwberries. Nothing gives more contentment than the pleasure to pick and pluck to your own liking.

An adventure - yes.
A romantic getaway - maybe yes.
Repeat the whole thing - definite for me, dunno for Mr. X. But I'm sure he has fun time too.

Q:29:20 - "Travel through the earth and see how Allah did originate creation; so will Allah produce a later creation: for Allah has power over all things".

Q:30:42 - "Travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before (you): Most of them worshipped others besides Allah."

Q:16:36 - "And certainly We raised in every nation a messenger saying: Serve Allah and shun the Shaitan. So there were some of them whom Allah guided and there were others against whom error was due; therefore travel in the land, then see what was the end of the rejecters".