This was our 2nd day trip this year after our Kemaman and Cherating trip in May earlier this year. Due to the success of the first such day trip, we were all excited for the second one.
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| A temple with a view. Chin Swee Caves temple complex at Genting Highlands, Malaysia |
No day trip is complete without the company of great friends who help to make it a peaceful and enjoyable time. Thanks to Kenny, Grace and Sharmayne for spending the day with us and Kenny for being the driver for the day.
The drive from Kuantan to Genting took around 3 hours including one stop at a rest station for a bite to eat. We left home at 7am.
During the course of the day I took a lot of photos. I'm not going to share them all (if you're friends with me on facebook, you will have seen them already!), but I will pick out some of the better ones for this post.
As seems to be the custom in Malaysia, while ascending the hill to Genting Highlands we wound down the car windows, stuck our heads out, and enjoyed the cool breeze which we don't get to feel anywhere else!
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| Windows down, I snapped this photo half way up the hill to Genting Highlands |
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| The hill to the summit is steep and has many twists and turns, it's like riding a roller-coaster at times! You can ascend by car, taxi, bus or cable car |
The first place we visited was the Chin Swee Caves temple complex located almost at the very top, around 6,000ft above sea level, and it was cold!!!
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| Entrance to Chin Swee Caves temple complex, Genting Highlands, Malaysia |
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| Temple entrance |
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| Mist swirled around the temple complex. Reminded me of life in England! |
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| The mists came over the hill and covered the temple courtyard. A lone tree stands against the weather. I was surprised to see some people in shorts and t-shirts! |
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| Soon the weather cleared up and this stunning pagoda was clearly visible under blue skies |
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| Here's another view of the pagoda from a small window in a tunnel of caves |
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| Took Lauren and Sharmayne up for a walk around the caves at the Chin Swee Caves temple complex |
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| Great landscape of a settlement at Genting Highlands, Malaysia |
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| Spotted this lady looking out over the hills from Chin Swee Caves temple, and had to snap a photo |
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| Incense is burned outside the temple |
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| And large joss sticks burn against the hills of Genting |
Next stop was a nice lunch at a roadside restaurant. The food was great, but in the space of 10 minutes we had encountered 3 different people trying to sell us things or get us to donate money for something, basically harassing us while we waited for our food. This is a common occurrence in some places here. The best thing to do is politely wave them off.
The Genting Highlands Strawberry Farm was the next place we visited. On the whole I was really disappointed with the very small strawberries, so we didn't pick any.
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| Strawberry Farm entrance |
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| Let's play 'Spot the Strawberry' . . . ok, there are a few to the left! |
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| Family photo at the Strawberry Farm |
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Strawberry Farm was the Lavender Garden. A small fee is charged to enter (RM3 for adults, RM1 for children) and there are many beautiful flowers and a large field of lavender to admire.
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| Fie in the Lavender Garden |
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| Rows of flowers decorating the wall |
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| Sharmayne, Lauren and Leah pose for a photo in the Lavender Garden |
The next part of our day trip took us back down the hill from Genting and up the next hill to Bukit Tinggi. Bukit Tinggi is not at the same altitude as Genting Highlands (it's only around half way up).
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| Colmar Tropicale, the French-themed village at Bukit Tinggi |
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| Inside Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi |
We bought our fridge magnets at Colmar Tropicale and then hopped on a bus to the rabbit farm.
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| Leah watches as Sharmayne feeds a rabbit |
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| Sharmayne and Lauren trying to feed already full rabbits! |
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| Briefly went to the Japanese Garden. Lovely scenes of nature, but Fie and I were too tired to walk much further! |
The final photo is a viewpoint I looked at admiringly from the Japanese Garden at Bukit Tinggi. Love the hills on the horizon:
We left for home at around 5:30pm, stopped for dinner at Karak, and arrived in Kuantan at around 9:30pm. Had a little nap in the car on the way back home. It was a tiring trip but very much worth it!
Looking forward to the next day trip :)
