Places I've never been to before (1)

Where is this?? A quaint village??! In Malaysia???!!

Its actually the French village at Bukit Tinggi or Colmar Tropicana Village in Pahang, Malaysia.. Went there with my family before going to Kuala Lumpur.. Its supposed to be a highland retreat, but unfortunately, when I was there the sun was super scorching hot!

The long and winding road..

Its really quite a hassle to go cos the road is quite steep and winding, eventho its less winding than the Fraser's Hill one, I don't think anyone prone to car-sickness would enjoy the journey very much...

View from the bottom...

I actually don't really know what these buildings are, but they are the first structures you can spot from down the hill.. Didnt see them when we got to the top tho.. Maybe they are private residences or something..

Isn't it whimsical??

I really like this picture.. The place looks like a fairytale castle from the outside, if it weren't that hot, I could have believed I was in another country.. Those look like dark clouds, but nope, it didn't rain at all while we were there..

Half a moat??!

A moat with decorative purposes I guess, hahahha.. since it doesn't surround the building completely anyway.. There are koi fish and water lilies and its pretty well kept, so kudos to the management..

Black swans

Saw a white swan as well, but black swans are harder to find don't you think? Dunno whether we are allowed to touch them tho, since I didn't go down to the lawn cos it a long way to walk in the hot sun..

A band whose name I've forgotten..

They were welcoming visitors at the entrance.. I later saw them serenading guests at the restaurants as well.. I think the effect would have been better if they had been singing french songs but they sang mostly english oldies..

We had croissants and other pastries at this quaint bakery.. They have danish buns with all sorts of fruit fillings.. If you ever go to Bukit Tinggi, go have some croissants to further cheat yourself into thinking you are really in some village outside Malaysia, hehe..

Yummy dragonfruit wine, Mmmm...

At the souvenir shop, and nope I didn't buy the hat, cos I feel my head is too big for any hat to fit nicely on top @.@... sorry for the weird angle, cos I was taking the picture right in front of the "no photos" sign, and the shop assistant was walking towards me, haha...

My parents look so cute here, in front of the fountain.. Poor things, cos their butts muxt have been burning while they sat there... Sorry mum and dad, but the picture turned out great! :)

The three storey tower

The view is fantastic from up there and it was so breezy and cool that nobody felt like going down afterwards.. They are even so considerate as to put in a lift for the elderly and disabled (and those lazy to climb stairs) to enjoy the view as well..

View of the street..

Interesting table arrangement~


Ancient, pretty looking tree..

Old man waiting for us downstairs..

My mum says he looks like he is soliciting and waiting for customers in this photo.. Hehe, well, who asked him not to come up with us, got lift to take oso lazy... O.o...

Another name..

So, as you would have guessed, the whole place belongs to the same person who owns Berjaya Times Square, Berjaya Tioman Resort, Berjaya Sports Toto, Berjaya.... you get my drift... In fact we saw him having lunch that same day at one of the restaurants there.. How fun to get to inspect one resort per week, didn't manage to snap some paparazzi shots of him tho.. :(

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After that we had lunch someplace at the foot of Berjaya Hill after abandoning our visit to the Japanese gardens (another part of the resort) after my brother, who is a budding tourism manager by the way, persuaded us that it was not worth the steep climb there...

Interesting ceiling..

and interesting wall... :)

Introducing many interesting dishes as well:

Special 招牌 rice...

See, told you it was rice!!

Tasted amazing, unlike any rice I've ever eaten before.. There were tomatoes, brinjal, bell peppers, minced meat, etc etc... Yums~

雪山飞狐, hehe..

Its actually flaked fish, dunno how they made it, but it was interesting! and thats really its name!!

Special, double layer seafood pot..

The inhabitants of the pot!

I say its special cos the second layer o the pot is filled with the water they use to steam the oh so fresh sea creatures, and after you finish eating the stuff, they remove the second layer and add vegetables to turn it into tasty soup!

Fried chilli!

Anyone tried it before?? They take away the seeds so it doesn't burn your tongue.. Quite interesting.. Plus I've never seen this dish anywhere else yet..

Funny order..

I must share this cos I think the way they take down orders is so cute! After some deciphering, we think the triangle is the soup, the flower is the vegetables we ordered, the 'X' is the fish, the UFO is the seafood pot, the fingers stand for the fried chilli and the weird 'm-like' shape in a circle should be the rice.. Wonder if my theory is correct...

Thats about all for first place I visited during my recent trip.. Lots more coming up, but updates after I come back from Penang next week.. stay tuned...