Where to eat at Cameron Highlands - Restoran Tringkap

Dining at Camerons is a different experience altogether. The cool weather and anticipation of lots of walking, shopping and sight seeing really whets our appetite. Agnes told me to try Restoran Tringkap and it's famous black pepper talapia fish.

We took the Simpang Pulai route, passing by Kg Raja and few other small kampung-ships until the magical word 'Tringkap' appeared on the signboard. All eyes were alert, me, the driver, the passengers. We were looking for 'Restoran Tringkap'. Not too difficult, the moment we see signboards on Tringkap, we saw another sign to the right 'Restoran Tringkap' with an arrow pointing inwards to the right.

It is located off the main road but you'll see a big sign when you reach a school and market.


Restoran Tringkap
14 Taman Puncak Tringkap
Tringkap 39100
Cameron Highlands
Tel : 05-4962324

Do call if you have plans for dinner, especially if you are staying at Tanah Rata and it's quite a distance to Tringkap. The lady owner is very pleasant and that's one of the reasons why we came back here again when we left the highlands. Food is #1 and service comes a very close second.

Their signature dish - black pepper talapia. Not to be missed. This is so good. My tummy is rumbling now, thinking of the talapia. Comes with a side dish of kerabu and it complements the crispy fish slices so well.

Steamed kampung chicken. I kept pestering hubs to order this. Highland and cold land bred chicken would be different from our KL kampung chicken.. don't you think so ? The lady owner told us she takes in young chicks, as in chicken n hen ok ??? *laughs*....  and she'll breed them for couple of weeks before sending them off to the kitchen for consumption (let's skip the slaughtering part, ok ??) We ordered half chicken and walloped everything. Oh yeah.. the ginger sauce is fab too. I walloped the minced ginger before hubs had a chance to take a second helping.

Belacan loong sou choy, dragon beard vege.The .We had quite a few of this dish at various restaurants at Camerons and RT's is ze best. Not spicy or oily but the vegetable is swimming in the creamy belacan sauce.
We ordered an extra large portion.

Our bill for 4 of us came to RM57.50. Cheap ????

Restoran Tringkap is worth a try. Food is good and the see tau por is a very nice lady. Her sister in law grows her own vegetables and sometimes when harvest is plenty, they'll sell at their restaurant. We bought yellow cherry tomatoes from them and it's much more delish and cheaper than those bought at Brinchang night market.s

And.. I have a little story to tell about loong sou choy.. Back., 8 or 10 years ago, this vege was not popular at all. I was introduced to this vege by a good friend Josephine. Her parents run a vegetable farm at Camerons and she brought us to her family farm one day. She took a basket and we went to a slope part of the farm where chayote patch is and taught me how to pluck the leaves. I've been eating chayote (mou kwa) for years and didn't know the leaves were edible and delicious too. Those memories of Camerons with Josephine remains in my heart forever as Josephine, who is a year older than me, passed away in 2005 of cancer.

The Bits and Pieces from Fairlie Estate

This was how it feels like being atop the View Point at Fairlie Estate.. WONDERFUL !!!

My Morning, startled.

My friend Kevin msn-ed me this today, really LMAO !!

Abdul Razak also insinuated that Dr Pornthip was here to attack the MACC and that her opinion was based on her imagination.

But when Abdul Razak asked Dr Pornthip if she had ever jumped out of a window, counsel representing the Selangor Government Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said: “With questions like these, we would all want to jump out.

a good joke is better than coffee, anytime !

@ Farlie Estate on a Windy Afternoon

This is a short clip of being at the lookout point at Fairlie Estate, another Boh Tea Plantation. From Brinchang, pass Tanah Rata, you'll see a left turnoff, before Habu dam. It's not as popular as Sg Palas Estate, but I like this plantation. I've been here before once, during my Form 6 days, back then, we had to walk in to the factory from the main road as the roads were so narrow, no cars were allowed in.

I insisted on making the trip there when I was told of the 'tea shop' there.

 A very windy afternoon, winds blowing 'whoosh whoosh whoosh' and tea buds swaying. 

A very lovely afternoon too. Indeed !

The Chatterbox and Opposites

My girl loves to talk. In fact, she talks too much. Our poor ears ! From the moment she gets home till bedtime, it's all about her. Listen to her, she's the Princess. The King and Queen cannot talk when the Princess is talking. That's what she said.

Hubs boycott her tonight because she was naughty, didn't want to talk to her and manja her.
She was talking aloud in the car, to herself :

opposite of white is black
opposite of bright is dark
opposite of off is on
opposite of tall is short
opposite of big is small
opposite of day is night
opposite of expensive is cheap

but she did get a few wrongs :
opposite of cat is dog
opposite of house is car

both hubs and I giggled quietly while she chatters at the back seat. At least we know she's learning something at her kindy.

Then going home, she sings this :

Five little duck went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck then said quack quack quack
but only four little ducks came back

four little ducks went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck then said quack, quack, quack
but only three little ducks came back

and on .. and on.. and on.. sometimes missing out some ducks,, from five to two, then to four, all in the wrong sequence..

but she can go on singing for hours.

as I'm typing this, she's still singing.

coz the father had boycott her, not manja-ing her as she's naughty

My girl, she just loves talking, yakking, singing on good days, screaming, yelling and commanding on bad days !

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but sometimes...

my ears needs a break !
 

Amber's Allergy Doctor @ Tangkak

Blogger Chin Nee enquired on Amber's progress after she had read about us visiting the allergy doctor here

Many bloggers and friends have been asking me about Dr Wong and it's very hard for me to explain his method of testing allergy and treatment without sounding bizarre. Not many of the friends whom I've spread good words about Dr Wong did see him, Tangkak is a bit far but living with allergies is annoying and painful and I'd do anything to make Amber more comfortable.

Chin Nee took the next step and made the trip to see him, and found out she's allergic to a 5 spice powder.

Past few days, I've received a few emails asking about 'the special doctor from Tangkak, who practises muscle-energy testing, ie kinesiology to test allergies'

I've taken a many photos of him conducting the allergy test but he told me he's 'nobody until his treatment is proven'. 4 month on, from our first visit, I'd say Amber's allergy has improved tremendously, she :

1. no longer scratch her backside every night, in public and in school
2. no longer cough incessantly
3. Rhinatoil Prometazines are out.
4. no longer takes antihistamines, as in almost every other day
5. no longer applies steroid based eye creams and eye drops
6. only needs 'pei pa koa' to sooth irratating cough
7. uses a lot less Elomet cream
8. has much better appetite
9. has a glow in her face compared to 4 months ago
10. feels a lot heavier to carry now

All these, thanks to knowing what she can and cannot take, modifying our lifestyle a little bit, never mind the inconvenience of ordering only food she can take, never minding paying more for hypo-allergenic bedsheets, covers and quilts, never mind working extra hard to vacuum and mop our bedroom more frequent, never mind the extra load to change her bedsheet, wash in warm water, spin dry and ironing.

I believe, freedom from allergy is not a distant dream.

If you want to know more about Amber's treatment, you can read it here, here, here and here

If you want a hope to rid yourself of the inconvenience, irratation and lifetime lifestyle restriction that your allergies has caused you, see Dr Wong Meng Kiang at : 

114 Jalan Payamas, 84900 Tangkak, Johor, Tel : 06-9781576

Dr Wong and Amber

His clinic hours are from 9am till 4.30pm, Mon - Sat.

I got to know Dr Wong from a blog visitor, Linda Phua.

Linda, if you reading this, thank you very much and I still owe you a visit and coffee.

What We Did At Camerons

Once we checked in at Equatorial Apartments, our first stop was Sg Palas Boh Tea Plantation. Since it was a weekday and not many tourist up at the highlands and rushing in and out of the plantation, driving through the narrow windy road was easy!

Stopping by Boh Plantation is now our ritual, if I could have things my way, I'd live here and sip English Boh tea everyday, breath fresh air, sooth my eyes with the greenery. Camerons would be an excellent retirement home except that medical facilities are not up to par in case of emergencies and retirees need the best medical care right ?

Lush, lush greens

and more..




She requested for her hair to be blown salon style.. 'turn turn turn the fringe' and blow, left right and middle. Amber ! She's taking me as her special assistant. Mama to pack her clothes, Mama to coordinate her clothes and Mama to style her hair  like Tweety Bird and Mama to blow her fringe 'pok pok' style.. aka puffed up fringe. It was a lot puffier until the breezy wind at the plantations messed it up.

We stopped by at the Big Red Strawberry Farm and squeezed in some time to pluck some strawberries. At Rm40/kg, the price is triple of what you'd have to pay at pasar malam or pasar pagi but it's worth the fun. Not to mention the few that we nicked and popped into our mouth ! :)

She's sulking when I said Rm40/kg is way way toooo expensive !!

Plucking strawberries is an experience and fun too but I don't think it'll be fun if I have to stoop and spy for fat and ripe strawberries 8hr/day x 5day/wk .. right ? or not ?

a flower budding to a strawberry.



I had to make sure she cut only the fat ripe ones as there's 'sherrifs' walking around and reprimanding those who cut not-so-nice ones and dump them to the floor when they find fatter, redder berries.



Our loot.

Amber was looking for this poser. She remembered the last time we were here with Yuen Wen cheh-cheh and Ah Huat kor-kor, all 3 posed for a pic here. This trip, she had to pose alone.

Tataaa... for Day 1. nothing much to report on this trip anyway, since it's a part work trip.

A Stopby at Ipoh

Last week, we made a short getaway to Camerons, partly a work trip as hubs had some tasks to do there. I hope he has more things to do at Camerons, that means we get to go up the highlands more often. YAY !!!

As usual, we'll not give Ipoh a miss, not a chance. I need to have my Ipoh white coffee fix before heading up the highlands. I arranged to meet up with Claire and Agnes, at unearthly morning hours on a weekday. Claire, took time off from her work and luckily she still hold her job now :) and Agnes had to drag Maine up from bed to meet up with us.. as if I'm VIP eh.. but thanks ladies, thanks for dragging your feet to Old Town that morning.


There's Agnes and Maine, me, Claire and a Agnes' morning yum-cha kaki, who happens to be Claire's good friend from school. What a small world eh ? You get to meet your school friend from a blogger's meet ?


and there's Maine, the cute cute Maine, very clingy to Agnes but she allowed me to carry her around the coffeeshop and stopped to ask for an apple. Very cute !

A very rushed and quick meeting, nonetheless, a fun one too. Meeting up in such a crammed place at Sun Yuan Loong coffee shop at Old Town Ipoh is not the best place to chit chat but we'll be back, for sure !

Claire and Agnes gave us some Yee Hup biscuit. Thanks ladies!!

Before heading up to the highlands, we had to complete our all round Ipoh ritual by stop at Funny Moutain tau foo far and pick up some yummy fluffy kaya puff at :


Sin Eng Heong
64, Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri (previously known as Clare Street)
30300 Ipoh, Perak
Tel : 05-2439659

At 70 sen a puff, it's worth every calorie.
They bake 70 puffs per tray and gets snapped up very fast. Patrons order by the boxes of 10, 20, 50 and some even 100. To avoid disappointment, order first. We ordered 50puffs on our way back and didn't have to wait. I walked in with a breeze and smiled when I saw a long queue waiting outside. You can see the queue from the photo above. So, please call, the number is above :)


The kaya puffs, close up. Heaven sent ! and it's non-halal (patutlah sedap !!!)


Another new discovery, their heong peah is fantastic too. 50sens a piece, the cheapest heong peah by far and very delish too.

And so, with a satisfied tummy, we went up the highlands, approximately 1.5 hours drive away.

The Hubs & The Mozilla Firefox

The blurcase, this is too funny, I must put it in record.

Those friends who know us well, will also know how dependent the hubs can be. I'm not saying he depends on me but if there's wifey next to him, he'll always call or shout out for something. Better to ask the wife than to search, more convenient, you know what I mean ?

It happened this morning. Our darn slow internet connection at office is really annoying. I can't read my gmail, unless in html mode, and that's very annoying. I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and that helped.

Then, the hubs had the same problem with his gmail, cannot open, unless in html mode. He wanted to use Mozilla too and asked me how.

I was chewing on my rotikaya this morning and told him .. google mozilla la !!

Would you understand me ? Simple isn't it ? Want Mozilla ? go google it. Simple mou ?

He asked me how to spell Mozilla. ok, fine, some ppl have not used or heard of Mozilla before.

m-o-z-i-l-l-a..



Emm tak geh ????

What I saw next nearly had me choking on my wholemeal rotikaya. I quickly gulped in water before I let myself loose, laughing hysterically. The hubs was angry, said I wasn't specific. I had said google mozilla and he did just that :

www.googlemozilla.com

tsk.. tsk.. tsk...

and yes, it's my fault, I wasn't specific !

The Tweety Bird Hair

Amber's kindy is having a photo session today. The teachers left a note for us last week, reminding parents to dress up our kids, wear closed toe shoes and socks and to accessorize their hair. Hairclips and hairbands are encouraged for girls.

I still remembered my kindie photo, those days it was in black and white, now, 30 odd years on, this photo is precious and tucked away in my father's cupboard along with other baby photos of myself and my siblings.

We had a late night yesterday, came home close to 11pm, I hurried her to bed, nagging from the porch to the living, to the kitchen, to the bedroom. Go to bed, go to bed, otherwise you'll have swollen eyes tomorrow, you'll need toothpicks to keep your eyes open, you won't look PRETTY ! Mama need to tie your hair up nicely and neat, because you have to take photo.

Then hubs added, told her how important the photos will be especially when she grows up and have children of her own, she can proudly show them..

As usual, Miss Dilly Dally will sing, count her fingers, or do a shadow play with her fingers, something she so loves doing, and I love watching from afar, before she falls to sleep. We keep a small nightlight on and she twiddles her fingers up in the air, amusing herself with the reflections on the wall.

Finally past 12am, she fell asleep.

This morning, she woke up, remembered the photo session and said, I want to tie my hair like Tweety Bird !

huh ?? Tweety ? I was half asleep , what tweety ? What happened to Princess Snow White, Cinderella and Barbie Doll, her 3 favourites at the moment?

I want like Tweety ! Tweety Bird !

ok,, ok,, don't argue with a 4 year old in the mornings, unless I'm prepared to be late for work with my blood pressure few notches up.

I tied 2 pony tail, gelled her hair in place, hoping it'll stay in place till photo session and clipped up her fringe. I always like her without fringe.. and say.. neh.. you look like Tweety Bird now.

She smiled and strut off to school.

Tweety Bird ? that bird is 'botak', save for the 3 strings of hair.


As I said again, I wouldn't want to argue with a 4 year old who thinks she's right all the time. Would I ?