wheelsondbus: Bukit Tinggi, Bentong - Part 1 "The Botanical Garden"

Thursday, 23 January 2014

Bukit Tinggi, Bentong - Part 1 "The Botanical Garden"

Cerita dah basi baru nak buat entry.

It was our 2013 year end short-vacation that never made it to my blog because it was so close towards the end of the year and I was too busy with the kids school preparation. I got lazy :-P.

It was just a short vacation. A 1 day 1 night vacation. Nothing much to boast about. We booked ourselves at Colmar Tropicale Resort, Bukit Tinggi. A very last minute decision. We didn't know what to expect. Just hoping the kids had a lot of fun because this vacation was for them. At the beginning of year 2013 we were very much aiming to bring them to Singapore for a day fill with fun at the USS (Universal Studio). It was supposed to be their reward for doing good at school. Yeah, I know, that was a pretty ambitious planning knowing that mereka baru je pun mulakan sesi persekolahan 2013 masa tu ha... ha... To motivate them. But something came up and in the end, our USS plan fell through. *Sigh*

Then, mr hubby got busy with his work and canopy projects and I got busy trying to adjust with being the real full time SAHM (after our maid gone back). Time flies and before I know it, there's only a couple of weeks left before the new school semester begins. I gasped with horror. Oh no! We haven't made up to the kids for the failed USS vacation. They've live up to our expectation and we just forget about it? I don't want to be labelled as "carrot dangler". That would be so teruk.....

Fikir punya fikir tetiba tercetuslah ilham... chewahhh ilham! Time is running short, mr hubby's busy with work, most of our spending went to the kids school preps jadi kami punya limited budget. We would love to travel jauh ke pantai timur but the car need servicing badly and pantai timur just badly hit by flood so we want to stay away from those places. So let's go to the mountains!

So, to the mountains we went! Ha ha... It took us only about 50mins drive from Shah Alam. We left home at almost 11.00 in the morning. Dropped by at mr hubby's HQ in Bangsar and then we headed straight to Karak highway. We reached Bukit Tinggi at almost 1.00pm. Still early to check in our hotel because the check in time is at 3.00pm. Check in time paling kedekut! Jadi kami pun pusing-pusing lah Bukit Tinggi ikut all the directions given. Dan sampai ke puncak bukit di mana ada sedikit tarikan. Ada extreme park for those with adventurous streak... flying fox, rock climbing etc.

And then, we found this Botanical Garden yang jauh nun mendaki bukit. We had to leave the car at the designated car parks. But mind you car parks were very limited. Harus punya kesabaran yang tinggi. And mind you again, you may not like rock climbing but you've got to have the passion for "stairs climbing" to get to this Botanical Garden.

No, I'm not joking. Agak tinggi juga tangga yang perlu kami daki untuk naik ke atas. Ada 3 sets of anak tangga, sorry I was to busy men'cover' my gasping for air tak sempat nak kira bilangan anak tangga. Itu kalau dapat parked kereta kat bawah sana lah. Ada satu layer lagi parking area yang connected with another set of anak tangga. Terasa macam daki tangga Batu Caves pulak.

Dah habis daki tangga kena daki jalan bukit bersimen ni pulak. Kesian ada couple yang struggle nak bawa naik stroller anak. Clearly this place is not designed for those with small kids. As for elders, watch your joints! But for young and healthy boy above... it was a peace (piece) of cake! All smiles and cheers!

It was quite a nice place for sight seeing. Puncak bukit, 3500ft above sea level, sejuk ditambah pula dengan waktu kami pergi tu bulan December, lagilah bertambah chilly. Cuaca redup walaupun mata tak berapa boleh nak buka kalau tak berkedip sentiasa sebab direct sunlight. Cuma tak panas sebab cahaya matahari ditabiri pokok-pokok hutan yang. Ada banyak pokok pine sepanjang perjalanan kami naik bukit tadi. Brought me memories of when we were in Kundasang, particularly Taman Negara Kinabalu.

Kalau tadi penat daki bukit, nak explore Botanical Garden ni kena turun lembah bukit pula. Despite its name, Botanical Garden ni takdelah banyak pokok-pokok yang menarik untuk dilihat pun. It has a very nice landscape - ada kolam kecil, banyak pit stop with benches untuk berhenti lepas lelah tapi kurang pokok-pokok menarik. It solely relies on pokok-pokok hutan semulajadi. Saya rasa lot nursery kecil kat Sungai Buloh tu lagi banyak pokok menarik daripada kat sini.

Tapi daripada takde apa nak buat sementara tunggu check in time so we took our time, let the kids run along while we basked in the lush greenery and fresh air. Oksigen free kan? (*_^)

Ada satu kedai jual refreshment kat sini. Tapi harga memang melangit macam naik bukit tadi jugaklah. So. sila bawa bekalan air secukupnya kalau tak nak rasa duit dalam poket tu macam being sucked by vampire. Nak buat macam mana kan? Tempat dia...

This girl walk so fast ahead of us and completed the whole leg of the garden while the rest of us baru je separuh jalan. Laju je menonong maklumlah tenaga banyak. But that's okay for her, balik tu dia ada sewa 'sherpa'.