Joyful Steps: July 2013

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort: Lunch and Dinner

Lunch @ Jim Thompson Tea Room

It was the same place where we had our afternoon tea. We opted to sit at the sofa area again because we could place Phin Zhe at the sofa. As for as I could remember, all the dishes were delicious, especially the lobster bisque and wahyu beef burger. Overall a very relaxing and satisfying meal.

lobster bisque and prawn salad as starter

wahyu beef burger

can't remember this dish. lol.

tiramisu and espresso

apple butterscotch crumble with vanilla ice cream

Dinner @ Gonbei restaurant

For residents' package, you will be served a plate of mixed tepanyaki. Appetizers and desserts are buffet style. There was no other customers that night, not at all! So we basically had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

semi alfresco

happy boy

daddy fed Phin Zhe while I went to get some appetizers

appetizers

sushi plate

mixed teppanyaki turned out mediocre

I "made" this triple chocolate indulgence for him. :p

Dinner @ The dining room

It was the best meal we had at Cameron Highlands Resort. Not only the food was awesome, we were so lucky that Phin Zhe fell asleep after the waiter served the first dish. We combined two of the dining chairs, covered him with jacket and he slept there throughout meal. So it was one of the rare occasion where we could slowly enjoyed a 3 course fine dinner. ;-)

warm, soft and fluffy dinner buns

appetizer - forgot what is in the pie again. arrrh.

appetizer - dancing prawn

main - wahyu beef cheeks and lamb rump

main - roast beef wellington

dessert - brownie and ice cream

Daddy requested to have an repeat order of tiramisu and espresso. Yes, he is a chocolate, coffee lovers.

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort: Breakfast and English Afternoon Tea

Breakfast @ The Dining Room

The Dining Room

Every morning, the waiter or waitresses would bring us one basket of warm and delectable pastries and two glasses of fresh fruit juice. The pastries were so good that we left nothing behind.

The homemade fruit spread on the table quickly caught our attention. They were perfect match to the pastries. Besides fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt, hot items were available upon order. There were 6 hot items and we managed to cover 3 hot items during our stay. All the breakfast dishes was cooked with premium ingredients and beautifully plated.

Two waffles filled with banana butterscotch, topped with strawberry compote and king island cream. On the side, there was a cinnamon crusted mango tempura.

Nicely done poarched egg on a bed of mushroom. This was relatively small portion, but taste wise okay.

Big breakfast with hash brown, sausage, bacon, baked tomato and two eggs with your choice of cooking. The upper plate was scrambled egg and the lower plate was omelette.

English Afternoon Tea @ Jim Thompson Tea Room

We arrived CHR at 2pm+ on our first day, which was a bit late for lunch, so we opted for afternoon tea instead.

Jim Thompson Tea Room

Baby Phin Zhe and I love the sofa here, definitely baby friendly.

plates and cutlery set up

3 tier filled with delectable bits and 2 pots of tea of your choice

It was so happen that we just had afternoon tea at delicious, Strait Quay the week before, so again we were comparing the two. Well, Cameron Highlands Resort afternoon tea was not bad, but it was also not very outstanding. Given a second choice, I would opt to have lunch instead of afternoon tea because the lunch was much better.

Stay tune for my next post where I will blog about my lunch and dinner in CHR.

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort: Facilities and Spa Village

Now when I am writing this post, I just returned from YTL Pangkor Laut Resort. So it is very hard for me not to make a comparison between these two resorts. In my humble opinion, Pangkor Laut Resort was better in term of facilities or activities. But Cameron highlands Resort served better meals, which I will blog in my next post. Cameron highlands resort had the common facilities where most of the hotels/resorts would have. But one thing that was missing, or would be a nice addition will be a indoor heated pool. Imagine yourself immersed in the heated pool when the weather is cold, that is definitely a real treat!

reading room

computers to check mails or go on facebook

playroom

Tv and computers are available in playroom.

Daddy and son playing megablocks

This trip, I had pre-booked a 50 minutes spa treatment for each of us. With Phin Zhe around, we had to go for the treatment separately. But at that time I would not care much, I just want to have spa. ;-)

reception in spa village

waiting place

spa building

pre-treatment tea bath

sea salt and lime for body scrub, hot towel for face, cold tea bags for tired eyes and cold drink

the corridor to the treatment room

where I had my balinese massage treatment

Verdict? I would say the price is reasonable and worth trying. Do pre-book your spa together with your Cameron Highlands Resort's stay to get some discount.

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort

View website

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort: Check in and Room

I could not undestand why on earth there are people who do not enjoy travelling. But I must admit that I love travelling. I enjoy the whole process from the beginning of booking the flight tickets, surveying hotels, planning itinerary, departing for the trip until blogging the experience after returning from the trip. But I have been quiet for quite a while, bringing up a photogenic model for this blog. :D

Last year July, we went on the first trial trip to Cameron Highlands Resort with our 8mo model. Cameron Highlands Resort is a luxury hotel under the YTL group, perched on a hill slope overlooking the golf course between Tanah Rata and Brinchang towns.

Please join me and welcome the little model, Phin Zhe for Joyful Steps from now on. It was a 3 hours+ journey from Penang and Phin Zhe slept through the journey.

Once we stepped into the resort, we were brought to the cosy sofa area in the lobby. Check in was nicely done while we were sipping the refreshing welcome drinks. 5 star customer service! Did I also mention that we were on the popular 3 days 2 night residence package where a 2 nights deluxe room plus 6 meals were included in the package? It was definitely a steal as we were paying below RM2k for the package. Price may vary, do check out the actual price at their website.

The 38 square metres Deluxe rooms are furnished with a king four-poster bed or twin beds overlooking the lush green golf course. Each room features a comfortable seating area with French doors opening to the balcony. Polished timber floors, beamed ceilings and plantation shutters evoke a Colonial feel. - source from YTL website

A towel elephant with a personalised welcome note was placed on the king bed. Who could resist such a personal touch?

Being a YTL platinum plus member, we received a bowl of mixed fruits that has Cameron strawberries in it and a bottle of pineapple jam(sorry, pineapple jam is not in the picture).

"I like sitting and crawling on the carpet."

"The bed is so comfy to roll on."

"zzzzz"

Stay tune for more updates on Cameron Highlands Resort.

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort

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NZ D14: Christchurch and Akaroa

Hightlight of the day:
1. Daytrip to Akaroa
2. Evening walk at Christchurch city

Before my trip, Christchurch was badly damaged by an earthquake, and since then most of the attractions in center area were closed for inspection. Therefore I did not plan anything for Christchurch. Futhermore I knew we will be taken care by good hosts, my uncle and auntie. :-)

This morning, my uncle drove us to Akaroa Harbour which was an hour drive from Chirstchurch. It was a very relax and nice trip. After retuning from Akaroa, my uncle showed us some places in town center. Then it was dinner. We had home cooked food prepared by my auntie. The dishes were so delicious that I started to miss them when I am typing now.

The next day we flew back to Malaysia, with all the beautiful memories.