Uncle Chow Kopitiam (The Hidden Gem) at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands

Recommended by one fo my friend - Ben, and read a lot of positive review of this cafe...we decided to give a try during lunch time.
From the guide of Garmin GPS device, we drove into Taman Royal Lily which is located at the inner part out of Tanah Rata town. The Uncle Chow Kopitiam (N4.46722 E101.37244) is situated at the corner unit of Jalan Royal Lily 4/2.

Uncle Chow Kopitiam, Tanah Rata

No problem on the parking area and the shop just next to a small hill, cooling and refreshing!
The setting is simple and cozy, even it called it kopitiam but I'm quite disagree with it because of the comfort, clean dining area, it should at least name it - Cafe. :)

The setting and environment

The kopitiam is selling Local, Chinese and Western food, beside that...they also have many type of snacks and dessert, a good place for afternoon tea break too...

The dessert of the day...

The snacks and kuih-kuih displayed in the glass cabinets next to the counter...I saw some Nyonya kuih (snacks) also available, surprised! :)

Kuih-kuih (snacks)

We placed our orders...with the lady boss. She was friendly!

I had a Nasi Goreng Kampung (Traditional Fried Rice), my wife and daughter sharing a bowl of Chicken congee and order the Aloe Vera dessert...

Nasi Goreng Kampung ( Fried rice)

Chicken Congee

Aloe Vera Dessert

Food taste were above average!
I like the fried rice with the sambal chili. Nice!

The sambal served with the fried rice

My wife and daughter were happy with their Chicken congee and especially the Aloe Vera Dessert! The dessert was nice and not too sweet...
The Damage : RM21.00 for the meals above included drinks.
Too bad we will leaving soon, otherwise I would like to have the tea break again in this 'Kopitiam'.

I had a chat with the friendly lady boss and realized that the cafe awarded the 2nd position in Cameron Highlands by its Cleanness and Comfort by the town council, another award was 'One of the Top Restaurant at Cameron Highlands' by Cameron Highlands Online.

The awards for the restaurant

Do visit the Kopitiam if you happen to be around at Tanah Rata town, I think you will like it! Recommended cafe in Cameron Highlands.

Uncle Chow Kopitiam

 C2-G-01 Block C2
Jalan Royal Lily 4/2,

Taman Royal Lily,

Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.

Business hour : 8am - 4pm.

Related post :-
*  My Cameron Highlands 3 days 2 nights trip on November 2012

Location map of Uncle Chow Kopitiam at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands

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Sungai Palas BOH Tea Centre at Cameron Highlands

The farm alley is still narrow and winding all the way till the visitiors parking of Sungai Palas BOH Tea Centre (N4.51579 E101.41634). The total journey from the Brinchang Main Road to the Tea Centre parking area is approximately 3.5KM.

BOH Tea Vivitor Parking area

Once we got out of the car, there still a short distance to walk to the Tea Centre, it's locate at the small hill in the Tea Farm. The walk was refreshing and relax, it took about 10-15 minutes.

It was a nice walk within the Green...

The BOH Tea Centre is one of the Famous Attracttion in Cameron Highlands. I had been attracted by the unique structure of the tea centre on the hill which is not too far away...

The unique structure that protruded on the hill

If you notice the stairs next to it, that will be our return path later...

Sungai Palas BOH Tea Centre at Brinchang Town

The place was crowded! Yeah...it's a tourist hotspot. :)

I like the design very much. Let me share some photos in the cafe...

The Cafe area of the BOH Tea Centre

Everyone is busy queuing up for their snacks and drinks...included me...

There are indoor and outdoor area in the cafe...

The ourdoor or so call balcony area of the cafe

The scenic view...

We had 2 cups of BOH milk tea and a sausage with the unique name - 'Firecracker'. I bought it cause by the name...total bill was around RM15.

The sausage

The 'tea' was quite bland and the sausage was cold, not crunchy...but all of this was not our purpose to visit, it was actually the 'View'!
Look at the Breathtaking view from the cafe! It was Fantastic! We were relaxing at the cafe for more than an hour...Nice!

Scenic view from the cafe

This was the place where I can forget about everything and just sit at the cafe to enjoy the Marvelous view of the tea plantation! We can see the small village (where we parked our car) clearly from the cafe...
The photo above was on my right and the photo below was on my left...

Scenic view from the cafe

There is a small session selling all the tea leaf produced by the farm just within the Tea Centre, beside that you can also read the history of BOH Tea Farm at the gallery...

The BOH Tea Centre Gallery

That is the machine to grind and dry the tea leaf (correct me if I'm wrong) which is still in operation at the factory.

Had our factory walk after the tea break, and it's open for public.

BOH Tea Factory

Once we stepped in, there were 2 machines grinding the tea leafs....there's no clear explaination on the operation, so we have to base on what we saw within the production area.

The grinder machines

The word 'Sirocco' at the machine, I guess that's the Brand...too bad I can't find any information online...

The next session is where all the grinded dried tea leafs send for packing...I guess...

The tour was rather short, it took only 10-15 minutes to glance through the operation in the factory...

We chose to walk through the tea farm in our return path to the parking area. You can smell the tea leafs while walking...nice!

The path where we walked back to our car...

It was a nice experience having the tea break at the cafe! Especially the fresh air! I wish they can provide some info at the production area, and all visitors can understand the process of the tea leafs, that's make the perfect trip to BOH Tea Centre of Cameron Highlands.

History of the BOH Tea Plantation at Cameron Highlands
"BOH Plantations was founded in 1929 by J.A. Russell, a British businessman during the British colonial era in Malaya. He was optimistic of the tea plantation business due to huge demands despite of the world-wide Great Depression at that time. As a result of the potential, he applied for and was granted a concession of land for his first tea garden in Habu, Cameron Highlands.
Today, BOH Plantations owns three tea gardens - the first garden in Habu, Fairlie Tea Garden and Sungai Palas Tea Garden. To ensure the freshness of its tea products, BOH Plantations also set up a packaging factory near its main garden. BOH tea products are distributed both in domestic and international markets." Source from Wiki.

Related post :-
*  My Cameron Highlands 3 days 2 nights trip on November 2012

Location map of Sungai Palas BOH Tea Centre at Cameron Highlands

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The Travel Photographer's Photo Expeditions

I thought it'd be good idea to have all my past and future photo expeditions-workshops aggregated in one location separate from my regular websites, especially as I realized (rather belatedly) that some of my older itineraries/descriptions have evaporated in the ether when I moved from one ISP to the other.

All the itineraries and details of my photo expeditions from 2007 back to 2000 (about 8 or 9) have gone "poof"! So I will have to reconstruct them from various sources, emails etc, over the course of the coming weeks.

In the meantime though, here's (work in progress) The Travel Photographer's Photo Expeditions-Workshops from late 2008 to the present, including the one scheduled for May 2013. This aggregate website has the description of each trip, and includes the links to the audio slideshows and photo galleries produced during these trips.

The Butterfly Farm at Brinchang, Cameron HIghlands

After the simple breakfast provided by Rosa Passadena Hotel, my daughter suddenly asking...it's there any Butterfly and insects farm around Cameron Highlands?....Great! We were heading to Butterfly Farm (N4.50714 E101.40681) which is about 500 meters from Kea Farm Brinchang, Cameron Highlands immediately...

The Butterfly Farm at Brinchang, Cameron Highlands

The private vehicles parking area of the farm that really convenience to all the visitors! Because the farm entrance is located just about 8 meters from the main road...
The entrance fee is RM5 - adult and RM2 - children (12 years old and below)

The area is nice and refreshing. We went into the first session of the farm - Butterfly area...many colourful butterflies everywhere! My daughter was so excited!

The plants and flowers were so nice within the garden...

Huge butterflies in the farm...

Apologies that I cannot post all the butterflies photos here, too many butterflies! As you can see there were many of them hanging at the corner and everywhere in the area...

Once we stepped out the butterflies 'cage', the path continue to a insects, reptiles and bugs session.

There are many different spices of the Big Beetle Bugs family around!

Beetle bug

Next to the beetle bugs, I found my favorite - The Tarantula, beautiful and poison! Few different type of the poison spiders available in the farm...

One of the Tarantula at Butterfly Farm

Another type of spider, forgot the name of it...

Iguana and the lizards family...

Frogs pond...

Many visitors throw coins into the pond and make a wish, they believe it will bring good luck! Especially Chinese. There were 2 coins just laying beside the frog in the photo above...

And I felt that she was 'Cool'! (below...)

Kind of tiny green snake in the farm.

Out all these small animals, the area also full of colourful flowers and plants...

The Hibiscus (Malaysia National Flower) had many colours and interesting!

 Mixture of yellow and red colours...

The original Red Hibiscus

The pink Hibiscus

All names on the cactus...Oh! Don't kill them...

Just can't imagine if I fall on these...! Ouch!

We stuck at this small tree for quite some time...the reason is to discover the 'Stick insect'...can you notice it in the photo below?!

The Stick insect in Butterfly Farm

It was a nice and educational Farm for everyone! I will visit again for photography purpose...

We spent almost an hour+ in the farm that good enough to digested our breakfast, and continue of next itinenary to Sungai Palas BOH Tea Centre for another round of tea and snacks...

Related post :-
*  My Cameron Highlands 3 days 2 nights trip on November 2012

Loaction map of Butterfly Farm at Brinchang, Cameron Highlands

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Reuters Full Focus' Best of 2012

Photo © Reuters/Rupak de Chowdhuri-All Rights Reserved

Yes, like you I did a double take when I saw this photograph on Reuters Full Focus blog as one of the photographs that made it in its Best of 2012. And yes, once again it's that time of year when every news outlet in the world decides to feature its "best" images made during the past 12 months.

Its caption tells us that it's of a Hindu devotee attending the "Chadak" ritual at Krishanadevpur village, which is north of Kolkata earlier this year, when hundreds of devotees attend the ritual to worship the Hindu deity Lord Shiva, on the last day of the Bengali calendar year. The Chadak ritual includes a number of self-mortification acts performed by devotees.

The caption also tells us the photographer was unable to check the veracity of the action of this man.

I find it very hard to believe that this is for real. The red turban is suspiciously too low on the man's neck, and there are various tricks that magicians mimic such a horrifying thing.

I've attended various rituals (such the one of the Kali workshippers in Kodungallur where they beat their forefronts with swords until blood gushes out), and I know that I'd certainly circle this devotee to photograph him back and front, and ascertain the trickery (or not). I also find it surprising that there are no other photograph of this fellow other than this one. There are photographs of other people with hooks in their backs, but none of this one.

The photographer, Rupak de Chowdhuri, a photographer with Reuters, Corbis, etc. tells us that he started taking his pictures from different angles, and tried talking to this man to get more information but he didn’t utter a word.

In any case, this is what is called a "monumental pain in the neck".

Whatever it is, the rest of the photographs are also worth a look. Some are really very good...others not so much.