Berjaya Hills trip - 10 Mar 07

I woke up @ 5.30am today, I think only slept abt 2-3 hrs ytd. Reach home around 12pm ytd cos went to IT fair with Celine and gals mah... like to chit chat cos we have so much to catch up... I think I couldn’t sleep b’cos I drink tea... otherwise it’s impossible tt I can’t sleep. So in the future, I’m not gonna drink tea nor coffee after evening otherwise I’ll become panda.

I was late by 10min cos we agreed to meet @ Lavender MRT station @ 7am. The walk from Lavender MRT station to Golden Mile Complex is abt 10min. Luckily the guys noe the direction cos I dunno how to get there although I been there few years ago...

We have to register at the Five Star Tour Agency to get our bus no and seat no. CH n I was queuing and there were 3 staff servicing, so after the person in front of us was being serviced and left, we queue up in front of this rude staff waiting to be served and u noe wat this staff told us? She told us to queue up n her tone was quite rude…. She shld have told us politely tt we need to be serve by the staff in the centre who will allocate us to be served by the staff on the left (rude stuff) or another staff on the right.

Frankly speaking, I really feel tt the service provided by Five Star Tour Agency is not v good. Not only the staff is rude, the bus driver ah... Haiz... Comparing Five Star Tour Agency with the agency tt I booked my CNY trip, tt agency is much better than Five Star Tour Agency although it’s a small agency. The person who serve me was so warm n friendly. If other agency oso offer package to Berjaya Hills, probably I’ll choose other agency but when we were booking for this trip, a lot of agency do not offer the package to Berjaya Hills or their schedule for March is not available. I doubt I’ll booked any package with Five Star Tour Agency unless boh bian, the place tt I wanna go is only offer by Five Star Tour Agency. Otherwise condemn Five Star Tour Agency!

B.t.w I found out tt there is a place called 桂花村 (Mambung Diawan) in Malaysia. Haha… didn’t noe tt there is a place name after me... Well, went to search in yahoo tt this place is located in Kampar which I think is near Ipoh (capital of Perak state).

Guys writing their white card Taking a quick snap Posing infront of the bus

We board our bus @ 8pm and to our disappointment, our coach is not those luxury coach with snoozer seats, entertainment etc... Although it’s 26 seater coach, it’s not luxury @ all... Hmmm...we were joking wat '5 star'... Not even '1 star'...

Seats in the bus

@ our seats

We reach Tuas checkpoint @ around 9.15am. OMG, there were so many buses... Must be the school holidays. It took us another 1 hr to reach M'sia checkpoint. OMG, jam again... sian...

The bus was driving super super super slow... By the time we reach Yong Peng for our lunch, it's already 12.15pm. In the morning when we registered @ the travel agency, the staff told us tt we would reach KL Berjaya Times Square around 1 pm plus and we would have abt an hr for lunch b4 we catch our shuttle bus to Berjaya Hills @ 2.45pm. Now is already 12.15pm and we were given 1/2 hr for lunch so the bus would only depart @ around 1pm. So how 2 reach KL in 1h 45min from Johor? Impossible.....

We were wondering whether the driver noe tt we have to change to another bus or not... We were oso quite worried tt the by the time we reach Berjaya Times Square, there is no shuttle bus to ferry us to Berjaya hill. Haiz.... spoiled my mood.... Pray tt wouldn't encounter this driver in our return journey.

Hmmm..... we were wondering wat time will we reach KL??? Throughout the journey, we were sleeping cos nothing 2 do mah... angry wif the driver oso no use, so might as well sleep, sleep, sleep.

Finally, we reach KL toll station @ around 3.30pm, so sooner or later we'll be reaching Berjaya Times Suqare.

Mineral Advertisment - I've taken 2 others during my CNY trip

Before reaching Berjaya Times Square, the driver drop off some passengers along the way. Hmm... so we came to a conclusion tt the bus driver does not noe tt we have 2 catch another bus otherwise how can he be driving so so so slow. We reach Berjaya Times Square @ around 4pm, 2hr later than expected!

Berjaya Times Square hotel lobby

Saw the poster? It's the shuttle bus counter

We saw tt there is only 2 trips to Berjaya hills in a day but luckily the person @ the counter told us tt he'll arrange a van for us and will arrive abt 15min. Otherwise we gonna complain le...Other than the 4 of us waiting to go to Berjaya Hills, there were another Malay couple n a family of 4. Within 15min, the van has arrived and we board the van to Berjaya hills.

Concert hall Dunno wat building? But can see it's Malay style

The van depart from Berjaya Times Square and heads head towards the Karak Highway that will leads to Kuantan (Capital of Pahang). We passed by the turning to Genting Highlands, go through the Genting tunnel and soon we saw the road leading to Berjaya Hills Resort.

Wondering how come the leaves r orange but there is no autumn in M'sia

Engine too hot?

The road leading up to Berjaya Hills Resort is quite smooth unlike the dizzy winding road leading up to Cameron Highlands.

On our way uphill

Real coniferous trees in tropical area? Reaching Colmar Tropicale Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle - not open yet

The journey from Berjaya Times Square tooks abt 1h 45min n we reach our destination - Colmar Tropicale @ 5.45pm. Colmar Tropicale may not have the cool climate weather like Cameron Highlands as it is only 800m high but the air is fresh n different from S'pore. I really like the air in the highland, but too bad S'pore can't offer this...

Colmar Tropicale is inspired by the original Colmar Village in Alsace, France. So the buildings r v french style....

Yeh, we reach Colmar Tropicale! Entrance - Cuckoo clockDrawbridge

Once we walked across the draw bridge, we can c the cuckoo clock and after passing through the cuckoo clock, we saw the hotel reception which is located on the left building.

Reception

Hotel reception - Cuckoo clock dsplaying time over the worldKnight in the reception?

Although there is only 1 or 2 people in front of us queuing up, we waited for about 10mins before we were being served. I filled up the check-in form for our groups and the staff pass to us the keys for 2 rooms. We request for connected room but was fully booked. Then the staff oso pass to us the voucher for tml breakfast and the complimentary entrance passes for the attractions.

Initially we wan to settle our belongings in our room n visit the attractions but the reception staff told us tt the last bus is 6pm. Now is already 5.45pm so no choice, gonna visit the attractions tml.

There r 8 blocks of the hotel bedrooms n each block is named after a flower alphabetically and the flower is imprinted on the key holder. However the staff didn't explain to us which block we r staying in, she just told us to walk straight n turn right. Well, there are 4 blocks on the left n 4 blocks on the right, so which block r we staying in? Luckily I've done my research b4 coming n there was someone who blog abt her trip to Colmar Tropicale so from there i noe abt this. Otherwise i think we would have a hard time finding our block.

8 different blocks from A to H

Flowers from A - H

Key to our room Wait for me!!!

Although the room may be a bit small but I felt tt it was quite cosy... I oso discover something new... Did u notice tt there is an arrow on the ceiling? The arrow is facing the direction of Mecca for the muslim prayer. DM told me tt when we went to Sibu Island, there is oso such arrow on the ceiling. I didn't noe abt it until now.

Our roomOur bedsBath tubToiletView inside the block - My mom comment tt it looks like a hostel!

Me & Chew Hiang

After settling down our belongings, we took a stroll inside Colmar Tropicale since there is no shuttle bus to the Japanese village n rabbit farm after 6pm.

Different blocks

Within the compound of Colmar Tropicale, there are viewing attractions like those different hotel blocks, cuckoo clock tower, viewing tower, drawbridge entrance, swans in moat, wishing well and fountain. It oso had normal resort facilities such as swimming pool, aromeatheraphy and foot reflexology, karaoke, arcade and kids playing room. However we didn't use the facilities @ all cos our main purpose for this trip is to 感染这里的气氛！

Wishing well & Viewing Tower@ the ground floor of Viewing Tower

The viewing tower is 3 storey high. Initially I thought tt we've to climb the stairs up cos i only saw the stairs, they all told me can take lift up. Alamak, luckily I didn't climb up ah...

@ the staircase

Waiting to go to the top floor

Wow, the view from highest was awesome! Although the temperature is not v cool, but the surrounding views make up for it.

Bungalows Golf course Reaching the 3rd storeyMagic touchView of Colmar Tropicale The background seems like a painting!

After spending abt 1/2 hr taking snaps of the surrounding, we took the lift down n stroll around.

@ the fountain

At its heart is of Colmar Tropicale is Colmar Square, a cobblestone central courtyard where you can enjoy outdoor dining and street performances. During the wkends, there r stalls selling souvenirs, but only abt 5 stalls... so not much things.

Colmar Square

Wkend street market

@ 1 of the stallJelly for planting flowers - nvr seen b4

There r 2 souvenirs shop in addition to the wkend stalls. DM wanna buy some souvenirs so we spent some time in the souvenirs shop. In the end, he decided to buy keychains. The keychains r hand-made n cost RM10 ~ S$4.50. B.t.w I didn't bought anything @ all cos i dun really like to buy souvenirs as I felt tt stuff like keychains r too common (I've quite a lot of keychains n dun even have a chance to use all the keychains!), others souvenirs r usually for display which I felt tt it'll collect nothing but dust. Tt's y i prefer pratical stuff! Oh... I usually buy those local snacks when I went abroad cos I felt tt it'll not be wasted... haha..... So does my friends understand y i usually buy snacks 4 u all now?

Grandpa carrying Heineken bottle

Oops.. I dun have driving license so nobody wanna take the ride @ the draw bridge

Below the draw bridge is the moat where there r swans. The guys r v hilarious as they keep pronouncing 'suans' n we keep correcting them.

Walking down to see the 'suans'

Black Swans

There is a playground near the moat. Although there is a notice indicating tt it's for children, 4get wat is the age limit, but we still went in to play... haha.... 长不大的大人！

好怀念童年...

Too big to accomodate only 2 of us

Soon, the sun has set...

Night view of Colmar Tropicale 4get wat is the name of this building...

Me @ the front of the building

After finish taking the night view, it's already 8pm. We walk around 2 decide wat we gonna have for dinner. I told them to bring cup noodles along cos i read other blogs commenting tt the food here is quite expensive. Initially we wanna order pizza but it was small n expensive. Finally we decide on 'Le Poulet Roti' where we ordered a set meal for 4 person. The meal consist of a whole chicken, 4 side dished n 4 muffins. It cost us RM57 ~ S$ 26 for 4 person, which is still reasonable. However the food was not v nice....

Our food in processOur dinner

After having our dinner, we went back to our room to bath. I discovered tt there is no hairdryer in the room, OMG. Initially CH n I dun wanna watch the performance @ 9pm cos we've bath n dun wanna get ourselves dirty, hence DM went alone... After a while... we changed our mind n join him in watching the performance. Well, I think the performance is more suitable for kids. Anyway the performance only lasted a while as we didn't catch the whole performance.

Performance

We stroll around n after a while, we felt hungry so we return to our room to eat cup noodles for supper.

Colmar Square

Viewing tower

The 3 of them were watching 'silent hill' from CH's Creative Vision M while eating supper. I tuck into bed @ around 11pm after I finished my supper cos I was so tired... Probably b'cos ytd couldn't sleep....ZZzzzzz.......

>>Day 2: 11 Mar 07