A Good Day Out

An invitation from Lee Leng recently to go to Sungkai Hot Springs brought about the inspiration for this post. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this way (well I sure hope I'm not), but there ARE people like me who unfortunately do not get much opportunities to travel. Be it due to financial or time constraints or inability to get leave (or all), we therefore need to resort to quick 1 day getaways to literally GET AWAY from it all. I guess the importance of such retreats has never really occurred to me until I've started working, and therefore I'm dedicating this post to everyone out there who feels they are in similar shoes.

I have to stress the importance of it being a FEASIBLE 1 day trip, where you can actually have sufficient time to do actual walking about, and not merely spend 80% of the time in the car. Mind you, when you're working on Saturdays, and the occassional public holiday, and your friends often have conflicting schedules with yours, having that ONE day where everyone can all go is really oh-so-preciousss...So if you don't want such a life, then to all aspiring college-goers, there are some courses (*cough* pharmacy *cough*) you should avoid like the plague.

I guess I've really been on 2 destinations for a day trip. The first being to Bukit Tinggi, Pahang. If you haven't been here before, I highly recommend a day trip here, just enough to see everything and not ask why-am-I-staying-the-night-here-there's-nothing-to-do-but-stare-at-odd-houses. PLUS it's something different than the usual Genting or Cameron or Fraser. Only 45 minutes drive from KL, it's really just a place to chill and to bring your significant other, and to snap really nice photos! They've mainly got 3 areas you should check out, the Japanese tea house, some trail that allows you to walk through some botanical garden thingy, and the French village. Literally it feels like you're not in Malaysia for that very short moment. I guess pictures speak louder than words (I don't know why I can't get the captions to be aligned in the centre):

Jap House

Oh you'll go trigger happy upon seeing the koi

Colmar French Village

My we-can-only-afford-one-day-trip kaki's

Be forewarned though, if your idea of a good trip consists of eating out til you burst, trekking through some wilderness like the nature lover you are, conquering some mountain or other, or is a sucker for all things historical, then THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If however, you fulfill the following criteria, then by all means go:

1) You just want to go somewhere other than Genting,
2) You are a sucker for taking photos in un-typical places,
3) The idea of stomping through mud in a jungle or scaling mountains sounds like you must be out of your mind,
4) You live and breathe koi, and/or
5) You just want to go somewhere other than Genting.

Coming in the next post: Of Melaka and Glorious Food and Funny Signs...