You think Genting Highlands, but it is definitely not a place to relax. A place to play, a place to have fun maybe, but definitely not a place to relax. I've tried to relax there and sadly I couldn't because Genting is not somewhere where I can sit down and take a book and read. Definitely not. Cameron Highlands is also a place to relax but there are too little commercial areas, plus they don't have public transport, at least not much. I'd suggest Cameron Highlands if only I know how to go.
Which is why I opted for Berjaya Hills, mainly Colmar Tropicale.
Berjaya Hills is located about 2700 metres above sea level, alongside the Karak Highway. It takes about 1 hour to reach to Berjaya Hills from Berjaya Times Square. Me and Ephyon opted for their chaffeur services, priced at RM25 for one trip, and RM40 for return trips per person. We thought that they used a bus to bring us up but it still doesn't explain the price to be so high, until we were escorted to a SUV with another couple inside. We were the only couples inside the SUV and off we went to Colmar Tropicale.
Berjaya Hills is separated by three different areas worth a visit, which are: Colmar Tropicale, Japanese Village, and Rabbit Park.
Colmar Tropicale is basically a French themed village brought and built over by the real village Colmar itself. In it you will never see anything Malaysian other than the workers working there. In fact it is purely French. From the moment you enter inside it.
Colmar Tropicale is also basically a hotel on its own. Separated by buildings all named after flowers, from A - H. Reception site is of course Azalea, then the rest are literally just hotel rooms, each with different shops at the ground floor. Most of these hotel ground floors were filled with a restaurant. And most of these restaurants are not titled as Rasa Sayang restaurant. No, instead, its fully French, like Le Flamme, Le Poulet Roti, Le Blason, Le Chigonge, etc. Try your luck in finding which one is the one with the local cuisines. (Although I'll tell you which in a minute).
Outside the entrance of Colmar Tropicale are a pond that has black and white swans. And like the Aparteid movement, these swans are separated from fraternising with each other. Probably the guys at Berjaya Corps think that they want beautiful and genuine quality swan, not some gray ugly swan that resulted from fraternisation. But it was good anyway because tourists are allowed to feed the swans. And somehow these people are rational enough not to feed them anything else other than bread.
This is how Colmar Tropicale looked like from the Bell Tower. And in my opinion it looks fantastic and nothing locally seen. Haha.
What about the food? I would recommend La Flamme and Le Poulet Roti. I have been to three restaurants and these two are much better compare to the last one. La Flamme is obviously the best among the rest, with their thin crusted pizzas (think real Italian pizzas, not Pizza Hut pizzas), it was very scrumptious and tasty, which I believe they really cooked in the oven whenever you ordered. It may be a little pricey but it's better than not getting anything to eat. Or eating just Chipters and Twisties.
Le Poulet Roti is basically roasted chicken with other things with it. Think Kenny Rogers, in but in French. Just roasted chicken, and some side dishes to go with that, plus a dessert of the day. That's basically it. If you like your chicken then go ahead, but if not I suggest stick to Le Flamme because they have more food varieties ranging from western style, to pastas.
The third one is Le Blason, it was simply a restaurant filled with a mix and match, providing food from local cuisines to western grills. When I said local cuisine, it is typically any local food we can find in Kuala Lumpur itself, except when at the hills, it severely overpriced. A nasi lemak, curry laksa, fish head curry, all the local food are priced at 18++. But why did I and my boyfriend eat there? Because Le Flamme was full with people on a lunchtime. It was a Sunday, all the families unfortunately, are there.
My boyfriend and I had to settle for Le Blason. He ordered a fried rice and I ordered Fish head curry. I was thinking that if I have to order something local, at least eat something more exquisite. It's not like I get to eat fish head curry all the time.
That was a friggin mistake. I waited for 45 minutes for my food to be here, and I was famished. I had to nibble a few prawns and rice from my boyfriend's dish. Asking waiters for the condition of the food proved to be futile, because apparently most of them are trainees who doesn't know how to react to situations like these. I HAD to ask the F & B captain (note: CAPTAIN. So-called leader of this horde) what is going on, and his explanation was as stupid as an amateur's.
"I'm sorry, we are busy with the orders. Very busy". He said that, BLATENTLY at my face, ignoring the fact that I am not BLIND. There were only THREE tables out of the THIRTY tables that were full! And they are implying that preparing for the people who ordered ala carte is simply HARD. And I waited for a GOOD, 45 minutes before deciding to leave when they finally came with the food. Oh thank goodness. And the curry wasn't even great, but I ws pouring it out to my steamed rice in fury. It was a costly RM40 meal, and it was goddamn not worth it at all!
And the problem is, we bought the holiday package, which comes with a breakfast buffet for the next day. Ephyon kept reassuring me that the breakfast might be better, because there are many restaurants we know for hotel industries, their ala carte may be so-so, but their buffets should be awesome.
The next morning, he was the one cursing. Because the turkey ham was not flavourful, the cheese was yucky, the roti canai looked like those packaged ones from the hypermarket where you just put in the oven, and the hash browns were soggy. Yeuch, the only saving grace was the cereals, because it ain't made by them. And my boyfriend said that even the next time we came here, and they give us the coupons, he's NOT going into the restaurant, EVER.
This is that restaurant:
this is my boyfriend's verdict:
this is my verdict:
Overall ratings: 7/10, Colmar Tropicale is definitely a place worth staying overnight. Don't bother with their night performances, don't bother with what they prepared for you, because those are for the kids, if you are just students and couples who want to enjoy life, just go and enjoy the picturesque scenery. I'm sorry to say that the service was all by the same waiters and waitresses if you go into any restaurant. I sure hope they are not from the Berjaya University of Hospitality and Tourism. If yes then it really speaks a lot about the way they train their servicemen. My ratings could've been higher if it weren't for that bad experience I had.
One thing about Berjaya Hills is that they provide Shuttle Services throughout the whole Hills. Because it's either you use their shuttle services, or use your car. You definitely cannot walk around with your feet unlike Genting Highlands. But don't worry about punctuality. These shuttles are very punctual. They are so punctual they came earlier than scheduled. And their drivers are polite and nice people who made sure everybody got their seats.
My boyfriend and I went to the Rabbit Park first. Despite the common and regular comments from other people about my boy (for those who knew us) on how fierce he looked, how serious he looked, and that he's big sized, he's a sucker for cute animals. Think Gentle Giant. But sadly we didn't get much of any pictures because there are very little rabbits around, compared to the time when I last came here, 7 years ago. Of course he tried holding up the rabbits but he never really succeeded in trying, I instead held up a lot of them, and letting my boyfriend cuddle it before they fidgeted and ran. I did took one picture of a very adorable baby rabbit.
This baby is only two months old and encaged. They were inside a penhouse that shows the process of baby rabbits from newborns to four-month-old bunnies. Personally I think it was a good thing because then the children cannot touch these babies, which could aggravate the mothers' "post-natal depression" and causing these poor buggers to be killed.Overall ratings: 7.5/10. It's a park with the most bare of necessities, with a large field for the rabbits to run around. It's a very good place for parents to bring their children, because all children love to cuddle furry animals, and the parents can know how to let them touch one without worrying about claws and fangs.
Lastly, and the best, the Japanese village. One of the most expensive areas. And also the furthest. The Shuttle service drivers have to be very alert and concentrated because the road up the Japanese village is very steep and only expert drivers up mountains could do so.
Stepping into the Japanese village was a little bit like stepping into a new world. Nevermind the fact that we were already on top of the mountain, I was surprised that they recreated the whole Zen Garden, complete with perfectly carved walkway up into the Japanese Tea House. Inside it was a bridge that leads you to a rest stop, and you can purchase RM1 for a small packet of fish pellets. Yeap, you get to feed the Koi fishes.
These Koi fishes are all well-fed, but it was fun trying to feed them with pellets, as some of these fishes are very near our toes. I like to feed them by throwing it at a direction, and looking at the Koi fishes all nomming for the little pellet.
But that is not all about the Japanese tea house. You can rent a kimono suit at RM20 for the ladies who'd like to try on one, without suffering from all the layers and layers of cloth. It was basically for taking pictures only. Guys are not left out too as they can adorn the traditional suit at the same price.
After you finish exploring the Japanese tea house. You can walk back out and follow the signboard to the botanical garden. Or, rest and have a Japanese feast at Ryo Zan Tei Japanese restaurant. No doubt, it was literally translated as "Hut at a Cool Mountain", and that restaurant provides excellent mountain and greenery scenes. Here are two pictures taken by Ephyon using Sofia:
The food here, is really good. Very excellent if you know what you really like to eat. I am a person who likes spicyness to the core, so I was thrilled and chose the Miso Soba, that comes with a spicy miso soup. Ephyon chose the Sukiyaki set, with beef and steamed Japanese rice, because he likes Sukiyaki. This restaurant may be a tad pricey but only if you know what to choose to eat. We didn't drink Sake because it was expensive, instead we opted for the Japanese Green Tea. It doesn't disappointed because Chinese are tea drinkers, and we were able to taste the real deal when we tasted one.
Overall ratings: 8.5/10. The cool breeze, the whole Japanese like environment, the food. Everything here is great. We didn't go and try the Tatami Suite, I mean seriously RM1000 per night? Let me be a millionaire then we do the talking. The Tatami Spa too. I heard that you have to reserve for it, if not it won't be open. Such high classy places are not for students. But other than that, it should be a very nice place to enjoy, walk around, take pictures, feed koi fishes. Nothing fancy. But that's the whole purpose of the Japanese village in the first place.
Overall ratings for Berjaya Hills: 8/10. Never stay more than one night in Berjaya Hills because you'll get bored. One night is already enough unless there are other plans you have, like going up to Genting Highlands AFTER you are done with Berjaya Hills. But this place is definitely a place solely for relaxation. It is so good that you'll eventually forget the lousy service crew. I did forget it, that is why I don't need any compensation, unlike some other blogger. Heh.
This is purely my review and if it caused Le Blason to go bankrupt, please, don't flatter me. I ain't paid to give stupid reviews unlike *cough* starts with M *cough* ends with S *cough*. I did tell you there are a few drawbacks from enjoying it is that, you cannot go there for a 3 day holiday or one week holiday unless your stress was really so much that all you want to do is be bored. And don't expect classy service. The only think good is that the drivers are actually approachable. I was inside one whereby they stop in the middle of a steep hill because there was two people walking down and they asked if they need a ride. That was how nice they were.
Ah, maybe another time to go back up again when I'm piled with so much shit. Hopefully I won't have to deal with so much stress again.
P.S: Sorry for the formatting. Something is wrong with it. If you can read then thank you la. Sweat.
