Last weekend, my friend and I went to Berjaya Hills a.k.a. Bukit Tinggi for sightseeing-cum-photography trip. It takes approximately an hour drive from KL. Due to winding roads as well as slow vehicles (heading up there, it took awhile to reach up there ).
However, before we could reach up there, we were greeted by a booth (something like a tol booth) to pay the entrance fees. It costs RM16 for an adult while RM8 (I think) for a child. Exhorbitant, definitely!!
Our first (second actually if you consider the tol as first) stop was Botanical Garden. Lucky for us, the garden is situated right beside the Japanese Village. Therefore, it saved us from driving to another location. We went to the Botanical Garden hoping to get see some beautiful plants/flowers/scenery in there. But this is not the case. We were greated with trees, trees and more trees. Needless to say, there are 90% of various types of trees and only 10% of flowers in there. There are a few beautiful flowers that worth capturing (take photograph of it la, not physically pluck it).
We went to the Observation deck inside of Botanical Garden in hope of taking some scenery photos but it didn’t really turn out to be like that after all. It is more of trees blocking the view of the hills. Total turn off. We had to climb back up (in this case, we climbed the stairs) to the entrance to go to Japanese Village. It takes quite a effort for horizontal-challenge people (fat people) like me. But it is all good exercise.
There are Japanese houses (doh!!) inside Japanese Village. And not to forget, Japanese Kois too which could be found in the pond. There aren’t much things to see in there except you could take photos of yourself dressed up in kimono. We didn’t go in deeper because there was shooting event going on. We had to stop short midway.
After those two locations, we left (with disappointment) to Colmar Tropicale. We really hoped that there is something we could enjoy over there. The place is approximately 10 mins drive from the Botanic Garden. From far, you could see French-theme buildings. These buildings were almost similar to Colmar Village in France. Inspired by them, as they said and so, they called it Colmar Tropicale. However, luck was not on our side as when we reach there, the clouds were starting to be dark. As usual, it rains every afternoon of everyday. We walked around in there and took a few photos of these ‘insipred’ building. Nothing special about it, to my thoughts. There were events in there (team building events organized by companies) so it is a lil bit crowded.
We decided to leave and never looked back at around 12.30pm. True enough, it started to drizzle when we left the ‘inspired’ French-theme village.
More photos in my flickr.
Bukit Tinggi a.k.a Berjaya Hills.
Anything related to Berjaya sure $$$$ comes first! #@$#@$#@$#@$
Anyway, the drive up was good though.
Would be even more exciting if my “Bibendum” tyres got more “bunga”.
I am planning to go to the hill wor.. so many unpleasant experiences one.. :(
I like the last pic btw :D
lancechau : We partially expected it to rain but it was all good. Splash and dash, as they say. Haha.
vkeong : It is alright if you go on a day trip because there’s nothing much to do. Besides, the weather is not as cold as Genting Highlands.
The below complain was written to Berjaya hill top management the very next working day. Until now also no reply. So called Berjaya
Hi
I am writing in to officially complain about one of your staff at the Colmar Village.
I have been to your resort several times and have always left Colmar with beautiful memories of my trips there with my family. Even though all our trips have been day trips, yet we find Colmar as a place where families can find fun, excitement and enjoyment.
On all our past trips to Colmar, we have been bringing our own food for consumption, especially for the children, who are picky eaters, and our elderly parents. And in these past trips that we have had, we have never been approached by ANYONE about us bringing our own food and how it is a VIOLATION of “your laws”.
However, Last Saturday, 20th December 2008, we decided to make a trip again to Colmar, and this time , as usual, we brought our own food again. When it came time for lunch, we decided to have our food at one of those tables / chairs made out of rock / stone outside the village. Please note we have been doing this past few visits.
Halfway through our lunch, one of your staff, Mr Arunakaram, ( this name has been given by another member of your staff at Colmar Village), who claimed to be the security manager, approached us rudely, and kept repeating “No Outside Food is Allowed. I am the security manager here”.
and all the while he was pointing to us with his walkie talkie.
And since we were already halfway in to our lunch, we kindly told him that we will finish it fast and leave.
But your Mr Arunakaram didnt like that idea, showed it in his facial expression, and left after seeing that we were not leaving immediately. As he was leaving, he spoke into his walkie talkie again, and loudly told the person on the other walkie talkie that he has already advised us that no food is allowed etc etc etc. And all this transpired in broad daylight, in front of all the other tourists and visitors that were around.
And everyone was looking at us as if we were shoplifters?? We are not thieves or murderers.
And as good citizens, we actually got everyone to finish quickly, and cleared everything up.
But we did notice that there was this other guy who came often around our area, looking at us..i guess he must have been a staff sent by Mr Arunakaram to check on us to make sure we cleared the food immediately.
My question now is :
1 .Before we made that trip to Colmar, we did call the Colmar office and mentioned that we were going to Colmar for a picnic, but we were not informed in any way that no outside food is allowed.
2. We checked on the internet, and on the website, there was no “warning” or “law” that says no outside food is allowed.
3. There was no “NO OUTSIDE FOOD IS ALLOWED” printed on any of our tickets.
4. There was no “no outside food is allowed” signage found at the car pacrk area, at the entrance area…etc..etc. The signs are only found at the entrances to ALL your restaurants.
5. This is not our first visit with our own food..why are we only “apprehended ” now?
Being such a big corporation, and one that is in the hotel and tourism industry, one would think that hiring staff that is courteous is of high priority. But this experience proved otherwise.
Even if we were in the wrong or have “violated” certain rules of the Colmar Village, i feel that we should not have been approached in such a manner.
And in this case we were evidently not in the wrong.
This experience has left a bitter taste for me, and i can assure you that if there were to be any more fun holiday trips in my family, Colmar will not be on the list.
I will not even recommend Colmar at this point to friends or colleagues.
And for your information, one of my family member on that trip is a Berjaya staff, and he is too embarrassed to even mention that he is from Berjaya.
I strongly urge that you look into this as a matter of top priority, before more visitors / tourists are offended.
Thanking you in advance for your time.
Sorry if I flooded your blog.
Just want to let everyone knows
Cheers
unpleasant trip : It’s all good. I guess not everyone enjoys their trip. :)