Cameron Highlands Resort Murder Mystery Dinner

Fancy having a Cluedo style dinner at Cameron Highlands Resort! Instead of playing a board game, how about doing it role playing style?! So this was what the YTL Cameron Highlands Resort hotel did! Of course at the end of mystery play time the mystery would be solved and the murderer found.

But the same can't be said of the real mystery of Jim Thomson disappearance. Without sufficient evidence, all you end up with are just conspiracy theories. Another conspiracy tale to add to the world's many myriad unsolved mysteries and conspiracies.

As for this dinner mystery Cluedo stle bash, it is no mystery, just pure fun! Cheers!

YTL Cameron Highlands Resort Christmas

Walk along jungle trail part of Xmas at Cameron Highlands Resort
Wednesday December 8, 2010

TRADITION plays an important role in any festive season and Christmas is no different. This year, a group of media representatives and celebrities were given the opportunity to join in the celebrations, albeit a bit early, at YTL's Cameron Highlands Resort.

On Nov 20, legendary shoemaker Datuk Jimmy Choo hit the switch to light up the Christmas trees at the hotel and mark the beginning of the Christmas season up in the clouds.

The resort and its surroundings have been festively decorated and, with the flick of the switch, a spectacular display of lights burst into view, creating a magical display in the foggy evening.

All lit up: Visitors to Cameron Highlands will not miss these beautifullly litted X'mas trees at the YTL Resort in conjunction with Christmas.

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YTL Hotels and Resorts executive vice-president Laurent Myter invited those present to sample some of the resort's Christmas delicacies before inviting them to join in the carolling by a crackling fireplace.

Learning about flora and fauna with YTL Cameron Highlands Resort

Learning about flora and fauna in Cameron Highlands
Thursday December 2, 2010

TRADITION plays an important role in any festive season and Christmas is no different. This year, a group of media representatives and celebrities were given the opportunity to join in the celebrations, albeit a bit early, at YTL’s Cameron Highlands Resort.

On Nov 20, legendary shoemaker Datuk Jimmy Choo hit the switch to light up the Christmas trees at the hotel and mark the beginning of the Christmas season up in the clouds.

The resort and its surroundings have been festively decorated and, with the flick of the switch, a spectacular display of lights burst into view, creating a magical display in the foggy evening.

Informative: Madi explaining about wild flora and fauna to members of the media and guests.

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YTL Hotels and Resorts executive vice-president Laurent Myter invited those present to sample some of the resort’s Christmas delicacies before inviting them to join in the carolling by a crackling fireplace.

YTL Award Winning Resorts

YTL has some really luxurious premium resorts, and of course Cameron Highlands Resort is one of them. Here are some pix to whet your palate, eh?

 

The Cameron Highlands Resort is one of the pieces of real estate owned by Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.

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The award-winning Tanjong Jara Resort with its two swimming pools.

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YTL has some award-winning real estate. This includes Pangkor Laut Resort, Tanjong Jara Resort and Cameron Highlands Resort. His hotel brands are Ritz-Carlton, Spa Village, J W Marriott and The Majestic in Malacca.

The group also has Malaysia’s fastest growing cement company in the country. It is the first ready-mix concrete company and the second largest cement company in Malaysia with annual production capacity of 6.1 million tonnes.

And not to mention the ultra premium properties like those Sentul and those Pantai Hill Park, Kerinchi.

Tea Time at YTL Cameron Highlands Resort

It's 3.30 pm in the Cameron Highlands, which rise some 5000 ft above sea level and are reached by a vertiginous four-hour drive winding up through the jungle from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. The landscape up here seems otherworldly; with high ridges as far as the eye can see covered in strangely vivid, clipped bushes which at first resemble either a vast art installation by the likes of sculptor-in-nature Andy Goldsworthy or maybe a place J.R.R. Tolkien might have imagined for his orcs and elves.

Then the eye is drawn to a different silhouette atop one of the bright green slopes, which, as one gets closer, is revealed to be a table shaded by a vast parasol. Beneath it stands a waiter in a starched white uniform. Laid out on a damask cloth are bone china cups along with finger sandwiches and home-baked scones; all in all a spread that would not look out of place at the London Ritz. Behold the "afternoon tea picnic" prepared by YTL's the Cameron Highlands Resort Hotel and served on a working tea plantation. The hotel also offers tea planter guided walks and, before every treatment on its spa menu, a detoxifying, skin-softening bath in cold tea.

High Tea in Malaysia: Tea tourism attracts travelers to the Cameron Highlands Resort, where classic tea service is provided right on the plantation grounds.

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Tea Tourism is a growing niche, confirms Caroline Grayburn, of Tim Best Travel, a London-based travel agent known for planning unusual, bespoke trips. "An interest in tea can take you to the exceptionally beautiful Darjeeling in the northeast of India, or to Kerala in the south, or even to Uganda and Malawi in Africa. Our clients are keen to get beneath the surface of a country and see how it works and of course being served afternoon tea in ravishingly lovely hill country, well, what could be more glorious?" she adds.

Joe Simrany, president of The Tea Council of the USA, who has also stayed on breathtaking tea plantations in China and Sri Lanka, agrees. "There's nothing like waking up at the top of the world, with only the noise of birds and monkeys."

Those who love tea are fortunate that the camellia sinensis, the plant from which all tea — whether black, green, white or Oolong — is derived (except of course peppermint, chamomile or fruit teas, which are not strictly teas at all) is inherently picturesque; especially when viewed from a cane armchair on a shady veranda.

As for the round-the-world rituals of tea, the precision of tea making is fascinating to observe — from the Chinese style to the wonders of Japanese tea ceremony. Even English-style Afternoon Tea — accompanied by finger sandwiches and freshly-baked scones — is enjoying a considerable revival. In modern Britain where workers sup their afternoon "cuppa" on the go, the tea break may be a thing of the past, yet going out for afternoon tea has, perversely, never been more popular. At Fortnum & Mason, the Piccadilly store which started selling loose leaf tea in 1707, the instore restaurants alone brew 40 kilos a week; that's 3,600 pots or about 7,200 cups.

"There's a certain ceremony to tea," says Simon Burdess, Fortnum & Msaon's trading director. "It's the absolute opposite to the morning shot of espresso. It has its protocols, it's about slowing down and taking a moment from the hustle of the modern world, which, these days, seems the ultimate luxury."

The French took to tea in 1636, eight years before it arrived in England and what were then Britannia's colonies in the Americas. Afternoon tea, French style, (accompanied by macaroons or madeleines, but never with milk) has been enjoying a considerable renaissance too, which some attribute to Sofia Coppola's 2006 movie, "Marie Antoinette", where the Queen and her friends taking tea was portrayed as an 18th century equivalent of the Carrie Bradshaw and the girls with their Cosmopolitans.

In India, the source of much of the world's tea, the ceremony of afternoon tea used to be considered a throwback to the Raj, "yet recently, my girlfriends and I have rediscovered The Willingdon Club in Mumbai for the full afternoon tea," says Sheetal Mafatlal, the president of Mafatlal Luxury, which has the Valentino franchise in India.

Afternoon Tea Picnic: An employee of the Cameron Highlands Resort prepares a table for classic high tea service. The hotel also offers guided walks of the plantation and a includes a cold tea bath as part of its spa menu.

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Such fashionability makes it tempting to call tea the new coffee, although this would be ridiculous from a historical perspective, given that an emperor in ancient China (or more likely, his servant) first threw boiling water onto plucked leaves some 3,000 years before Arabian traders decided to boil up the coffee beans they had gotten from Ethiopia. Worldwide, tea is far more popular than coffee (except in the US, where it also trails behind soft drinks, beer and milk). Yet while Arabica certainly has its aficionados and people all over the globe are now familiar with the "Tall, Grande, Vente" lingo of Starbucks, "there are literally thousands of different types of tea to discover, according to the Tea Council's Simrany.

The taste of the four main types of tea varies according to how the leaf is treated before it is dried: hence white tea, which comes from the tips, tastes different from black tea, where the leaves have been wilted, rolled and fermented and which is again different from Oolong, where the fermenting process is arrested half way through. Green tea leaves are dried fresh from picking. Add to this first and second flush, which refers to when the leaves were picked; then geographical origin from robust, malty Assam in India to light, bright Dimbula Ceylon, from Sri Lanka. There is leaf size to consider too and here, the term "Orange Pekoe" has nothing to do with oranges, but instead denotes whether the leaf is a bud, even the very tip of a bud.

Good tea, like fine wine, carries the character of the land where it is grown. The world's top traders employ tasters, who are rather like perfumers, except they must juggle with flavor as well as aroma to mix extraordinary blends. "We have two people here who can identify tea virtually to the hillside on which it was grown", says Fortnum & Mason's Burdess, "and that simply isn't possible with coffee where so much of the flavor comes from the roasting."

Source: http://www.ytlcommunity.com/commnews/shownews.asp?newsid=40723
Time Magazine. September 15, 2008 issue

A cool respite

A cool respite
Saturday December 22, 2007
By Revathi Murugappan

For a relaxing retreat combined with spa treatments, drive up to the Cameron Highlands Resort.

The largest hill resort in the country, Cameron Highlands is a popular holiday getaway for families and couples. There is lodging to suit all budgets but if you’re looking for luxury with a bit of pampering, a good choice is Cameron Highlands Resort.

Unlike its sister resorts in Pangkor and Tanjung Jara, Cameron Highlands Resort is small and resembles a typical English colonial home. The resort exudes English elegance and tropical chic.

The high life: This is Cameron Highland Resort’s treat for guests — tea amongst tea bushes in the Boh Sungai Palas Tea Centre

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The 56-room boutique hotel, formerly called the Merlin Inn, was taken over by YTL Hotels and Properties Sdn Bhd just last year and already it is drawing in the crowds. Recently, the resort was voted amongst the five best tea plantation hotels in the world by UK’s The Independent newspaper.

So, off we went on a three-day invitation to enjoy the cool climate of the highlands and bask in opulence. We had a speedy Gonzales of a driver who drove us from Kuala Lumpur to our destination in slightly less than two hours!

The usual check-ins and whatnots followed before we explored the place at our own pace. For a truly sensational experience, they treated us to one of their signature tea plantation experience one morning – a visit to a tea centre.

Typically, such a day starts with a 4WD picking up guests and taking them to the Boh Sungai Palas Tea Centre. A tea sommelier will lead you on a tea appreciation tour before explaining the intricacies of tea tasting. You’ll get to enjoy your cuppa while overlooking the valley.

Once you have warmed up, the adventure begins as you hop into the vehicle and drive deeper into the valley. Amidst rows of fragrant tea bushes, a picnic table is set up under a large white umbrella. A personal Nepali butler awaits with a delightful brunch spread and choices of wine, juices and hot beverages.



The view is simply gorgeous but if it rains, then you can scurry for shelter at the nearby “bus stop”.

After binging, we skipped lunch and opted for tea, which incidentally is the new rage all over the world now. Food, food and more glorious food! If you’re a tea lover like moi, you must try the English afternoon tea at the Jim Thompson Tea Room.

The homemade scones, pastries, finger sandwiches and fresh strawberries topped with sinful chocolate might affect your waistline, but hey, when you’re on holiday, calorie-counting goes out the window. Besides, you can always work off the pounds later.

Bellies expanded and breathing heavy, we decided it was time for a snooze in the king-sized four-poster bed. The deluxe rooms are comfy and feature a seating area with French doors opening out to the balcony. Polished timber flooring has replaced the musty carpets of the old Merlin Inn, while the bathroom is in old-fashioned black and white marble.

All rooms either overlook the golf course or the lush forest.

Resident naturalist Shahril Kamarulzaman with some guests on the Jim Thompson trail. — Ong Soon Hin/The Star

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The only drawback was that my room faced the main road (golf course) and the traffic was noisy. I kept waking up annoyed from the car honks and loud chatter of pedestrians, even with the windows and shutters closed.

A visit to any of YTL’s luxury resorts is incomplete without the spa treatment, for which the group has garnered many international awards. I was recommended the Fresh Strawberry Escapade, which includes a tea bath, a body polish and a massage – all using fresh strawberries, which have properties to soften skin and reduce inflammation.

The tea bath was supposedly a sensual experience. The tub is filled with tea leaves and warm water, and you jump in. You can place cut cucumber on your eyes, rub sugar to exfoliate your hands, and sip ice lemon tea to cool yourself while listening to meditative music on the earphones.

While I loved the soaking, I found it uncomfortable as the tubs were not meant for tall people! I couldn’t find a comfortable position to place my long legs and relax.

The body polish, made of strawberries, yoghurt and crushed oatmeal was delightful, although the chilled concoction initially sent shivers down my spine. My therapist ended the treatment with a massage using soothing, long strokes and medium pressure. I would’ve fallen asleep but dinner was calling.

Plans were made for us to dine under the stars but since it rained, we headed indoors for a specially prepared steamboat dinner. Guests have a choice of three restaurants to choose from, one being the Gonbei, an offshoot of the Japanese restaurant at Feast Village in Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur.

After dinner, guests can head back to the tea room to enjoy the delightful piano tunes played by Uncle Stephen or try a game of snooker. Or if you’d rather be outdoors, and the weather holds up, take a stroll along the main road to the nearby night market.

The next day was spent leisurely hiking along the Jim Thompson Mystery Trail with Shahril Kamarulzaman, the resort’s naturalist, who specialises in wild orchids.

Thomson, the American Silk King, mysteriously vanished on Easter Sunday in 1967 after going for a walk in the surrounding forests.

There are many theories regarding his disappearance, some plausible, others ridiculous.

“He is believed to have walked around the vicinity but I’m not sure of the exact trail,” quipped Shahril as he showed us endemic plants and flowers in the botanical paradise. The pleasant walk was marred by the appearance of many illegal water pipes in the forest due to poor enforcement by the authorities.

The walk ended at the fringes of an Orang Asli settlement and, after a quick lunch, we parted ways.

Cameron Highlands Resort
Tanah Rata
Cameron Highlands, Pahang
Tel: (03)2783 1000
E-mail: travelcentre@ytlhotels.com.my
www.cameronhighlandsresort. com

Room rates begin at

RM670++ per night.