Perched high atop a hill is the Equatorial Cameron Highlands Hotel. It sits over a cliff overlooking the farming valley. This hotel is seated at the peak of the main Cameron Highlands road at 1,628 meters! You can find a sign at the main entrance of Equatorial hotel proclaiming proudly its height!
Coming over from the new way up via the Simpang Pulai – Kampung Raja way to the hotel, one can easily spot the hotel standing out like a beacon along the way. So no way of not being able to find the hotel!
My wife and I decided to stay here once because my credit card bank sends us some vouchers. Even though with the use of the vouchers, it would still be more expensive than her staff rate stay at Strawberry Park Resort. But we wanted to try someplace different for a change.
Every now and then, we do see some special rate voucher offer from various credit card banks to entice visitors to come stay at Equatorial Hotel! But there is a catch. You will have to stay during the non-peak period of weekdays. It does make it a little bit difficult as you will need to request for many days leave from your company if you are an employee.
There is a further disadvantage for visiting during the weekdays; you will not be able to visit the night market at Brinchang because they only have it during the weekends. Still, it was not a big deal as there are many other activities available that one can do up on the cool highlands!
Arriving at the hotel, we found the check in reception swamp with many people taking advantage of the bank’s voucher offer!
I guess the offer was pretty good and they have the same idea as us to take a break during the weekday. I would have thought that most people would find it difficult to get leave during the weekdays for a short vacation. I guess I was wrong.
Kea Farm or Valley View
While checking in the hotel, my wife decided to ask the reception to give us the valley view rather than the Kea Farm market view. While I explored the hotel a little as we have never stayed here before and never really look around its grounds. The lobby area was very spacious and many people were waiting for their rooms to be ready.
Children as usual, impatient to wait ran around excitedly around the area with the parents having a handful trying to make sure they don’t fall into any mishap or do any mischief.
The grounds around Equatorial Hotel Cameron Highlands is very well landscape with many conifers and other highland shrubs and plants. The hotel ground is well worth a stroll amongst its beautiful garden! Though the pathway from the main entrance to the hotel lobby has many stalls and shops but not many traders seem to have set up shop perhaps due to insufficient people traffic I suppose.
Finally after waiting for sometime, we got our room with a beautiful panoramic view of the valley! We could see the mountain range over the wild blue yonder.
Stepping out onto the balcony and looking down, the haphazard farm terrace in the valley makes for an intriguing view, like an abstract artist drawing unfathomable patterns on his canvas. Farmers looking like ants from our bird’s eyes view tilling their land.
From our perch, we could see the main road with cars coming up and going away from the highlands. We could also see the Rose Center surrounded by the dwellings of the people living around the Kea Farm area.
The view was so breathtaking I just couldn’t resist taking many photos with my new camera that I just bought. The 6x optical zoom came in really handy couple with its digital zoom; I was able to take up close pictures of farms and houses around the area.
Spacious Rooms and complete facilities
As for the room, it was really comfortable, as to be expected from a rated hotel. And we quickly settled in as we unpack our things. We noted that one of the bathroom lights was blown and decided to call up their housekeeping to replace the bulbs.
Though I do not know why, the service response was rather poor and after numerous reminders, the light bulb was not replaced and we have to make do with a somewhat dimly lit bathroom. We did receive and apology letter from Equatorial Hotel after our return home, but I felt they could have done better in some of their service area even for a minor problem.
No matter. The Equatorial Cameron Highlands however is situated in a very convenient location for marketing! Yes, the Kea Farm market is just around the corner, so all one need to do is just walk out of the hotel and voila! All the marketing of vegetables, flowers and potted plants, etc you ever need to buy is just here.
No need to find a parking lot because your car is already safely parked in the hotel basement. Just buy what you want and later carry it back to your room for safekeeping.
Well for reason unknown to me, I just can’t seem to figure out why we always ended up buying so many vegetables and potted plants filling up the car space and making it like a grocer van on the way back home! Something about buying something, anything that makes us smile like a Cheshire cat!
Walking distance to Local Attractions
And if you have some craving for juicy strawberries, there is the Hill Strawberry Farm just located opposite of the hotel. Here you can get strawberries and freshly made strawberry jams. But do note that strawberries grown in Cameron Highlands are not sweet!
I don’t know the reason why, perhaps it may have something to do with the strawberry variety or perhaps the soil? Whatever the reason, to have a nice juicy strawberry feast requires dipping the fruit in some sugar powder to enhance its tastiness. So much for sweet strawberries in Cameron Highlands!
And for the rose enthusiasts, the Rose Center is just some walking distance down the road from the market at Kea Farm.
Along the way, you can see some of the farms with the vegetables growing at their various stages.
There is a school along the way too. As you get nearer to the Rose Center, you can have a closer look at some of the terrace farm. The terrace landscape always makes for an interesting view with its green steps flowing away down the hillside.
Turning around, you can see the Equatorial Hotel sitting high up on the cliff edge overlooking the area. So I suppose I am getting the worm’s eye view from way down here at the Kea Farm valley looking up at the hotel!
So planning to stay at Equatorial Cameron Highlands Hotel? You could either wait for the special offer vouchers from your bank or you could inquire with the hotel for the latest rate and offers available for your stay at telephone: +60 5 496 1777.