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Berjaya Hills is a highland resort destination in Pahang near Bentong, located along Karak Highway after Genting Highlands. Residing on 820-meters high mountain ridge, the weather is cooling climate of mist and sunshine.
Leisure trip at a glance
Country: Malaysia
Period: 30 Dec 2011 to 01 Jan 2012
Transport:
Return trip on Grassland Express coach bus
Return trip on Colmar Tropicale shuttle service
Accommodation:
Colmar Tropicale resort (30 Dec to 01 Jan)
Currency exchange rate: MYR 10 = SGD 4.16 (Dec '11 period)
There is no time difference between Singapore and Malaysia as both countries are in GMT+8 time zone. Total damage was about SGD 350 including transport, food & hotel, and excluding personal expenses.
Day One
Took the Grassland Express coach bus (left photo below) from the Golden Mile Complex at 0745 hours. The seats in this coach are comfortable, and each equipped with a mini-entertainment LED screen (right photo below). The return coach bus cost SGD 73 per person.
Reason for selecting Grassland coach was because it stopped opposite Berjaya Times Square where our resort shuttle bus was located. We reached Kuala Lumpur at about 1.30 pm.Resort Shuttle Bus
Once reached Berjaya Times Square, we then proceeded to level 8 to the sales office to purchase our shuttle bus tickets. The return ticket cost MYR 55 per person. There were three timings daily for the two pickup points.
| Berjaya Times Square to Colmar Tropicale | ||
|---|---|---|
| Colmar Tropicale to Berjaya Times Square | ||
|---|---|---|
After a quick check with the hotel concierge at the hotel west wing fountain area (left photo below), we then boarded the resort shuttle bus (right photo below) which departed on time at 1700 hours. The journey took about an hour to reach the resort due to the heavy traffic in the city area.
Colmar Tropicale ResortColmar Tropicale is modelled after 16th century Colmar town, north east of Alsace, France. It also incorporated architectural designs and elements from ancient surrounding villages of Riquewihr, Turckheim and Kaysersberg. This French-themed village, opened in 2000, is clustered by little French buildings and houses which are actually clusters of hotel rooms, restaurants and shops.
Checked in our resort and was assigned to the room at the second floor in one of the buildings. Room was spacious and clean with some French style furnitures (photos below). Booked this resort online and it cost SGD 98.60 after conversion per person for two nights with breakfast.
It started to rain soon after we checked in, thus decided to stay in the room and had our simple dinner bought from the Cold Storage and Starbucks. At about 9.30 pm the rain stopped and we decided to explore the resort at night. Following were taken with the Christmas lightings (photos below).
Day Two
Buffet Breakfast
Woke up early in the morning at 8.30 am for breakfast. The breakfast area was at La Blason restaurant (left photo below) which was the biggest restaurant within the Colmar Tropicale. A wide range of breakfast buffet were available and my selection was rather typical in most trips (right photo below).
French-themed villageAfter breakfast, we decided to explore the resort. The entrance was fronted by a wooden bridge and a clock tower inspired by the Riquewihr Tower in Alsace (photos below).
The pathway is paved with cobblestone and surrounded by rows of colorful vintage-like houses with timber window frames (photos below).
There is an observation tower at the end of the Colmar square, which provides an aerial view of the resort and its surrounding hills (photos below).
Being a 3-star hotel, this resort has a short swimming pool and a wading pool (left photo below). Coin operated kid-rides are also available for toddlers and young children (right photo below).
The resort is definitely kids friendly; there are fun fair games set up for them to play (photos below).
Landscaping played a part in shaping the French-themed village, such as the fountain in front of the entrance (left photo below) and the greeneries around the mini waterfall where the signage of Colmar Tropicale stands (right photo below).
Under the wooden bridge at the entrance is the water filled moat. A pair of black swans (left photo below) and a pair of white swans (right photo below) are kept there.
Surrounding attractionsThere are several attractions around the Colmar Tropicale, including a Japanese Village, Botanical Garden, Animal Farms, Horse riding, Adventure Park and award-winning golf course. Free shuttle rides are available to ferry resort guests to rabbit park and Japanese Teahouse at a frequency of half-hourly during weekends and public holidays. We opted to visit the Japanese Village, which comprises of the Japanese Tea House, Botanical Garden, Tatami Spa, Ume Tatami Suite and Ryo Zan Tei Restaurant.
Upon arrival at our destination, we were captivated by spectacular view of the lush rainforests and meandering valleys (photos below). Sometimes Genting Highlands can even be observed from the Colmar Tropicale when the weather is good.
At the Japanese Village we saw visitors dressed up in Kimono (left photo below). At a rent of MYR 20, visitors are allowed to dress and roam around the area within 30 minutes. Next, we walked to the Botanical Gardens which is more of a nursery than a garden (right photo below).
Late lunch and High TeaTook the shuttle ride back to the resort. Decided to have late lunch at this La Flamme restaurant. From its menu, the choices of pizza are limited (left photo below). Nevertheless, we ordered a Pollo e Fungi pizza (right photo below) and Hawaiian pizza (bottom left photo). Probably not satisfied with the portion, we ordered deep fried chicken wings (bottom right photo). Total cost for this late lunch was MYR 83.50.
There was not much activities for us in the resort, thus we moved to another café La Boulangerie for our high tea (left photo below). Got myself a Café Au Lait Caramel at MYR 11 (right photo below).
Dinner Buffet
We were contemplating whether to go for the New Year's Eve dinner in the resort which cost MYR 78 per person. But we confirmed our decision once we smell the barbeque aroma coming from the restaurant.
The dinner took place in the La Blason restaurant and it is the same place where we had our breakfast. There were outdoor (left photo below) and indoor dinning (right photo below) to choose.
A variety of starters were available, such as the traditional salads (left photo below) and fruit cocktail salads (right photo below).
Roasted lamb was a must to try (photos below).
There was seasoned fillet (left photo below) and sushi (right photo below) to select.
As for the desserts, there were colorful bite-size cakes (left photo below) and even its decorative bread house looked so tempting (right photo below).
Here were what I selected in this buffet dinner (photos below).
After dinner, we stayed till mid-night for the count-down. There was some small fireworks display at the resort entrance.
Day Three
Restaurant staffs were efficient as the same restaurant we had dinner was converted back to serve breakfast the next day. Wide range of breads and pastries were readily served in the morning (left photo below). As usual my breakfast selection was pretty much standard (right photo below).
Took the shuttle bus ride at 1130 hours to Berjaya Times Square. As still had some time, we decided to have lunch at the Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant in the Times Square. Ordered soup noodles with Hot and Spicy Pork Dices (left photo below) and a cold milk tea (right photo below). Total price was about MYR 20.
We then took the Grassland Express coach at Berjaya Times Square. As it was a public holiday, we reached Singapore close to mid-night due to the jam at the customs.
With this, it ended my weekend trip to Berjaya Hills.