Tuesday, September 11, 2012

An Enchanting Trip to Colmar Tropicale, Berjaya Hills



The main entrance of Colmar Tropicale evokes the feeling of stepping into a medieval fortress
My parents, two brothers and I arrived at the Bukit Tinggi escapade after an hour’s drive from KL. The roads winding up the mountain were reminiscent of those going up Cameron Highlands, just a tad little wider.

Nestled in the mountains, Colmar Tropicale is a place where you can relax without any interference from the outside world (except with a mobile phone and internet connection) as it is about a 10 minutes drive from the nearest village which is Kampung Bukit Tinggi.

We drove past the entrance gates where we paid for our tickets like any other day tourists although we have booked our rooms for a night. The teller told us that we would receive refunds for the tickets at the hotel reception.

The French village was bustling with tourists when we arrived at 2PM
We parked at the designated basement parking and proceeded to the reception. It was already 2pm and there were a few other guests checking in already. The staff worked efficiently and I was checked in within 5 minutes, very quick and friendly service.

Thank goodness we were in Azalea block, the main block just above the reception area and we did not have to walk far. In Colmar, all the shops are located on ground level, and rooms are all above the shops. There are many different blocks, each named after French flowers.

The spacious queen bed in the second bedroom
Our room was a 2 bedroom suite, and it was very spacious. Split into two different floors, the bottom floor housed the kitchenette, living room and a restroom. Up a steep flight of stairs, we come to a corridor where the left leads to the master bedroom with an attached bathroom and a view of the mountains and gardens below. 

The bathroom and restrooms in the suite were clean and well kept
The second bedroom is a smaller room with the same queen bed as the master bedroom, overlooking the main street. A little restroom is located outside the corridor, just for convenience.

The delicious mushroom pizza at La Flamme for lunch
We went down and had lunch just outside our block at La Flamme, a pizzeria. We had quite a reasonable meal of Hawaiian and Mushroom pizza together without the mushroom soup, though it’s definitely pricier than what we would have paid for the same in KL. (Tip: pack your own food!)

We then hurried to catch the next shuttle to the Japanese village nearby. Shuttles are provided from Colmar to the various attractions on site, such as Animal Farm, Adventure Park, Organic Farm, to name a few.

It then started to drizzle so we were worried we couldn’t reach the Japanese village since we didn’t have umbrellas. Luckily the rain stopped after a journey of twisting through steep roads and we alighted at the foot of a steep staircase that would lead us to the village.

Warning for older folks and the faint-hearted: this trek up to the village is not made for you! My brothers and I were a little breathless after climbing up the staircase, but my parents didn’t take it well. They were already exhausted, and it was just like 20% of the hike up!

We had to walk another gradual slope up that twists around the mountain. We saw a little rest stop and thought (yay!) we had reached. Just to get cheated that it was a resting place for tired legs...

The welcome signboard that made us all so happy!
We soldiered on, and finally we reached a signboard that says ‘Welcome to the world’s first Japanese Tea House in the Tropical Forest’ and we whooped with joy! We looked left and right and saw a signpost that said Japanese Garden and Japanese Tea House are on our left.

And on our left is... no surprise... another staircase leading into a forest! Feeling frustrated, we thought, ‘Hey, why turn back when we have come this far?’ and proceeded to climb up. Luckily, a beautiful Japanese landscaping accompanied us up the hike. We passed by many Japanese inspired sculptures and features as well as trees that are labelled with their names on them. Truly a nature walk!

We reached the Japanese Tea House, where to enter, you have to either pay for a tea ceremony or photo-taking session with rented kimonos by a professional photographer. We opted not to since it costs quite a bomb. Why pay when we can take photos of ourselves in the beautiful setting?

The one and only Ume Tatami Suite in the heart of the Japanese Village
We walked on and passed the superbly expensive, one and only Ume Tatami Suite which costs RM4,800 a night! Personally it looks really Japanese, but I wouldn’t want to be left all alone in the mountains at night. Do you?

The Ryo Zantei Japanese Restaurant is nestled in the beautiful Botanical Garden
After that, we took a walk downhill with little to see, mostly just green growth, and we came back to the Japanese souvenir shop and another turn-off to the Ryo Zantei Japanese Restaurant in the Botanical Garden.

We were so thirsty after the long hike we stopped for a drink at the restaurant. Mind you, a cup of steaming hot green tea costs RM4.25 here! But it’s really all worth it considering the exclusiveness of the place and the beautiful scenery we were dining in.

After that, we decided to skip the botanical gardens to go back to the French village since it’s getting late and we were tired as well.

The author totally fancies a trip to Europe, and found out about the real Colmar town in France through Pinterest. Going to Colmar Tropicale is a half-dream come true without even needing a passport!

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