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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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?
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| 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?
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| 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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