DP | @ekhoophotography

A lot of my life seems to revolve around Cameron Highlands. No reason why but it's been the place for a lot of interesting and life-changing events in my life. One reason could be that I'm kind of a winter person. Anything above twenty-one degrees celcius is warm and I think the sweet spot is a lovely fifteen. Camerons, being at an altitude of 5,500 feet above sea level makes for a more pleasant temperature for me.

Anyways, this time round, we returned to my favorite place to stay, the OMF bungalow just outside Tanah Rata (flat-ground in Malay). OMF trumps every hotel I've stayed in Camerons mainly due to it's lovely caretaker and surrounds. The old bungalow still has charm and Mrs Chye, the current caretaker serves up good old plain home cooking and unbeatable scones. Don't waste your money on those pathetic scones at Ye Olde Smokehouse. This one's made with love and freshly baked. The only other scone worth spending money for in Camerons (my opinion anyways) is at T-Cafe in Tanah Rata. T-Cafe is going to be renamed to Lord's Cafe soon. All the best Terese!

Secondly, this is a great place to unwind from the hustle and bustle of any city. There's only 8 rooms and the nearest neighbor is about two miles down the road. Being on an isolated outcrop, it does get windy and cold but get yourself a mug of steaming hot chocolate, a good book and you can enjoy the great outdoors.

It was a good getaway and as usual, was filled with quite a lot of good food. Probably overdid it but don't you always overeat on holiday anyways? The Sungai Palas Tea plantation has now been upgraded and it looks fantastic. It looks awesome but I didn't take any photos of the exterior because the excitement has now been spoiled by stupid drivers who don't know how to drive on single lane roads. I mean if you see an approaching car and you're at a section which permits passing, stop the car and let the incoming car pass. Seems like all the good drivers are long gone and we have city folk who think that giving way is a weakness. Pure stupidity which results in a fifteen minute journey taking over half-an-hour. Not recommended if you're not a good driver! Looks like all that off-road driving on even narrower trails had some benefit after all!

That's it for now, more photos to come...

Had a three-day working weekend -- taking the dog to the vet, proposals, videos, photos, weddings, house-painting, mowing the lawn and more! I also had the chance to put my RadioPoppers to work in various distances and ranges around the house. Sunday evening was spent working on write-ups and excel spreadsheets while it rained but once the rain stopped, we went ahead to put in a new addition to our home farm -- four-angle beans, cucumbers, peanuts, basil and more. The former two plants are creepers or vines so good thing we had a supply of freshly cut bamboo to construct our new trellis.

Behold!

Have tested round the corners of the house plus from the dining to the living room (approx 25 feet) and still have full e-TTL2. I'll try them this weekend at our Orang Asli Christmas charity event -- full outdoors! The bamboo trellis above was shot with three Canon 580EX II flash units, two RadioPopper PX receivers - first unit sitting 8 feet left of me, second unit right-side around the corner of the house, approx 12 feet away. I'll be adding more Poppers next March!

Well, when the Market stinks, you find other kinds of stinky projects to do... like rearing edible fish for the market