It's fruit and vegetables galore at Gohtong Jaya, writes Ewe Paik Leong
AS I drive along a winding mountain road, my ears pop. I am ascending the backbone of the peninsula, the Titiwangsa range.
I'm headed for Gohtong Jaya, along a road lined with needly larch and spruce.
Gohtong Jaya is a one-road township filled with restaurants.
Invigorated by the cool air and with my senses heightened, I park my car and start my search for a place for lunch.
I step into Restoran Ratha Baru, which specialises in chicken curry and fish head curry. No luck. It's full.
Further on is Restoran Sri Gelanggi Baru but it's closed. So I backtrack to Restoran Guan Kie, filled almost to the brim with customers.
My 30-minute lunch is constantly interrupted, at almost five-minute intervals as a silver-haired man tries to sell me lottery tickets, a foreigner offers roasted chestnuts and another foreigner attempts to sell two shiny, rotating balls. Two kids accost me with prawn fritters and a woman laden with a basket filled with packed fruits yells: "Strawberry! Dragon fruit! Nangka! Wax apple! Cherry tomato! Shark fin water melon!"
I shoot a glance at a sign on the restaurant wall which reads "No salesman allowed", shake my head at her and smile at the irony of her sales pitch.
TIME TO WALK
Of the almost 20 restaurants here, a few stand out, such as Restoran Hou Yen, famous for its frog noodles, Restoran Natural River Fish offering river fish from Pahang's Sungai Lipis, Restoran Pelangi (halal), serving Thai and Malay fare, Restoran Jung Ga Korean BBQ and 66 Corner Steamboat Buffet.
Numerous makeshift stalls front the shophouses and the sight of honey jackfruit, musang king durian, roasted chestnuts and purple-fleshed Okinawa sweet potato is most tempting.
At Backerei cafe in Your Hotel, the aroma of Vietnamese coffee grabs me by the throat. Resistance is futile. The next minute, I'm sipping away after handing over RM4 for a cup of coffee. Full-bodied, nutty and smooth, it has a grapefruit aftertaste.
"Vietnam coffee that is exported belongs to the coffee Arabica species," explains the cafe operator. "We also export cafe chon (also known as civet cat coffee or kopi luwak, made from beans eaten and passed out by civet cats)." The cafe also sells coffee beans.
Other surprising finds in Gohtong Jaya are two reflexology centres, obviously catering to trekkers with sore feet after they hike the jungle trails around Genting Highlands.
TO THE FARMS
After lunch, I zip over to the strawberry farm and am greeted by an ornamental fountain.
Thirty paces after passing the turnstile, there is a kiosk selling both fresh and dried strawberries. You can also pick your own strawberries (RM8 per 100g).
Turn left to go to Lavender Garden, which is practically a sea of purple. A shop offers lavender in cream, shampoo, soap, body milk and so on.
The cement path leading to the exit is lined with more stores, including an artist's sketch studio. Here, you can get knickknacks, strawberry milk shake, strawberry chocolate dip, strawberry milk tea, "I Love Genting" T-shirts and durian white coffee.
Suddenly I hear a girl yelling: "Come, come! Honey for men!"
My curiosity is piqued. I walk past glassed cases of dead specimens of wasps and bees before reaching her stall. "What's this honey for men?" I ask.
She flashes a grin and says: "Tongkat Ali honey."
She grabs a bottle and holds it in front of me. "One bottle is RM260."
I balk at the price. "No need, I have 11 kids," I reply, lying.
"What about bee pupa?" From the counter, she grabs a glass jar and gazes at my receding hairline.
"Bee pupa prevents hair loss, sir," she says, holding the jar and grins. "Also strengths the immune system, combats fatigue, improves digestion."
I squint at the contents in the bottle -- they look like dried maggots. I shudder and walk quickly to the next section, a mushroom farm.
There are rows and rows of mushrooms -- abalone, oyster monkey head and black fungus -- growing in plastic bags.
The air is mouldy and damp. The corridor ends in a showroom selling crispy mushroom snacks, health products, pumpkin flake noodle and spinach flake noodle.
MINI CAMERON
A five-minute loop by car from Gohtong Jaya and I arrive at Mini Cameron Highlands, a hydroponics centre.
The thrill here is harvesting your own greens. Available for picking are cherry tomato (RM1 per 100g), chili (RM1.20 per 100g), eggplant (60 sen per 100g) and tomato (60 sen per 100g).
My final stop is Happy Bee Farm & Insect World. There's a cafe in front of the building and as soon as I step on the verandah, several bees the size of giant flies, buzz around my face.
A sign on its hive reads: "Hello! I'm a stingless bee."
Aha, epiphany strikes me -- so the stunt of a man covering himself with bees is by using stingless bees!
Inside the enclosure, apart from interesting facts about the bee's life cycle, I learn that the giant yellow face hornet, snake bee (vespa auraria smith), and giant black hornet (vespa auraria gigantica) are carnivorous, feeding on other insects, and do not produce honey.
The tour ends in a showroom where crimson butterflies, earth-coloured moths and ferocious-looking beetles steal the show. These are priced from RM170 to RM1,888. I wonder how much the dead cicada I found will sell for when it is framed.