Why I still Blog Today

 This question popped up in my head recently from one conversation I had with a friend which is why I decided to blog about this. Before I get started, I gotta warn y'all, this is one wordy blog post.

Here are the 6 reasons why I still blog today:-

#1 Finding my 'Voice' & Sense of Identity

In my early days of blogging, writing a blog post was intimidating. I couldn't string a proper sentences together never mind writing a paragraph! Therefore, I had kept my sentences short and looking back, it was an awkward phase. Thankfully, I grew up over the years _ I found how to arrange my sentences, how to tell stories in my own, comfortable 'voice'. It took lots of trials and errors but I can tell you for sure today that my persistence paid off!

It was the least of my intention when I started blogging. It's just that when I write, I want to be able to relate my experience in proper sentences. For that, I will looked up the web to check my grammar, sentence and to date, I still rely heavily on thesaurus! The Internet can be a great tool to learn and information is just a click away so it boggles me when people ask me questions they can find from the net! Of course, blogging doesn't automatically improves your English, it takes a lot of homework too. Back in university, a friend once proclaimed that he blogs to improve his English and I went to his site and couldn't understand a thing... It looks as though he just translated sentences directly from Chinese and everything was jumbled up. You get it.

Besides that, blogging teaches me to be just be ok with what I have and discovered what I like not just when it writing. I know myself.

When I started reviewing on beauty products, I made a point to buy stuff so that I have 'materials' to write about. That was when beauty blogging start kicking up. Over the years, I find it exhausting to keep up and makeup, while fun isn't my thing. I can go makeup-less and couldn't care less LOL. Whatever you see I review these days are things I bought for a purpose. Other than beauty, you see more photos of food, places I've been because I love photography and I love going places.

#2 Builds my Sense of Responsibility

Maintaining a blog can take a lot of effort and time! I usually need to edit my photos, then plan how I want to articulate my post, draft, recheck for grammatical errors (if I can spot them), revise, rephrase before publishing. It doesn't ends after a post has been published! You will need to plan for your next posts and find time to post consistently even though few people read your blog.

Myself, I try to post on the weekend because that's when I'm free to sit down and write. I try not to go window shopping or hangout around KL often but at the same time keep myself occupied! While consistency is a must, I don't write for the sake of posting. I write because I wanna preserve important events in my life, or if I share something, I hope it helps my readers or whoever who dropped my blog like my beauty reviews or travelogues. There are also things I won't share it here on my blog.

I can tell you blogging isn't for everyone for reasons mentioned earlier because I have encouraged friends to blog and they did try blogging. Unfortunately, the blogs didn't last. Heck, these people are better writers than I am and who dreamed of making big with their blogs but they hated the process. It must have looked oh-so-easy-peasy when Vivien does it. Well, nope. I truly believe they could've gained way-y more readers than I do if only they have persisted!

Blogging also makes me quite a planner. I am always planning my next posts, creating lists, scheduling myself so I can sit down and finish what I plan. 

People often ask me stuff like how are you so comfortable being by yourself? Because I keep myself occupied. I just didn't mention it's blogging LOL.

#3 Continuous self-learning and improvement

Whenever I log into my blog, questions like these pop up: What can I write to make my blog interesting? How do I use HTML / JavaScript to make my blog nicer or add a table or tweak my sidebar? How can I improve my photography skills so I can take good photos for myself and my blog? How do you articulate this sentence better in writings? How to improve my blog's SEO? What do I want to write next? How can I keep producing fun contents without breaking my piggy bank? And a whole bunch of other questions just came running into my mind.

Even in my recent post on my 2D1N Trip to Cameron Highlands, I had to look up the internet to figure out how to include tables into the post. That involves learning how to turn your Microsoft Word table into HTML format, pretty cool!

#4 Enhance & Preserved My Memories

Blogging forced me to make an effort to remember the things that happened so I can pen them down when I'm ready to blog! For example, sometimes I post a travelogue (like my recent Bali & the Nusa Islands and Singapore travelogues) moons after I have been to the place. In order to write about these experiences, I would need to recall stuff. Because of that, I tend to remember what I've experienced better.

Once my BFF remarked along the line, "I forgot we were chased by a dog!" I on the other hand, had been getting flashbacks of the incident whenever I see a dog and that made me chuckle. That's because I penned typed them down. You know, we may all be super confident of our memories but we do forget. There was once I was so busy at work, I totally forgot about an outing I had weeks before! My friend was like, "do you remember that time when ..." and I went, did that happened? OMG, it did. Was that just few weeks ago?!

This is just one of the many reasons I write. When I had the opportunity to look back at my writings especially travelogues, I reminisce about things like my impression of the place and how happy and grateful I felt which made me feel happy and grateful now.

#5 Keeps my mind occupied & optimistic

"An idle mind is the devil's workshop" I think this is one of my favorite idiom and something I strongly agree on. I look around me and usually the pessimist or gossip mongers acquaintances have just too much free time on their hands! Or mostly they're preoccupied with negativity.

Myself, I used to begin my blog post saying "Sorry I haven't been writing, been caught up with work yadayadayada". I'm more mindful about that these days. Work still gets hectic, chaotic and stressful, but I don't need to repeat that in 10 different blog posts! I don't encourage false positivity-kinda mindset, but I don't want to be Negative Nancy.

#6 Blogging gives me a sense of satisfaction

Yes, blogging satisfies me when people tell me they like what they're reading and when they told me that my reviews are helpful whether in helping them decide what products to buy or how to get someplace I have been. Besides, I feel a sense of achievement whenever I finish a blog post or the list of posts I had been planning to write!

Not so long ago, I had a conversation with another gal pal who has her own blog but haven't been blogging because she doesn't have a proper camera. It goes something along the line,

Me: "Why don't you blog anymore?"
Her: "I don't have a nice camera to take pics!"
Me: "But you have an iPhone, for goodness sake!"
Her: "The photos are not as nice (as a camera)"
Me: "Heh"
Her: "Hey, you bought your own domain?"
Me: "Yup!"
Her: "Why spend on your blog?! Who reads blog anymore?"
Me: "Maybe less people read blogs with Vlogs these days, but I still do."
Her: "I don't get why you'd go the distance for blogging!"
Me: *silence*
Her: "One of my relative loves video-making and purposely paid for a song royalty so he can include it into a video he made for my cousin's wedding and upload it on YouTube. I don't get why you people bother going the distance just for blogging/producing video!"
Me: *silence*


And I was there thinking, Exactly! We would go the distance because we LOVE what we are doing. It gives us a sense of satisfaction not everybody can relate to! Doesn't matter if nobody or just a handful who reads what I write! I FREAKING LOVE WHAT I'M DOING! Maybe in the near future, if I feel the need to have more readers/need more blog space, I'll go the distance and pay for hosting! Maybe I will run ads! Meanwhile, I'll definitely keep writing!

As for whether blogging is still in now, I know I rely on reviews before purchasing something, I read travelogues when preparing my travel itinerary or simply to daydream HAHAHA! I looked up local bloggers for recipes, hipster cafes, best food stalls, personal finance, beauty reviews and the list goes on! I've been reading blogs for so long some of the bloggers I follow are now mummy bloggers,aI cannot relate to, yet. Of late, I read summaries of K-Dramas simply because it's faster than watching the 20-hour long episodes. It may be a different experience but I love to read what others wrote! Yeah, two of my homies gave me the look when I told them the former.

~♡~

In Conclusion

Most importantly, my blog is my life journal! When I started publicly writing, I wanted to gain plenty readers, which I managed to do! This days, blogging means documenting the important moments of my life. This is my writing identity. Hopefully in decades to come when my memories fail me, looking back at what I've written and photos I post today will make the old lady happy and grateful. Maybe on bad days, it'll make me smile.

Now I have a question for y'all _ Why do you still blog?

2D1N in Cameron Highlands

Just last weekend, I was at Cameron Highland just to spend the weekend away from oh-so hot Selangor weather. It was a random decision made just two days prior to the trip LOL. I have been to Cameron Highlands on day trips with my family since childhood but this round was sorta a different experience in a way this time I am doing the planning while getting to know about Cameron Highlands. Sharing that with y'all in case you're planning for a trip to Cameron Highlands soon, hopefully you'll find this helpful in your planning.

~♡~

How to get to Cameron Highlands from Kuala Lumpur

My usual site for bus booking is the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan's website but most of the tickets have sold out by then and the remaining ones were with odd traveling hours. So my travel buddy recommended EasyBook.Com. I decided to get the tickets from the latter and we chose the earliest departure from Titiwangsa Bus Station (accessible by Titiwangsa Monorail Station).

Since we had time, we first have our lunch in Quill City Mall's Roast & Grill.

The bus we took. The sleepy head there just woke up. Face blur like sotong OMG.

I was asleep for the first two hours during which we passed by Bentong and the bumpy, winding ascend from the foot of the hill begin. Somehow, instead of the scheduled 5 hour journey, we ended up traveling for 7 hours! I don't know why, the road was clear. Thankfully, the ride back was just about half the departing time. I actually prefer my couch back, the seats were much more comfortable. Forgot which bus company is that. It's CS Travel.

~♡~

Where to Stay

I stayed in Tanah Rata in a backpackers' hostel called De Cameron. We booked this from Expedia because I couldn't find a room with a good rate from AirBnB with such a short notice. Other site to check is Booking.Com.

The best thing about this place is that this place is just right opposite the Tanah Rata's Fressia Bus Terminal and right beside MarryBrown's. The other thing is this place is just RM37.50 per person, per night which is quite a steal! One room consist of four bunks with curtains if you want privacy and a small cabinet with four lockers enough to put our wallet, camera plus as a temporary souvenirs space. Just a quick introduction of Tanah Rata, it is one of the 3 main towns in Cameron Highlands and the closest to Brinchang and the peak of Cameron Highlands. By taxi, it won't take you 10 minutes to reach Brinchang!

Other hotels you can find around Tanah Rata are:-

Planters Hotel
Same row of dhophouse with De Cameron,  less than 5 minutes away from the taxi stand. Rates unknown.

Sleepbox Hotel
5-10 minutes walk through badly lit road. Around RM40 per person per night.

Tips #1: Of course, there are a lot others you can find in Tanah Rata but with different rates! Aside from Tanah Rata, you can consider staying in Brinchang town even though Tanah Rata's just like 5-10 minutes away from Brinchang's closest touristy spots. While you can find hostels and hotel just everywhere, it is best to book the rooms online, they are usually fully booked on the weekends and public holidays.

Tip #2: Avoid heading to Cameron Highlands especially on the weekends and public holidays. Traffic during these period is terrible!

~♡~

Getting around in Cameron Highlands

Ok, this was tricky! We spent a lot of time walking to save money and mostly because we had trouble finding rides because it was such a packed weekend in Cameron Highlands! Coming back from the Brinchang Night Market, no taxi. At Boh Tea Plantation Center, taxis fully booked, the roads were jammed and no taxi drivers willing to drive from Tanah Rata to Brinchang to fetch us back to Tanah Rata... So on day 2 we spent hours walking! Because of that, we couldn't spend time in the Mossy Forest nor Time Tunnel, two places we really want to check out!

From our backpackers' hostel in Tanah Rata, we weren't prepared and didn't know how to get around. Our host recommended a taxi driver who would take us to both Mossy Forest and Boh Tea's Plantation Centre but for RM150! The same, kind taxi driver told us it is possible to get to these places by taking a bus at the station and stopping at the Honey Bee Farm. From there, we could walk.

We're fine with walking so walk we did. Took us close to 2 hours to reach the centre because we made stopovers to snap photos and all! Because of that, we decided against heading to the Mossy Forest... From the Boh Tea's Plantation Centre back to the Honey Bee Farm took us half the time.


See the road right there? That was where we were heading to!

On the bright side, it meant we could enjoy the scenery and take our time snapping photos along the way which was exactly what we did!



On the way back from the Boh Tea Plantation, we crossed path with several groups of people who has resorted to walking because the cars were barely moving! In fact, several times while walking, we caught up with the same jeep with two little girls inside who kept waving at us, they were so adorable!

One energetic uncle we came across remarked, this is the best way to get up (to avoid the jam) and that he's happy to do the walking LOL! Foreigners walking towards the plantation/mossy forest and between the two towns are a common sight as well.

Tips #3 : Go with groups of 4 to rent taxis or a tour. Unless you and your pals don't mind taking your time and long walks. Though bear in mind of the traffic!

Tip #4 : According to my host at De Cameron, there are no cars for rental but scooters or mopeds. However, I have seen foreigners driving but cannot be sure whether they rented the car before heading up to Cameron Highlands or if they own the car *shrugs*


~♡~

What to Do in 1 Day & 1 Night in Cameron Highlands

I consider myself being in Cameron Highlands for 1 day and 1 night only because by the time we arrived, it was close to 7PM. Our first destination is the park right beside the terminal for photos before heading to the Brinchang's Weekend Night Market.

 

Visit the Boh Tea Plantation Center or in our case, take a hike!

While walking down towards Time Tunnel, we also stopped by the several markets by the road. There, I found a fruit called buah cinta (this literally translates to "love fruit") which I have never came across before! Out of curiousity, I bought a bunch of four to try. I find their taste pretty interesting, worth trying once. Then probably never again HAHAHAHA. I'm gonna keep this for myself so you guys go try okayss~~

Visit farms and nurseries such as the Bees Farm, Rose Garden, Butterfly Park, Cactus Point and the list goes on!

If you have plenty of time, trek Mossy Forest and go to Time Tunnel Museum. If you got an extra day, consider heading to the Rose Valley and Grapes Farm located further north up Brinchang. Or simply hike up a different trail in the Mossy Forest!

~♡~

What to eat in Cameron Highlands

In Tanah Rata, places to makan includes Kougen Cafe, Capitale Cafe, Jasmine Cafe. AA Curry House (which is really just mamak restaurant), other mamak shops nearby, a Starbucks, The Mossy Forest Cafe and Old Town. Apparently, you can find The Lord's Cafe and some Chinese restaurants but we missed them.


Brinchang's Weekend Night Market which opens from Friday to Sunday.

Warm up with tomyam or herbal steamboat. We dined at Glory 78's Steamboat & Snack Corner, a restaurant right smack between the Brinchang's Weekend Night Market and Tanah Rata.

Ice creams! It's cold, but who cares? They're available from the Brinchang Night Market or the roadsides market.

Lunch plus tea time at Boh Tea's Plantation Center.

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What to get for souvenirs

Cameron Highland grown vegetables, corns and fruits (such as the buah cinta shared earlier). In one roadside market, I found some durians as well.

Not forgetting the potted flower plants, flower bouquets, cactus, air plants and succulents. If I have my own place, I wanna get hydrangaes! They're so pretty and reminded me of my maiden trip to Japan. I wanna go back to Japan!!!!

If you collect fridge magnets like I do, there are plenty to choose from! I bought Cameron stamp magnets for my fam and myself. I also bought this one animal shaped head and ear warmers. I don't remember seeing this last time I was around with my fam but this round, they're everywhere!

If you love tea, buy some Boh Tea from the Brinchang's Boh Tea Plantation Center. I didn't because the last time I was there (years ago!), I remembered having compare the prices and found the Boh Tea's products cheaper in supermarket in Selangor/KL albeit a minor differences. This time, I took some photos of the products and their prices from the Boh Tea's Plantation Center and then came back to compare. Here are my findings:-

Products	Price at Boh Tea's Plantation Center	Price at Aeon
*Boh Tea's bags in a 40g cannister (in 4 different blends)	RM30	Not Available
Boh Tea's Seri Songket in retail mixed bags of 30's	RM31.80	Not Available
Boh Tea's Gold Blend in 150g cannister	Unknown	RM11.80
Boh Tea's Seri Songket in box of 20's	RM9.50	RM9.50
Boh Tea's Ice tea in pack of 20's (Lemon-Lime/Peach/Orchard Splash flavors)	RM10.85	RM10.84
*Boh Green Tea Latte in pack of 12's	RM14.30	*RM14.05 on promo

which brings me to my next tip,

Tip #5: Consider purchasing Boh Tea's products in your local supermarket instead of the Boh Tea's Plantation Center, the price does not differ much. HOWEVER, you can purchase the 40g cannister in 4 different type of blends or the Green Tea Latte pack, I do not see these in Aeon.

~♡~

Itinerary & Budget for 2D1N in Cameron Highlands

For that 1D1N trip to Cameron Highlands, here is a summary of what I spent on:-

Day	Expenses Descriptions	Expense (Per person)
Pre-Booked	Accommodation at De Cameron, Tanah Rata	RM37.50
Pre-Booked	Transportation - Return bus trip to/from KL to Freesia Bus Terminal, Tanah Rata	RM68.40
Day 1	Lunch in KL prior to departure	RM32.90
	Transportation - One-Way* Taxi to Brinchang's Weekend Night Market	RM7.50
	Food spent in Brinchang's Weekend Night Market - Sweet potatoes ball, corn cob and honey	RM14.00
	Glory 75's Steamboat -  Steamboat & Sundae	RM32.20
	Souvenirs - Honey sticks & small jar and corns	RM20.00
Total Day 1 Expenses		RM212.50
Day 2	Breakfast at nearby mamak	RM3.35
	Bus - One-Way* from Tanah Rata to Brinchang town (Per person)	RM4.00
	**Suggestion to hike Mossy Forest in the morning** Lunch at Boh Tea's Plantation Center (Per person)	RM24.00
	Ice Cream break at road-side night market	RM5.00
	Honey bees' farm Hung out the outside Rose Garden (RM6/Adult, RM4/Child) Butterfly farm's entrance ticket (RM7/Adult, RM4/Child)	Free - RM7.00
	Corn in cup for snack	RM3.00
	Taxi from Brinchang to Tanah Rata *shared*	RM15.00
	Dinner at Old Town, Tanah Rata Boarded the coasch home	RM17.53 -
	Water bottle	RM3.50
	Souvenirs - Magnets and Head & Ears Warmet	RM22.90
Total Day 2 Expenses		RM105.28
GRAND TOTAL		RM317.78

As you noticed, you can save from 1) dining less in fancy restaurants and cafe and 2) walking in our case LOL. Looking back, I think we should've pre-booked tours or taxi, it is so much more time-saving and convenient! We weren't prepare this time but at least we know now.

Tip #6 : If you a tourists, ensure you have enough local currency. One friendly Singaporean I met told me that the only money changer you can find is at Tanah Rata. So get enough MYR before you get to Cameron Highlands!

~♡~

Temperature in Cameron Highlands

We all know the highlands are generally colder. But I found out in a really painful way that you still need sunblock in Cameron Highlands! I think it was from all the walking involved in my current trip. I didn't feel the heat like when I was in Bali, The Nusa Islands, Singapore or  summer in Taiwan! It boggles me how I ended up with such painful burns and it hurts for days!

Tip #7 : Apply sunblock! 

Tip #8 : Bring jacket to shield yourself from the wind. While it isn't super cold most of the time (like during noon, about 28 degrees Celsius) and you can dress up in sleeveless top and short skirt like I do, it did feel cold at times. Temperature was at 18-21 degrees Celsius in the morning and at night when we were there.

~♡~

In conclusion

It is possible to explore both Tanah Rata and Brinchang towns in 2 -3 days provided that the traffic is smooth (consider going on weekdays!) and if you have transportation to get around. You also save when going in a group of friends or family.

Despite being tired from the hours of walking, we enjoyed our time there! I would definitely love to go back to track the different trails of the Mossy Forest. Cameron Highlands was a great weekend getaway for anyone who wants to get away from the heat and a beautiful place to just relax. Just be mindful of the strong UV rays up the highlands!