When Love Was Younger

A tea estate in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, 2007

This November marks our 8th year together as a couple, and a family. And I’ve never been happier. I wish it’ll last forever …really! This year also saw an addition to our little family, our red baby, Jayden (coz he turns bright red at the slightest irritation).

Here’re some photos of a time when our relationship was younger, right after our first anniversary. Then, we’re free birds, without kids. Kinda miss the freedom of those times. We could like, hang out anywhere, have some drinks at a pub, watch a movie whenever we like to, go on a backpacking trip or a hike… Longing for those days. Maybe when our kids turn 20, …not too long to wait, 2034…




No, this is not Assam, nor Sri Lanka. It’s Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. This is Anu’s first time there, and my err… 80th time?! (I honestly don’t know – have been going there since I was a teeny toddler).

Ever wonder how plantations and farms become an attraction? I do. What’s so cool about visiting a tea estate? Call it whatever, but it’s essentially a farm. Maybe it’s because the world’s become so advanced and urban, that a little bit of rustic rural farm is just the thing you need to unwind and relax. Never mind the buzzing flies, the muck that you have to wade through and the fresh smell of fertilizer, which I suspect is made of shit (it sure smells like it).

But tea estates are different! No muck, no flies, no signs of fertilizer. Just acres and acres of green stunted trees, pruned to perfection (by the constant picking of their leaves), growing on slopes. And the cool weather, and fresh air!

If you’re thinking of visiting Cameron Highlands, do so before it’s too late. Last I heard, it’s no longer cool. Global warming, and the indiscriminate clearing of forests will surely put an end to its charm. Heck, just the other day, there’s a story in the Malaysian papers that a landslide killed 3 people in Cameron Highlands. I’m not surprised, with the way people are chopping down trees. Don’t believe me? Just drive from Cameron Highlands to Gua Musang, Kelantan. Horrendous sight, hill after hill of bare brown earth, devoid of trees, miles and miles of ugly plastic sheets strung up as shelters for the new vegetable farms… That was what we saw in 2013.


Family picture, Cameron Highlands, 2007


Anu and Hazel at our hotel (forgot the name) in Cameron Highlands