YowCH & Grace

111017 to 20 Fraser’s Hill trip

While Esther and David are excused from school for exam papers marking from 17 to 20 Oct 2011, and Grace has taken leave to look after them, we took the opportunity to enjoy a short holiday up in the highlands of Malaysia’s Titiwangsa Range, Fraser’s Hill.

Fraser’s Hill is a reserve, hence no major structures or plantation developments will be allowed, preserving the look of a Little England in Malaysia. Activities here are generally hiking, bird-watching, horse-riding and some mini-bikes, paddle-boats or mini-golf. Fraser’s Hill is also home of the first golf course in Malaysia.

Entry used to be through the winding road from The Gap to Fraser’s Hill (about 8km for 400m climb), being one lane only, up is on odd hours and down is on even hours. With the new route opened, up is via the old road and down is via the new road.

17 Oct 2011:
We drove from Singapore to PJ on 17 Oct (Monday) stating at 4:30am and reaching PJ home at about 8:30am.

After spending some time in PJ for banking, shopping and meals, we drove up to Fraser’s Hill starting from 1:00pm and arriving at 3:30pm.

This is the Sungei Selangor Dam along the way.

The GPS was most helpful as we can know in advance the curves of the windy road.

The Gap stopover and resthouse is no longer needed now that the old road no longer needs waiting for the hour change; the place is very run-down.

We entered Fraser’s Hill town centre (the Clock Tower) at about 3:30pm and drove straight to the Silverpark Resort, which is a condo development with some stay-in residents and the rest rented as hotel rooms. We took a two bedroom unit, A1-1-6, looks nice on photos but rather run-down actually.

The map is here, please click for a larger version. For scale the golf course in the middle is about 500m across.

We then drove over to Ye Olde Smokehouse for tea. Rather costly but the taste of the food and the setting was good. The place is old and smells quite musty as teh air has always been damp and cold.

After tea, we drove and walked around the whole area to familiarise ourselves.

We then had dinner at the Food Garden, and being off-peak, many of the stalls are closed. The food was reasonably priced and tasted OK.

With nothing to do in the dark, cold and damp nights, we watched a movie.

This is the workstation for photos review.

18 Oct 2011:
We had breakfast at Lavender Cafe, Silverpark, then went out on the first hike, Hemmant Trail (700m) which is the easiest.

David spotted two owls.

After the first trail, we continued to Bishop Trail (1500m) but we went in only about 400m as Joseph was tired and the trail was rather steep and slippery.

Esther and YowCH attracted leeches.

We left the trail and headed back to the car for a surprise for the children – horse riding.

Next stop, The Paddock for horse rides. Each round is RM4.00 for children, RM5.00 for adults and RM8.00 for child with adult accompanying.

After the horse rides, we went back to town centre for the necessary photo for all visitors to Fraser’s Hill:

We let the children enjoy the cool air at the playground, then had Ramly burger for lunch at the Food Garden.

We then went back to the condo to rest before heading out for more hiking. We went to Rompin Trail (160m) next; short but steep downhill.

Half-way into the trail, it started raining, so YowCH went ahead to see how far more to go on this trail.

We took a family photo, then YowCH headed back to the car (very steep and slippery uphill) while the family pressed on for pick-up at the foot of the hill at the end of the trail.

As Rompin Trail is right next to Ye Olde Smokehouse, we had tea again.

Quite a surprise that we are not the only Singapore car at Fraser’s Hill, even during this off-peak period.

With the rain, the whole are was foggy, but we managed to get to the Singapore House (managed by Aloha).

Another view of the town centre – foggy:

When we got back to the condo, we found a leech sucking Joseph’s blood, and the wound bled for 15 minutes after we removed the leech.

For dinner, we ate at Scotts, a Western/Asian food restaurant owned by Ye Olde Smokehouse, again rather empty.

A night view of the town centre and clock tower.

19 Oct 2011:
We woke up feeling fresher, as there was much less mosquito attacks than the first night since we bought mosquito coils. The car registered 18° outside air temperature.

The next hike, Abu Suradi Trail (350m) – steep and uphill all the way.

After Abu Suradi, the Mager Trail (310m) starts on a downhill back to the entrance of Frasser’s Hill. This trail was rather muddy, and there were signs of wild boars having dug into the soft ground along the trail.

We then had to walk past town centre to get back to the car.

Before we left Fraser’s Hill, we went for another 2 rounds of house ride for each child at The Paddock.

Upon checking out at 11:15am, we drove down Fraser’s Hill via the new road, less windy and wider, but still one lane only.

Along the was back to PJ, we stopped by the Sungei Semangkok water fall rest-point.