It’s
been an unbearable few weeks here in KL (El Niño, are you back
to torment us?!) and I was dying to escape this urban heat island. I had
earlier planned to visit Fraser’s Hill and thought it would be a good plan as
any to head there. I really can’t recall if I’d ever been to Fraser’s Hill
before but if I had, well, it’s time to get reacquainted.
I
took the afternoon off work on Friday, 19 August 2016 (yes, ten days ago!), and
we drove off to Fraser’s Hill, stopping en-route at Kual Kubu Baru for some
tea. I don’t know about you but I do hate being asked what drink I would like
before I’d even ordered my meal. Don’t these people know that it’s not good todrink just before and while eating?? We should drink a glass at least 30
minutes before. In fact, drinking two glasses before a meal can help one loseweight. Cool eh? I have cut down on my chicken consumption so I ordered bakso
and while waiting, I went to check out the durians on sale by the roadside.
RM7/kg for kampong durians. I’m not fussy about durians and am perfectly happy
to indulge in kampong durians. We didn’t buy any though.
Kampong durians at Kuala Kubu Baru. Was told they were local. The seller had D24 durians too
Bakso
The clock tower
View from the balcony
We
continued on and reached the Clock Tower at Fraser’s Hill at 17:30 and immediately
noticed the cooling calming mountain air. We got down and took some pictures
and walked about before asking for directions, a map and local info from the
bellman at Puncak Inn. Then we drove on to Pine Resort. We were greeted by a
monstrous-looking building to the right of the entrance. I had earlier
collected the keys from our Resort Unit and after parking, we proceeded to make
our way to the unit. My heart literally sank at the sight of the unkempt
buildings and staircases. I had read of the horrible reviews on TripAdvisor and
must say they were warranted. Our unit would have to be at the very top of
course but fortunately it turned out to be cosy, well-kept, well-maintained,
clean and comfortable. There are three ensuite rooms with the master bedroom
reached by a spiral staircase, a kitchenette, a dining area and living area.
We
settled in for the night. I wasn’t going to go out and up and down those stairs
so soon after hauling our stuff! We had a light salad for dinner and some
snacks while watching Olympics badminton.
On
Saturday morning, we ventured out for morning walk. We walked along the golf
course then turned left and took Kindersley Trail. Then we walked further and
headed for Mager Trail. Next up was Abu Suradi Trail and the last trail for the
day was Hemmant Trail. So we covered four trails out of eight on the first
morning itself! Not bad at all. We then jogged back to the resort.
The easy stretch of Mager Trail. We started off climbing
Hemmant Trail
Back
at the resort, we had some salad then I started cooking lunch as I didn’t want
to cook after I’d showered. We then had bread for breakfast then I settled in
to read. We had a game of Scrabble before prayers and lunch. After lunch, we
watched The Wolf of Wall Street. Wow, such a hedonistic and debauched
lifestyle. The movie was long so we stopped at 16:30.
We
drove out to Jeriau Waterfall and walked along the small stream to the
waterfall. I was paranoid about contracting leptospirosis and mite (tungau) so I
didn’t go anywhere near the water although there were people bathing in there. We
left after half an hour and stopped en-route at a rest area that has some
restaurants and had some fish sausage. Before returning to Pine Resort, we
drove around the winding roads and I think we pretty much covered Fraser’s
Hill.
The trail meandered along the stream leading to the waterfall
A glimpse of the waterfall
I
cooked some pasta soup for dinner and we spent the evening watching badminton and
continuing on with the movie.
On
Sunday, we went for morning walk again and this time, walked all the way to
Rompin Trail before taking the main road back to the resort. We finished
packing and left at 10:30. It looked as if it was going to rain and what did
you know, it turned all foggy just as we were leaving. I would have liked it to
turn foggy on Saturday actually. Oh well...
Goodbye Fraser’s Hill. When will I see you again?
We
wanted to go back via Kuala Kubu Baru but there was a cycling event and the
road was closed so we had to turn and drove the much longer route back via
Raub. I didn’t like the winding route at all. We finally emerged out and
stopped by the roadside for some durian cendol. We also bought two kampong durians
from the same stall before driving back. We stopped briefly at Bentong and had
some ice cream from Kow Po Coffee Shop before continuing our journey. I reached
micasa after 2 p.m.
Durian cendol with some Oreo thrown in
Strawberry and peanut ice cream from Kow Po Coffee Shop
I
wouldn’t mind another trip again but gosh, I do mind the headache-inducing,
nauseous drive down. Maybe next time, I’ll consider Cameron Highlands (can’t
recall if I’d been there either) but I’ve heard some bad reviews about the
expensive food, horrible traffic jam and that it’s no longer cool up there
anymore. But I guess I have to really go see it first to experience and believe
it, eh? Will keep you updated when I do.
