Getaway Fraser's Hill aka Bukit Fraser, Pahang

Sorry for the busi-ness that abandoned my blog for awhile... Here I'm back. :)

We were there on one of the Friday in July, taking advantage of Penang Holiday, we drive all the way to Fraser's Hill, my favourite highland in Peninsular Malaysia.

Exit at Tanjung Malim from North-South Highway, and drive towards Kuala Kubu Bharu, we passed by the beautiful Sungai Selangor Dam, one of the 'must' stop-over. We had our unfinished McD meal with the nice scenery without a single tourist around other than us. Only 2 security guard relaxing at their work place. How I wish I have their job...

This place is peaceful and comfortable... we enjoyed the slow and relax stop over admiring the lake reflecting the white clouds and green mountain.

A normal Friday on Fraser's Hill is just too good. Not sure about weekend, but definitely not as crowded as Cameron Highland and Genting Highland. The hill is beautifully surrounded by colonial buildings. Thanks to Louis James Fraser, a solitary Scottish pioneer who found this place. Hotels, restaurants and the famous clock tower left behind, remain its beauty and marked the history of colonialism in our country.

Fraser's Hill situated in between Selangor and Pahang state. Noticed the dotted border line? Remember to take a photo with your legs wide open across two states~ :D

There's a lake named Allan's water, used to be a reservoir but now it served as a recreation area for boat riding and kayaking. I remember I used to ride the paddle boat here when I was like... 8? :O I was overwhelming on how things and life have changed.

We couldn't get in after all as Allan's Water is closed at 4:30pm on weekdays. Kindly take note on that.

There are several hiking trails, golf course, paddock with archery games that I have not been to after more than 3 times up here... One day, one day I will walk into the paddock myself, if it still exists when the day comes.

I simply love the greenery on this hill, love to hear birds chirping on the trees, and around me.

Our dinner is to have our self-prepared tomyam steamboat. Although it's a bit tiring to do the preparation, I even bought my portable gas stove from Tesco the day before our trip. Insisted to do this because I knew it will definitely be one of the best memory of the trip. Tomyam steamboat in cold weather, who can resists it??

photo credited to V's -Life Simple Pleasures

Walking on the quiet colonial street after dinner, nothing much you can do during night time at Fraser's Hill, some said, what's the fun of it?

I said, that's the best part of them all.

photo credited to V's -Life Simple Pleasures

Direction: How to Go Fraser's Hill (Bukit Fraser)
Exit at Tanjung Malim from North-South Highway(from North), and drive towards Kuala Kubu Bharu.

Duration:
Total took us 6 hours drive from Penang to Fraser's hill.
From exit to Fraser's Hill around 2 hours including leisure time at Sungai Selangor Dam.

GPS Location:   N 3 42.755  E 101 44.145

More information check-out: V's - Life's Simple Pleasures

Stay in Bukit Tinggi Colmar Tropicale 法国村

Finally meet my family again on Hari Raya Holiday. My nephew, Ealhdun is getting bigger and he can speaks already now!

Have been doing lots of research but seems like the accommodation choice is very limited on Bukit Tinggi aka Berjaya Hills. Saw Meranti Park Suites and The Chauteau on the way up to Colmar Tropicale, where we booked our stay. However, they are lack of information on the internet.

We booked our standard room (2 pax) at a rate of RM233++ after 5% early-bird discount. This is probably the most expensive accommodation that I book myself which break my rule as a backpacker. Below is the discount rate for early-bird, which make quite a big difference on price.
5% discount, if book 7 days in advance.
10% discount, if book 14 days in advance.
25% discount, if book 30 days in advance.

I ask for a upstairs room during check-in. The receptionist said they run out of Standard Room at upstairs so they upgrade us to 1-bedroom suite for free. I was so happy but end up the suite is really not what I expected. Colmar Tropicale is a 4-star rated Hotel, however, it's really disappointed on the accommodation they have given. 4-star price, worst than a RM60 per night budget hotel. Please find my comment on TripAdvisor.

look at the tv

the kitchen

our bedroom

shower + toilet

The accommodation come with complimentary entry to Japanese Garden and Botanical Garden on Bukit Tinggi. We had a nice walk an Japanese Garden. Worth for seeing but once would be enough. The Botanical Garden looks more like a nursery with poorly handled plants. Tools and soil for plants are all over the place. We don't even bother to check it out.

We went to the Rabbit Farm also which costs us RM3 per person. Pretty nice because we are allow to go into the fence and touch the rabbits. Bitbit and Loklok like it too. :D

my kids

The ridiculous part is we need to take the shuttle back to Colmar Tropicale before we can take another shuttle to another destination, which make a long waiting time following their schedule.
Do bring your swimming suit as they have a swimming pool there and there's nothing much else you can do.

The Mondiva shows is the most interesting of all, despite they have several shows per day, all are the same. The show bring lots of fun and merries. Ealhdun watch until not blinking and have tears in his eyes. Silly boy... :D

Ealhdun

We had our lunch at La Flamme with pizza and Le Poulet Roti Roast Chicken for dinner. The pizza is good and my dad said their pasta is not bad either. The Rosted Chicken Meal is kinda small in portion and not very impressive. Overall the price of food is extremely high compare to other major tourist spot in Malaysia. The main course costs between RM20 to RM40 each. It's really expensive for a tasted-not-so-good meal.

Pizza at La Flamme

Hotel buffet breakfast held at Le Blason Restaurant which also provides buffet lunch and dinner. Customers staying in Colmar Tropicale are covered with the complimentary buffet breakfast here. The breakfast is quite standard but with more variety. The have cereal, ham and sausage, toast, fried noodles and kuey teow, porridge, omelette cook as per order, and plenty choices of French pastry.

It's not cold at all during daytime. Just normal Malaysian attire, t-shirt and shorts will do. There are some cold air at night time, light sweater is recommended.

Bukit Tinggi is only good if you are looking for some nearer getaway with no expectation. LOL...
Good Luck!

Cameron Highlands 金马伦高原

A short getaway to Cameron Highlands on 2 days 1 night trip in October 2010.

Went to Cameron Highland like don't know how many times. Still love it very much. :) This time, we take the route of Ringlet on our way up, and Simpang Pulai on way down. Route of Ringlet is harder for a city driver, but for kampung driver like me, I prefer Ringlet route as more stop-over places can be found.

Exit at Tapah toll on North-South Highway. Follow Cameron Highlands signboard you will be driving on the trunk road to Cameron Highlands. Our first stop was Lata Iskandar Waterfall. You would not overlook it. It's on left-hand side of the road on your way up. There's a staircase can lead you to the higher part of the waterfall. It only takes about 10 minutes, worth for a walk.

 Lata Iskandar Waterfall  

Upstream 

Next stop was Bharat Cameron Valley tea station. It's also located at the left-hand side of the road that you won't miss it. You gotta try their home-made strawberry cheesecake. I can't say it's from heaven, but it's certainly very fresh with the fragrance of strawberry~ A bit pricey for the cheesecake at RM6.50/slice, but I can't help wanted to have it. Do try out their tea too. The fragrant of the tea and the smoothness it leaves on your tongue and lips are the reasons we came all the way here. You simply can't find anything similar in the city.

Strawberry Cheesecake

If you are on a tight schedule and only can choose to stop over one tea farm. I personally recommended Bharat Cameron Valley, compare to Sungai Palas Boh Tea station. The reasons are:

1. The road to Sungai Palas Boh Tea Station is winding and narrow. Much more terrible than the way up from Tapah. It's hard to drive on a crowded day as it's a two-way road. Your car can get scratches easily, and beside your tyre is a 100m high cliff. Some people driving Nissan Livina, truck and bus working for the farm drive to-and-fro, seems no problem at all. However, not recommended for foreigner, I mean real foreigner, who not familiar with Malaysia's road condition.
2. The scenery in Bharat is better. You can get a wide range view of tea farm from their tea house and you get to go right into the farm and smell at the real tea leaves.
3. The tea packages selling at Boh Tea station had commercialize as you could find them anywhere in the supermarket.

View from Bharat

If you had been to Bharat, Boh Tea station worth for a visit though. It has its own beauty and you get to visit the tea factory if it's open (I never seen it opens though). It tooks us less that 2 hours (stop over time not counted) to reach Tanah Rata, where our hotel, Hillview Inn resides.

We did our homework before we came here. An important mission in our itinerary is to try out the known organic steamboat. All the ingridients are grow right on this land, hehhe... how can we missed that.
The shop is located somewhere behind Hotel Passadena in Brinchang. Someone posted a detailed map on web. I forgot how much we paid, but according to others, it's RM18 per head. We had the mix steamboat instead of the total-vege's as it sounds quite scary for us. Can't imagine whole pot of vegetables cooking with vegetables... LOL. The mix steamboat comes with 10 types of vege, meatballs, squid, meat, prawns, egg and mee hoon. The soup is clear and taste fresh.

Ingredients for 2

After lunch, we went to Cactus Valley, just nearby of the restaurant. It got an entrance fees of RM4 per person. Compare to 2-3 years ago when I was there, it's not well-maintained and kinda ruined for some section in the farm. But there are still some nice spots for shooting.There are plenty of farm in Cameron, you may choose other farm instead of this I guess.



Big Red Strawberry Farm behind Cactus Valley - Free Entrance

Lok lok in the farm



Bit bit in the farm



Tandoori chicken with Naan

 We were plan to go Brinchang famous night market (pasar malam) but we didn't see a single stall on that day. Later we found that, the pasar malam only held on Friday and Saturday night. It was Sunday for us... T_T  We then had our dinner at one of the Indian restaurant at Tanah Rata. The tandoori chicken was not bad with slightly burnt. But the Roti Telur was awful, compare with those in downtown.

Not much things to do at night in Cameron. We set back to our room after dinner. :)

Next morning, we woke up early and strike to Gunung Brinchang. We going to lengendary Mossy Forest this time! The route getting there is awesome~ Best among all of them in Cameron. I was driving side-by-side with the tea plantation and we can see workers working in the tea farm. Natural and reality view!

The trail in mossy forest is built by wooden staircase. Some of the steps has worn off, have to watch out your steps. We walk for a very short distance, but feel really refresh and mosturised by the mists. The water vapor covered the whole forest, that's why it gets mossy all over... lol... I heard the trail is about 2 hours. We did not complete it that day because there's noone around! We knew it because we were the only one car at the jungle entrance. Only 2 of us in the jungle~ :o Probably not today baby... I know V wanting to check out the trail so much...

At mossy forest entrance

Broken staircase

Further up of the route lead us to the top of Gunung Brinchang. There's a telekom communication tower at the end of the road. We drove ourself there, to mark we reached the highest vehicle reacheable road in Penisular Malaysia.

Communication Tower at Gunung Brinchang

Next, we check-out our room and have our lunch at T-cafe in Tanah Rata. The entrance is at the staircase beside MerryBrown. It's easily to spot.

T-Cafe entrance beside MerryBrown

We had their famous home-made scones. So embarrased to say that this is the first scones that I ever had. :p
So I cannot judge whether it's a good one, but the strong butter taste, I certainly love it!

On our way down with Simpang Pulai route, we stop over the shops outside Cactus Valley in Brinchang to get some plant.

多肉植物

We also bought corn and strawberry. Baked corn is superb~

To Cameron Highlands:

- From South: Exit at Tapah toll on North-South Highway.

- From North: Exit at Simpang Pulai toll on North-South Highway.

Penang -> Simpang Pulai (2 hours) -> Brinchang (2 hours)

Accomodation/住宿: Hillview Inn Cameron Highlands
You can find my comment on this inn from TripAdvisor.

Queen Bed room at RM120

View from our balcony

Food/ 美食:
T-Cafe (Tanah Rata)
Organice Steamboat
Cameron Prganic Produce Sdn Bhd
MDCH 10, Bandar Baru,
39 100 Brinchang
Tel: 05-491 4807/491 5011

How to go Mossy Forest/ 如何到苔蘚森林:

Mossy Forest is on the same route as Sungai Palas Boh Tea station. Drive along the trunk road to tea station. There's a left turn before the guardhouse of Boh Tea station, turn left and drive along the narrow and winding road. Make another left turn, should have a Strawberry Farm signboard to the same way. If you found the road infront of you is almost 45 degree high and the road condition is extremely terrible, you are mostly overshot that junction. Spot a simen shelter and wooden staircase on your right as the entrance of mossy forest.





Sungai Lembing, Pahang （林明）

In March 2010, an unexpected trip to Sungai Lembing, organized by my newly joined photography club - Freezed

The town of Sungai Lembing is located in a suburban area of Pahang, a hidden village in middle of nowhere. It was once the richest tin mine in the world.

Long forgotten mining factory

Our first stop is to Gua Charas. It took us around half an hour drive from Sungai Lembing town to Gua Charas. It's a cave of Buddhism. The cave itself have nothing much special compare to other caves, but we had a great explore above the cave, which there's a slightly hidden staircase on the left hand side of the cave's main entrance... if you able to find your way up there.

Gua Charas

Next stop, is Sungai Pandan Waterfall. Few staircase steps will bring you to the waterfall. None of us get into water as all are photographer. All they care about is the slow shutter waterfall shooting...= =!!

Ouh, please remember to bring along your mosquito repellent. 

Sg Pandan Waterfall

Later at that night we went to the famous roast pork shop in Sg. Lembing, only available on weekends night. It's not a shop but a home-based roast pork factory. The place is at the other side of the Lembing river. We took the bridge opposite our homestay, make a right turn and walk for about 20mins to reach the place. There are few more turns along the walk, look closely for the "shop"'s signboard. It is deep in residential area and kinda hidden. We kept wondering whether we are on the right track. At last, we reached, starving and craving for food!! The roast pork is reaally good! Crispy and well-marinated. With slightly strong pork taste, but who care?! We were too hungry, mayb that makes the roast pork more tasty than it could be. By the way, they only serve roast pork, do not have any other things, no rice nor noodles.

Sg Lembing Roast Pork (林明周末晚烧猪肉)
Tel：+6017-909 3580 / +609-541 1975
Address ：A-259, Jalan Jeram Takar, 26200 Sungai Lembing, Kuantan.
GPS Coordinate ： N 03° 55.500’    E103° 02.185’

Next morning, our destination was Rainbow Waterfall. The route is rugged, it's not recommended for self-driving unless you got a 4WD and experienced with hill site driving. It took one hour drive to reach a river as a starting point of a 45minits trekking to reach the waterfall. The trail do not have stair case, but walkable soil steps. It is not too hard, but need some strength on your leg to climb some big gap between the steps. Our group have 40-ties year-old photograher uncle and aunty manage to get to the top.

Quick stop before trekking started

The 4WD

The view of the Rainbow Waterfall is awesome! You could see rainbow right in front of you! It is said to be able to see rainbows all year long as long as there is sunshine. You manage to see larger rainbow if the water flow from the fall is bigger.. it depends on season or it rains the night before. V, who was the pioneer go right under the waterfall, bring us to the biggest adventure. Rainbows are just all around you when u out there in the water~~~ Try check it out yourself!

The next attraction seems like a must-go in Sungai Lembing as well - Bukit Panorama/ Panorama Hill (林明山). We woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise. Hundreds or thousands stair cases? I could not count... killl half of me though (I am a stair case loser). It took me around 1 hour to get to the top of the hill, while others already got their best place with tripod... But, I still had myself some good view and good pictures. The cloud river (云海?) is the best part of the hiking. The small township beneath the cloud with seven colours, best feel ever...

林明云海

That's all. We bring back lots of photos and great memory.

Accomodation/住宿:

We stay at Sungai Lembing Hotel & Cafe (林明旅社） . It is right at the entrance, with "Welcome to Sungai Lembing" big signboard/arch once you arrive Sungai Lembing township. It's not a hotel but a homestay that is clean and cheap. Good for budget traveller. The owners are father-and-son and brothers. The are kind local residents. They have most basic but necessary facilities like air-conditioner, water dispenser, hot and cold shower. Some of the rooms have attached bathroom, some are not. They also provide services guide you to Rainbow Waterfall from their homestay with 4 Wheel-Drive.

Sungai Lembing Hotel & Cafe
Address: No. 81, Jalan Sungai Lembing, Kampung Melayu, 26200 Kuantan, Pahang Darul Makmur.
Tel: +6019-9981126/ +609-5411924

Room Rate/房价:
Twin-sharing (2pax) : RM60
Quad Room (4pax) :RM80
Deluxe Room/Dorm (6pax) :RM120

4WD to Rainbow Waterfall : RM35 per pax (include 1 cup noodles and drink)