I have been to almost all highland in Malaysia except Maxwell Hill.
After much pushing by Viv, finally we are here during this Hari Raya Haji holiday!
Maxwell Hill only accessible by Jeep from the Maxwell Front Office, heard from the people from the same jeep, the ticket for the day was sold out at 8:30am. So to avoid disappointment, come before 8am during holiday season.
We choose to stay a night on the hill at one of the bungalow -
The Nest.
The Nest booked the jeep for us and we just need to go to the office to pay RM7 per person and get the ticket before the agreed time.
The jeep journey took about 30 minutes to reach the drop off point on the hill. They ask us to stay in the Jeep and they will send us to The Nest.
After another 3 minutes drive, the driver drop us at middle of no where, with a staircase in front of us. We hike up, and up... I almost thought this is not the right path. After 10 minutes, a very homey bungalow house appeared behind the trees, on top of this small hill.
Uncle Lim and his wife welcome us with a great smile. :D
They are preparing the lunch while we taking pictures and walk around the house.
The house is very big with 4 bedrooms and big hall. It is well maintained consider only the old uncle and aunty have to take care the whole house. Do not expect luxury stay but it is clean and do not have the moldy smell.
We are the only guest on that day so we get to choose our room, we took the room with more sunshine, and aunty sent the clean bedsheet after a short while and we make our own bed.
They have room with mixture of double bed and bunk bed too (which we took) but I forgot to take picture before we mess it up.
We watch the birds chirping and time passes by. At around 1pm++, the lunch is ready. The lunch is home cook and they are extremely delicious! I love it!
After lunch, we walk 15-20 minutes down to the Maxwell main area. It rain heavily when we walk and the small umbrella we brought save us from total wet (although half wet)!
Maxwell Hill is lack of maintenance by the authority. Lots of bungalow stay abandoned, and the cafe is closed. What a waste...
It has big area of land, the weather, the great view... some improvement should be done and it will make the place so good.
We then back to The Nest. It is so good to just relax, read, retreat and do nothing in a cold weather with lots of greenery. The night is very very cold and we just hid in the bed. :D Surprisingly I felt a one night stay could be better than a day trip for Maxwell Hill.
Maxwell Hill is just merely an hour plus drive from Penang, it is really good to come by here to enjoy the cool air. :)
How to go to Maxwell Hill
From South - Take North-South Highway and exit at Taiping/Cangkat Jering Exit 146 Toll.
From North - Take North-South Highway and exit at Taiping/Kamunting (U) Exit 148 Toll
GPS: N 4 51.643
E 100 45.566
Jeep Up to Maxwell Hill
Ticket: RM7 for return trip
The Nest
Contact: 019-5279788
Price: RM70 per pax for one night (inclusive of lunch, dinner and breakfast in the next morning)
Bring your own towel, toilet rolls and toiletries.
(I am not sure The Nest can cook for day trip visitor also, but feel free to call Uncle Lim for inquiry)
