Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut)

So much about the islands, let me take you to the interior again. This time I am taking you to the hill resort of Maxwell Hill in Taiping, Perak. I was here with my family in 2002. That was my last visit to this hill resort, anyway for the time being!


To go to the hill-top, the only mode of transport available was by the land-rovers only. The going uphill was so steep and had to use four-wheel drive all the way to the top. Or maybe the authorities owned the road and have to use their land-rovers only. The land-rover station was at the foot of the hill somewhere within the lake garden's area in Taiping. It cost only a few dollars per person and the journey to the top took about half an hour or so. And of course the road was a one way traffic, and therefore they have regulated the flow of traffic to enable the one way system.


At the top it was cooling all right and many beautiful flowering plants were found, making the place so nice and beautiful. We walked around and enjoyed the beauty. Like many hill-tops in Malaysia, there were several big bungalows found here and were nicely taken care off.


From the top we could see the beautiful sceneries of Taiping Town and the lowland areas facing west to the sea. My visit was incidentally not on a very clear day. On a clear day, the view would be more breathtakingly beautiful.

That was a nice visit anyway. Spent about 2 hours or so on the top. We took several snapshots and walk around a little bit before we took the jeep downhill.

CAMERON HIGHLAND

Cameron Highland is just an hour drive from Ipoh, and more or less the same too from Tapah. The Ipoh route is more favourable since it is a new link and the roads are much wider and safer. I have been to this hill-resort many times and always love to visit again. Not only it is very beautiful and cooling up here but also being the only hill-resort which has many facilities and covered a large area to visit. There are several towns up here too and they are never short of lodging facilities too.

Cameron produces much of the high quqlity vegetables for the lowlands and some of the veges are exported overseas too, especially Singapore. Apart from the vegetables, there are varieties of beautiful flowers grown here. The blooms are sold locally and also exported as far as Japan. Since the weather is temperate and cooling up here, many species from the temperate countries are grown successfully. The variety of colours from the flowering plants definitely make Cameron as a big beautiful garden.

The famous Raja Brooke Butterflies, are found abundantly in the Cameron's environment. Grapes of both varieties, green and red are also grown here successfully and the strawberies too. The market place at Brincang are always crowded with visitors making their purchases for the fresh vegetables of Cameron Highland.

With all the beautiful blooms, fresh vegetables, fresh and cooling air make Cameron an ideal place to visit or to stay for a few nights here. Normally, I stayed a night whenever I made the trip to this hill-resort.

Fraser's Hill (revisited)

My last visit to Fraser's Hill was about 15 years ago and last week-end I made the climb up the hill just to see and feel the weather again. It was cooling as before alright, and of course many more buildings, especially hotels were added. The Merlin Hotel where I stayed before was changed to a new name but the building still as cute as before. This time around I stayed in a resort since that was the only place available for us.

I took along my two grown up children with me, since during the last visit they were very small then. We spent the two days in Fraser's Hill enjoying the weather and also bird-watching as my new hobby. Never did I realised how entertaining it was just to watch all the beautiful birds that roamed the hill-top. Beautiful as they were, it was indeed time absorbing for us since we also took photograph of the birds in their natural habitat. Their chirpings was also a sweet melody to me and to all those who love nature. I only had to quit just because it was getting dark and our cameras couldnt do the focusing anymore.

The next day we went for bird watching too and made a drive to all the places that was accessible by roads. The birds were everywhere and very friendly too. We had to quit early just to beat the rain. Normally the rain will fall in late evening and that was the main reason we have to come down early. Even then it was already 2 pm and the road was open then. The road from the junction of the main road was narrow and therefore traffic flow has to be regulated. Going up the hill was during the odd hours and going down was the even hours.

Fraser's Hill is one of the best bird sanctuary in Asia. About 260 species of beautiful birds are found here. The bird shown below is the silver-eared mesia or locally known as 'rimba telinga puteh'. It is one of the prettiest bird found here and unofficially is the mascot of Fraser's Hill. For me, this is one place I must visit again and again.

Fraser's Hill

This is another beautiful hill resort that I had visited. It was about two hours journey from Kuala Lumpur and located on the main range north of Kuala Lumpur. To reach Fraser's Hill from Kuala Lumpur, you must go north and hit for Kuala Kubu Bahru. From there follow the winding road to Raub, just before reaching the top there is a junction to the left that will take you all the way up to the top of Frasers Hill.

My last visit to this place coincided with the 'bird watching expedition' which was held here annually. That goes to say that there are many birds found in this area. Then again with the many participants around, the hotels were fully booked then. Since we had booked earlier, we managed to squeeze into the Merlin Hotel. It was cold up there and the climate was just wonderful for us.



The jungle surrounding the small township of Frasers Hill was so beautiful. We went to visit all the places accessible by car within the hillock area. The cool atmosphere was so refreshing with just the singging of birds heard around us. So quiet and beautiful. Managed to locate and see some bird species too which adds more beauty to the hill.

French Colmar Tropicale in Bukit Tinggi, Selangor

Bukit Tinggi is just one of the many hill resorts we have in Malaysia. The beauty of this hill resort is that it is just about an hour drive from our capital Kuala Lumpur. Therefore it is very accessible to the city dwellers as well as foreigners who are spending a short stay in Kuala Lumpur or just on transit.

Pictured here is the French Colmar Tropicale building in the small township of Bukit Tinggi. The building structures here are quite interesting and beautiful to look at since it is the only one in the country.

Close by is the Genting Highland Hill Resort. There are many activities here, besides the gambling part, they also provide a theme park, meant for the family and also a cable car ride. Of course the weather here are very soothing to the skin and quite hazy most of the times.