Exploring the Bungalows

Fraser's Hill as a settlement had a long colonial history. The British longed for respite every now and then while in Malaya and explored a few areas around the peninsular for some sort of retreat. And Fraser's Hill was one of them.

Unfortunately we being Malaysian, we see the British who once ruled Malaya as "penjajah" or colonist, and as much as we could tried to erase them from our history. Me, personally was always quite an Anglophile and keen to find out a bit more about the history of this place. I was sure it would make a fascinating read. After all, you can't change the past - although a few politician thought that they can!

Intricate set of stairs to negotiate the steep climbI think this one belongs to Telekom MalaysiaDriving around, you could have a feel of how advanced the settlement once was. I was sure 50 years ago, getting up and down the hill was both difficult and dangerous. And dangerous in the sense that there were Communist around and the British learned from the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney.

Despite that, I could see many buildings dating back from those times and more being built from the 70s and 80s. It was well known that Tunku Abdul Rahman used to come here for his holidays - another Anglophile. Many of the colonial buildings from the past had been converted into shops, rest houses and holiday bungalows. They were scattered around the hill, not just at the town center. Most of the bungalows were owned by large companies and these were used for their staffs for short breaks. Unfortunately, again due to economy and sign of the times, most looked to be in disarray. those which well-maintained looked empty even at this time of the year.

This one looks privately owned and well-maintainedKinda liked this one ....We ended up taking a peek as nobody was in ...Nice little pavilion to look down onto the valleyInitially we planned to rent one of the bungalows - Bungalow Rompin - but unfortunately since my brother-in-law was not able to join us, we decided against it and stayed at the Smokehouse instead, which happened to be just around the corner. On one of the afternoons, Anita and I drove around to explore some of the bungalows for rent, took the phone numbers and photos. Definitely interesting but certainly not a place to come with your elderly parents. But it looked fun to come with a few friends.

Fresh ....Stalking some more ...The message was clear ....Anita told me that during her childhood, the Armed Forces had a bungalow here as well where she stayed with her cousins. We found the place during the drive and it was located just up the hill from where we stayed. We also explored a couple of other bungalows around there.