Arriving at Smokehouse

Some things were never meant to change. And the welcoming air at Smoke House was certainly one of them. This would be third time we stayed here, since 2009. My children still remember the place fondly.

We had the choice of either going to Singapore or coming here. The weak ringgit made the decision easy for us, and we spent less here at Fraser's Hill compared to Singapore and was able to bring Anita's parents along for the ride.

The staffs were all new compared to our last stay in 2012. So was the chef as the menu was slightly different - no, there was no return of the pastry chef from 2009 with the gorgeous croissant. The scones were still good though ....

We had our afternoon tea after we arrived and checked-in. We booked a couple of rooms. Since there was only a single family room available, which was located on the ground floor, we had to let our parents stay there. we were there in 2012, and we remembered the extra bed, plus a separate sitting area and a large toilet - although cold.

For us, we went for the Honeymoon Suite. But with an extra bed for me unfortunately .... which was located on the first floor. The hotel was undergoing some renovation at the time and not all the rooms were opened. And to be honest, there were not that many visitors despite this being December which was supposed to be the peak month. The economy was clearly bad ....

The Gap

Since a second route was open to drive down Fraser's Hill - via Kuala Lipis Road, there were no longer the need to queue at The Gap, waiting for your turn to drive up the hill. The old route was too narrow, allowing only a single file of traffic to either drive up or down. The route would be opened according to the time of day, meaning you would go out at the hour and then the route would be the opposite and half the hour for those driving down. If you arrived at the wrong time, you would have to wait at The Gap, a settlement about 7 km from the top until your turn was up.

Without the wait, The Gap settlement had disbanded. There were ruins everywhere of what used to be stalls and cafe. The business at the Fraser's Hill town was also affected since those coming down did not have to wait for their turn either, meaning they could just drive down anytime.

We stopped at The Gap on the way up since my Dad wanted to use the toilet. Those were new buildings, but unfortunately, there were no water ..... And there were no other shops there with facilities. In fact, there were no other shops. From my reading, it used to be a thriving community there before ....

Time had certainly moved on and with it, driving up and down the hill was much easier. As I mentioned, it only took me just over a couple of hours to get from Gombak to the hotel. Maybe one day, I would just drive up with Anita for a bit of a drink, then come back the same day ....

Hello MPV

We received the delivery of the new Starex earlier this month, and since then Anita had been doing plenty of her own driving with it. In fact, she even drove all the way to Port Dickson last weekend!

It was an 11-seater "people carrier" with a diesel engine, spacious and hopefully also a fuel saver. And it was huge and took a bit of manoeuvring to get around tight spots and parking. I was also worry about blind spots during driving, but so far it had been handling very well. Much more nimble than the size suggested.

It did not have all the trimmings of the old Estima. The boot were manually controlled, and the power doors had to be installed as an extra. The alarm system was also pretty basic but it had the standard audio unit and a couple of screens, GPS - which was actually a Papa-Go unit - and nice seats. No sunroof though, something that I missed!

It had to be done however after counting the amount of money I had been spending on the old Estima doing repairs. The Estima was bought with limited warranty and it was not a brand new unit - one could not get one in Malaysia due to the good Government policy of protecting the local car manufacturers! So, even though it felt like a bit of a down grade, I was pretty happy with it! The main thing was the children and Anita loved it.

Good Bye MPV

Our Estima had been a loyal servant for the last 5 years. Unfortunately in the last year, it had been causing plenty of issues, and I had spent a lot of money fixing it. After much deliberation, we decided to let it go.

It was quite a spur of the moment thing, after Anita got fed up during one of the breakdowns. She went around looking for good offers and found that Hyundai offered the Starex as brand new units and it came with very good warranty package. Her mind was set ....

Lie in on Xmas Morning

I thought I deserved to get up late. And I didn't even go to bed late last night. 7 hours sleep. That was great although I did wake up for Subuh. It was after then that I decided to get back to bed.

And it was the right decision.

Woke up half an hour later. Hit the Facebook to wish friends and colleagues Merry Xmas, checked the news and a couple of blog entries later, it was time to hit the shower.

Again, for those celebrating, a Very Merry Xmas. I was sure a few other were in bed still chilling. Good on you!