Driving Home

It was hard to say goodbye to Smokehouse when we were finally done. The boys were relieved obviously now that they were heading back to civilisation, but my in-laws would have preferred to stay an extra day. The combination of cool weather, nice room and great service made them wanted to room again and there were already talks about our next stay before we departed.

We left just after noon, deciding against staying for lunch since we had a heavy breakfast. We would later stop at Kuala Kubu Baru for a quick stop, and we did just that. I used the Hulu Yam route again, bypassing Rawang and Serendah, cutting the journey by about 30 km. We reached Gombak by 3.15, and then continued on to the apartment via Great Eastern Mall to do a bit of groceries and take-out for dinner.

We were worried that our MPV would play up, but luckily everything went smoothly. I might take a few days off in early January after the Xmas and New Year break, just before the school reopened for the boys. Maybe it would be to PD.

Non-Connection

Maybe some people wished that they can stay as far away from civilisation when they go on holiday. But for me, it was the opposite. I wanted to be connected. In fact, it would be the only time which I can be connected without needing to worry about work. Where I could blog to my heart content and get connected!

Here at Smokehouse, there was hardly any good connection. I had all three telco connection with me - Celcom was down to just EDGE and crawling at that. Digi had 3G, but the speed was well below 1 Mbs, in town, with most no connection at Smokehouse. Maxis was possibly the most acceptable, registering HSPDA in places but still very poor speed. Again almost nothing at the hotel.

So, the best bet was wifi. The hotel actually had wifi but the speed was really, really poor. Pathetically poor in fact. Back in 2012, I could get 5 Mbs here, but now, forget it!

I had to listen to my boys complaining all day about the connection. Hopefully they would appreciate the 5Mbs connection they had at the apartment from now on. They couldn't wait to get back to base, and so was I. Hence, I was not able to blog - although sometime I got lucky! I still managed to get the occasional emails and WhatsApp connection. So, I you wanted to be connected all the time, Smokehouse was not the place for you .... But imagine if there was LTE there ......

Archery Time

Near the Golf Club, there was an old stable dating back from the 40s called The Paddock. It was till operational to today but mainly for show, where for a small fee, you can jump on a horse and with the trainer, you would be taken around a small course for a brisk walk.

You could also do a bit of archery there. Idlan decided to skip the horse since it was much bigger than he thought, and took to the archery instead. The adult bow was a bit too big for him, while the children one was too small. He had to settle for the small one in the end.

10 minutes later, he was still at it and it looked like he was keen to take it further. Since then, he was asking me if there was somewhere in KL where he can learn archery. It looked like we had a Hawkeye in the midst ....

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.

Gone Miniature

We did that on the last visit and this time around, Idlan insisted on doing it again. A quick stop by the miniature golf course in the middle of town, with Irfan on tow of course.

The course was maintained well and everything was prepared for you for a small fee.

We only did a couple of rounds because it was threatening to rain. This was followed by push-bike session around a circuit, before calling it the day. The bed and scones at the hotel was so inviting ....

This entry was part of my trip to Fraser's Hill last December.