More photos of the Smokehouse

As you can see from the photos, the main hangout was the main lounge where it was nice and cosy. It was the place where we had our hot chocolate in the vending as well as watching a quick TV. The Wifi signal was also pretty strong there. I loved it the most when it was raining outside, with the windows opened.

This was actually the patio between the main house and the annexYou heard it ....The main lounge, but the fireplace was not on except in DecemberChatting with one of the staffsWhat's on the menu?The cosy dining areaOn our last visit, the fire was on, making the whole lounge nice and hot. They only put the fireplace up during December, around Christmas. Appropriate I thought. When it was warm, it was really hard to leave the lounge to head back to the rooms .....

By the barOn the fireplaceCosy lighting

More on the Fraser's Hill stay here.

The Smokehouse, Frasers Hill

One of the main problem we had with Smokehouse, was the amount of time we actually spent at the hotel. Not enough. We ventured into town too much while we should have just relax there, sipping tea, waiting for dinner in such splendid surrounding ......

We only realised that on the morning we packed up and about to leave. Even my Mum-in-law said the same. I was sure that the boys wouldn't mind as well, but unfortunately, my Dad-in-law has a hospital appointment the next morning. Plus the small matter of traveling up to Penang as well.

Irfan just couldn't stop fretting aboutThe hotel is about 15 minutes walk from town if you're keen. It certainly was far enough from the town to be secluded. Secluded enough that I did not have cellular signal. But luckily, the Internet at the lobby was pretty fast.

The hotel itself was not terribly huge. We stayed at Charles, the main family room, complete with bunk beds and a small lounge in the room. Nice cosy decorations, with a decent-sized bathroom. And the best thing was, it was the only room on the ground floor in the main building, right next to the restaurant. On the last morning, when the boys woke up late, we went for breakfast leaving them in the room .....

My in-laws stayed at Ashley, located at an annex building, behind the main hotel. One had to walk through a small covered corridor to get to the dining area. A couple of years ago, we stayed at the same annex when the room there had a bunk bed.

Since our last stay, the place had undergone some internal redecorations, although the theme was still the same. They had new carpeting, a change of manager, but the structure is still pretty much similar. Unfortunately, the pastry chef has since left. So, no more fresh croissant in the morning. On the first evening, I ordered a chicken pie, and was disappointed that it was not as creamy as the last time. The breakfast was also a notch lower than before. The manager said that the chef was still the same since our last stay. Shame that the quality of the cooking had gone down. The still have the same gorgeous afternoon scones though.

We would definitely be turning again in the future, although we would probably spent more time at the hotel rather than venturing too much into town. One of the problem was food. The hotel serves mainly western food. We probably had enough of the food after a couple of days. A quick drive into town should solve that problem with a good selection at the newly-built food center, near where the miniature golf was located. More information on the Smokehouse can be found here. More on the Fraser's Hill stay here.

Fraser's Hill - Day 3 - Time to go Home

A couple of nights may be too short if you are into hanging in the hotel and enjoying good living. It might be kind of boring if you were an adventurous type. Certainly if my family were not around, I would have gone out to explore the trails around there.

All packed and ready to goLast look at the garden From what I saw, the trails were very well laid out and mapped. They cater for various skill levels and I am sure that you will find one to suit your skill and time.

I woke up early as usual, quickly put aside my stuffs ready for Anita to pack away. But when I was about to go out for a walk, Anita woke up. After settling the boys, we went out for breakfast.

We had a quick stroll around after that before returning to the room to pack and check out. After saying our goodbyes, we left at around 11.30. My mother-in-law wanted to stop at Puncak Inn to order some 'pau' before starting our journey down.

We took the 12 o'clock slot to drive down to The Gap. The journey down was much faster but my maids actually felt the sickness more than the journey up. We finally arrived in KL at around 2.30pm, straight for lunch at Jusco AU2.

Fraser's Hill - Day 2, Part 2 - Back at Smokehouse after lunch

We were shattered by the time we got back from lunch at Shahzan's Inn. The weather was pretty gloomy by then and it started to drizzle. We headed back to the hotel and after an hour or so, we went out to the garden while waiting for the afternoon tea. While in town earlier, we picked up a set of plastic golf clubs. Before long, Idlan already started swinging.

The garden was well kept with flowers tended on the walls and fringes. They were only accessible by guests. If it was not raining, we could've had our scones out there. With the children occupied, Anita and I took a walk stroll around the compound, walking in mist. How romantic. 

Since it rained earlier, the mist fell down much earlier that evening. Initially we wanted to venture out for dinner, but by 6pm, the visibility was down to about 30 meters with the fog and low cloud. The boys were not in the mood to get into the car anyhow. Again, we had dinner at the resort. That evening, I tried the steak. It was OK, the meat was tender but somewhat undercook. Fresh vegetables and nice gravy took care of that. We had another lovely dinner. As there were hardly any other guest, Henry came over for a chat while serving us.

My boys running around in the garden... and playing with the swing

I was surprised to find out that before he joined the food and beverage line, he was a welder. That was what he did around Keramat 6 years back. He has been with Smokehouse for almost a close to three years now. He used to serve at one of the branch at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, which has now been closed. He said he remembered my father-in-law who used to entertain his guess there. He also talked about his family back in Myanmar. He used to do office work there and after his parents passed away, he decided to leave for Malaysia.

Settling in by the heaterAfter dinner, we were ushered to the reading room. The boys were with their PSPs. My in-laws watching the ASTRO. Anita and I decided to have some hot chocolate and do some reading. We retired close to 10pm. We had a long drive tomorrow back to KL.

Fraser's Hill - Day 2, Part 1 - Breakfast and the Outing

I slept like a baby last evening. Especially so when the boys decided to leave me to sleep alone on the bunk bed. The two of them and Puan Anita were huddled away on the four-poster bed.

I got up the earliest, at just just after seven. It was pretty nippy outside and the bathroom floor was as cold as ice. A quick hot shower and changed. Before I managed to sneak outside, Puan Anita woke up. Soon after, the boys were jumping on the bed. We hot the maids in, got them in the bath and headed for breakfast.

Idlan getting ready for breakfastThey served full English breakfast here and those were on the house. We are talking homemade croscent, jam and butter, followed by sausages, bacon and choices of eggs. Toast and cereals were also there if you fancy. Unbelievable!

I had omellete with cheese and mushrooms. Those certainly hit the spot. I counted 4 tables being occupied. I am sure the place would have been busier during weekends. It was Monday then.  As a result, the waiters were able to attend to my boys every need. The fact that they wanted only sausage and no bacon. They wanted to pour their own fresh milk into their tea. They wanted to run around in between mouthful of scrambled eggs. Irfan does not want any beans because according to him they are stinky! Oh man! They were really the bosses!

Looked like Maria Tunku Sabri has been hereWhile waiting for the food to sink down, Anita did some research about places to visit for the day. Since we have elderlies and children with us, hiking was definitely out. There were many beautiful trails around here. They were very well mapped and cater for all level of adventure. There are the simple ones with minimal gradient while others that were damn right brutal. Some of them lead to waterfalls and they are plenty of those if you are really keen.

Hmmm! Chillies? Big ones?

We learned however by the end of the day that if you were looking for flowers, Cameron Highlands is a better bet. There were a few nurseries advertised here, but they were pretty poor. Maybe they were out of season. There were certainly no roses and strawberries, and not much butterflies either.

Arriving at Allan's WaterDeciding what to doWhile enjoying the view

We decided to start the day about half a kilometer away at a manmade lake called Allan's Water. There is a pedal boat here and the place was very well maintained. Next door is a small nursery but again, there was not much on show.

The area where the archery and horseriding activities were hosted is called 'The Paddock'The barn where the horses livedEnjoying the rideNext stop was at the other side of town near the Golf Club. There is a small stable here with a few horses. Idlan was really excited and I took him with me for a ride. Nope, the horse was hardly running. It was just a gentle walk around a small circuit. Cost me RM4 and RM3 for Idlan. Irfan was too small to get on. There was also archery range next door. Further along is a small putting green. It was unfortunately closed that day, so we got Idlan a small plastic golf set to play back at the hotel garden later.

It was soon time for lunch when we finished with riding. We went to Shahzan's Inn, back in the town center. There is a Chinese and Malay restaurant here that opened for lunch and dinner. The resort looked slightly older than Puncak Inn across the road and in need of a make-over. Nearby is a playground and a small garden which the boys went to while waiting for food. We then headed back to the hotel right after, for some rest before a touch of golf and scones later.