TRAVEL WRITING CHALLENGE
Fraser’s Hill — a Tiny Piece of Paradise up in the Mountains of Malaysia
The A to Z of my favorite travel destinations
The rain was pouring down onto the canopy roof but the treetops blocked most of the water. It was loud, like really loud. But refreshing too. A rainshower while hiking in the rainforest, what a unique experience.
It was in 2019 when we were on a short trip to Malaysia and since we had to do some embassy visits in Kuala Lumpur, we didn’t have much time to explore a lot outside of the capital. But we had three days to drive to one of the oldest rainforests on earth.
Fraser’s Hill was the place I researched and our destination for the expedition. The town is known for its highland rainforest and extensive birdlife. It has a vast biodiversity which is why it attracts a lot of scientists and researchers.
The town was established in 1890 as a tin mining community and later converted into a resort hill station after the tin reserves were depleted.
Locally known as Bukit Fraser, the place is located 1500m above sea level and has therefore a very moderate climate compared to the rest of the country. Most of the town’s land area is covered in virgin forest. Fraser’s Hill is located in the middle of Malaysia’s few pristine forests.
Today it is a popular tourist destination attracting visitors with activities such as hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and golfing. Yes, there is a golf course squashed in between the thick rainforest.
The drive up to this town in the middle of the rainforest located in the mountains was, let’s say, rather adventurous. Once you leave the last town before heading into the forest you’re facing over 30 kilometers of winding roads up the mountain. The last 8 kilometers are particularly challenging, the road gets so narrow, it’s a one-way street having a different route to descent from Fraser’s Hill.
While my husband tried to drive safely up into the mountains, we constantly got overtaken by locals. Not that there was much traffic, but those cars that did appear, did overtake us as well.
And then there were monkeys, of course. We were inside a rainforest after all.
The most remarkable landmark of this town spread across mountain slopes is surely its clock tower. As a leftover landmark from the English, it is now overgrown and marks the center of town.
The town was rather dead when we arrived. Not many people were on the streets and the further away we drove from the center, the more deserted the town appeared.
Since it was located in such a hilly region, many streets were leading left and right up the hills spreading the town far apart.
After checking in to our guesthouse, we drove back down to the center in search of a place for lunch. We found the unreal-looking golf course (I didn’t expect to find a golf course up here) and spotted a cute little cafe at the edge of it.
The reason why I chose Fraser’s Hill was that we wanted to go on a hiking trip and this town had countless hikes to choose from. The easiest one starts at 500 meters round trip and the longest one is the Pine Tree Hill Hike which is 5 to 8 kilometers long (depending on how many peaks you take with along the way).
We opted for the latter. The next morning we set out on a great adventure. We knew it would be a different kind of hike since it was said to cover 1500m in altitude one way. Starting and ending at 1500m above sea level which meant we had lots of ups and downs along the way hiking across several mountain ridges.
The morning was clear and the air was fresh. It happened to be we were the first ones to step on the trail and headed off into unknown terrain. The trail was well-maintained and well-marked and even filled with some informative signboards along the way.
Soon, the first weekend trail runners from Kuala Lumpur overtook us. We were in no hurry but wanted to take in the beauty of this place and let everyone happily pass.
We were happy to see how clean the trail was kept despite the numbers of tourists and hikers coming up this way, especially on weekends which happened to be when we were on.
A local man was telling us he walks this trail every Tuesday to clean it from trash left behind by hikers. We know it, they do it everywhere. Certain kinds of tourists (and locals). You can place as many signs as you want, some people will sadly always leave their trash behind.
As much as we walked up and down, we didn’t see a lot except for trees and more trees. But after climbing up the last section of the trail we made it to the first peak.
A gorgeous view offered us across these endless mountain ridges covered in nothing but virgin rainforest.
As far as the eye could see. Forest. No roads. No houses. No human settlements. Nothing. Just nature.
We knew about the rains that would roll in every afternoon at this time of the year and decided to skip the next peak. We turned around feeling content with our experience. We crossed the same roots again, went stairs up and down, and passed more hikers.
Once we were past the halfway point, we rested for a bit finding shelter under one of these massive trees.
It started to rain eventually. At first, we just heard it. The rain. Falling on the large tree tops of the rainforest. We didn’t feel any water. The leaves were blocking the rain.
Only once the rain started to become heavier, we’d get rain from the top. It wasn’t cold. Just refreshing. But the sound was amazing. The sound of raindrops falling onto a million leaves in the virgin forest. A sound I will never forget.
That day we still consumed a delicious dinner in one of the restaurants in town before passing out in bed. It was a big hike for us since we hadn’t done any hiking in a long time.
The stars came out since the clouds moved out after the rain had stopped. It’s the last memory I have of this place before driving back again the following morning.
And then I’d like to share the message of Fraser’s Hill. A message written by locals on a board in the forest. A message everyone should read.
“Nature does so much for humanity.
Trees create the air that we breath. Rivers are the lifeblood of the earth, they are like the veins in our bodies. The engine of life is linkage. Everything is linked. Humans are part of absolutely everything.
See the sacredness of nature through your heart. Respect and protect those who can’t speak for themselves such as animals, trees, plants and soil you are walking upon.”
This is a writing prompt response started by Sam Millichap and continued by Adrienne Beaumont. Read their stories with “F”.
“F-Exploring Florence on Foot” and
You can find the full series of the “A to Z of my favorite travel destinations” in the reading list here.
A — “From Akwidaa to Axim”
B — “A Winter Wonderland at the Base of the Alps”
C — “My Southernmost Destination in the World — The Cape”
D — “Off the Beaten Track in Thailand”
E — “The Only Water to be Found for Miles — Epupa Falls”
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