Monday, August 17, 2009

Trekking In Fraser's Hill, Malaysia

Fraser's Hill is awash with beautiful flowers.
A jungle trail.

A jungle trail.


Bishop Trail
One of the delights of Fraser's Hill for me is the opportunity to trek in the jungle. There are trails of varying levels of difficulty. Unless you try to be the next edition of Rambo, you'll not get lost as the trails are well-marked.

The Bishop Trail is an example of an easy trail. I took a leisurely walk on the undulating trail which even your grandmother will scoff at being too easy. The pleasure was in observing the lush foliage, the occasional birdsong from some well-hidden bird up on the jungle canopy and wild flowers.

However, some do underestimate the potential danger of trekking in a jungle. In 2005, a Singapore teen and his three Malaysian cousins were lost for four days while trekking on the Bishop Trail. A ground and air rescue operation was mounted. Finally, an orang asli tracker found them beside a stream.

On long treks I make sure I am fully prepared with adequate food, water, a poncho, insect repellent, a sweater, lighters, a survival kit, a medical kit, torch light, a roll of raffia and a cell phone. From experience, the key is eating regularly and not wait till you're hungry. Munching on groundnuts I discover is a good way to keep my energy level up. (If I trek alone, I normally arm myself with a weapon for you'll never know who you'll meet in the depth of the jungle - maybe Bigfoot or a WW2 Japanese soldier).


Happy trekking!





5 comments:

  1. Hullo, I have been following the blog since it starts and I am from Europe. I have no blog myself but find that it is very good for people from other part of the world. Please, you allow us to see green and brown mountains because ours are white. You also take us into your jungles. Thank you.
    Johan,Klagenfurt, Austria

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  2. The flower is beautiful!!!! Love those repeated oval-like shapes on the flower.

    Roger, the Bishop trail is a tribute to Bishop of Singapore, Reverend C.J Ferguson-Davie who was the first person to discover a strategic place in Fraser's Hill to develop the hill station.

    I remember that news about the Singapore teen and his three Malaysian cousins. I agree with you 110% - never underestimate the forest!!

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  3. Alex, you must be really tough to have survived Pine Tree trail without food and water. I'd have fainted had I been in similar dire straits!

    (Alex here has a very interesting blog where he describes his treks and illustrated with beautifully taken pictures. Just click on shloke in the comment section above to access his blog.)

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  4. To access Alex's blog you can also refer to my blog list. His is the first one- A Malaysian Photo Blog and Travelogue.

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  5. This is a very beautiful collection of the Ashien forests.I think the Ashien Jungle's is very famous in all over the world.I know that the Brazilian forest is also very large,but the here is a lot of verities of different kinds of trees and flowers,which is free gift of nature.

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