Fraser’s Hill
We went on our second family sabbath in Dec 2016. We spent one night in Port Dickson, five nights in Fraser’s Hill and two nights at Melaka. The one night at PD is basically to rest from the crossing over the Causeway and to be fresh when we drive up Fraser’s Hill. The two nights/days at Melaka are for us to do some shopping.
The highlight of our holiday is our family sabbath up at Fraser’s Hill.
We reached Fraser’s Hill close to 7pm (We made a detour to Sekinchan in the morning and drove up the hill after lunch).
The drive up was extremely meandering. We were all relieved when we reached Fraser’s Hill.
We were unable to do the trails as they were closed due to the rainy season,
but I enjoyed reading about the history behind each trail.
Here are the 5 reasons why we loved our family sabbath at Fraser’s Hill:-
Reason number 1 – Meals were delicious, efficient and effortless.
We had full-board the whole time we were there – breakfast, lunch and dinner. After the first day, we settled on having Chinese food for lunch and Western food for dinner. Breakfast was at 8:30am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm. We held hands to say grace each time we ate. We read a passage of scripture at breakfast and discussed it. We listened to music, talked and joked at every meal time.
This is a lateral inversion of our seating arrangement at every meal time.
Elkan was seated on my right, at the head of the table. Edmund was seated on my left.
Samuel was seated opposite me and Elias was seated to his right, opposite Edmund.
For Western meal, we were served coffee/tea/milo after dinner.
Unlike Cameron’s Cluny Lodge, Singapore House did not serve us any pastries
so we supplemented with our own biscuits!
Reason number 2 – We watched a movie and played board-games every day.
We incorporated a movie and board-games in our daily routine. We did those when it rained (at times it stormed) in the afternoons and when it was cold and dark at night.
We were not sure whether the DVD/VCD player would be able to play all our discs
(We had that problem at Cluny Lodge) and were contemplating bringing our own player.
We decided against it and were thankful that we managed to watch everything – four movies for four days.
It was a good mix of genre.
Master Designer was cool – science, nature and the marvel of Creation.
Letters to God was a touching, inspiring story. We were very excited to find out that it was based on a true story.
Children of Heaven gave us a good glimpse of the lives of children in a foreign land (Iran).
For the Bible – we watched the last installment which was on the book of “Acts”.
Not every part was totally accurate but it was very powerful to see the stories visually.
Ticket to Ride is an up-to 5-persons game so we all got to play together.
It is a great game. We all have our preferred strategy.
Some prefer to complete our mission, others prefer to aim for the European Express.
Some have no qualms building stations, others avoid doing it at all costs
(you get bonus points for not needing to build stations).
Dominion is an up-to 4-persons game (We didn’t combine sets) so we took turns to play.
Elias doesn’t like it as much anyway.
I was glad Samuel was able to play it. I think that it is not a difficult game to play
– you just need to be able to read/follow instructions on the cards and think systematically.
Winning at it is another matter.
I like these two board-games because they are not very competitive.
For example, Ticket to Ride had enough route options for everyone to complete their mission
without destroying another player
(although you could still do so, at the expense of completing your own mission).
Dominion too, could cause other players to lose points and frustrate their playing
(e.g. the Militia or Witch cards)
but despite that, you can continue enjoying the game.
I like it that whether you win or lose, you can still enjoy and finish the game.
It was an excellent way of learning the phrase “just play your own game”.
Reason number 3 – We had a Family Time every day.
We reviewed the year. We got the children to give feedback to Edmund and myself as parents. We sang praise songs and Christmas songs. We discussed the family routines and Edmund explained to the children the purpose behind all the rules and routines.
We spent about an hour a day on this (no photos for this segment…)
Reason number 4 – We went out for an “excursion” every day
Day 1 – We walked down to the well-known Clock Tower at Fraser’s Hill, explored the surrounding areas and played at the playground.
The walk to the Clock Tower took about 10 minutes.
It was a very pleasant walk because it was cooling and we took our time.
Edmund, Elias and Samuel are always looking for spiders so they tried to spot them.
Even that railing that collapsed had something to do with the spiders but that’s a family joke.
We took photos in front of a Puncak Lodge
(which I have never seen open the whole time we were there) and a Puncak Inn.
We like “Puncak” because Puncak in Indonesia was a place we went holidaying in, when the kids were little.
We explored an abandoned bunglow and contemplated buying it… but nah..
We visited a souvenir shop and Elias bought a wall thermometer
(While the rest of us waited sitting on the red benches watching other tourists).
We must have spent about 30 minutes at the playground.
We all went onto the swing.
Elias complained that the swing was too “low” for him – his feet kept getting in the way.
That started us off on a mission to prove him wrong
– that we could swing on the swing without our feet touching the ground.
(And yes, we all could do it!)
We all went onto the pony as well.
Elkan said that it was difficult balancing on it without falling off.
That again set us off to prove him wrong.
Elias did it and even managed to “launch” a satellite on his phone game.
Elkan claimed that it was because Elias was lighter.
So Samuel and Elias both got onto the pony to balance on it. (See the motion gif)
Last came the see saw.
Besides the usual see-sawing, the boys turned the see-saw into a weighing scale.
We hypothesised that Elias + Samuel = Elkan.
Tada! QED.
Day 2 – We drove around and bought a pair of binoculars from a shop at Shahzan’s Inn. Then we drove down to the Paddocks.
We drove down to find Richmond Bunglow.
It is another Aloha resort but has closed for the moment.
It was still rather well-maintained. (Yes, the selfie was laterally inverted).
We found a little picnic spot and tried out the binoculars. The boys had fun on the ponies again.
At the Paddocks there was the game of “Archery” and “Blowpipes”.
The men tried Archery first. It was difficult because they were not given rubber gloves
and the fingers started to hurt.
Elias and Samuel tried the blowpipes.
We went over to watch the horses (but we were not keen to do the riding).
The kids bought a cup of corn each, and we sat at a picnic spot to enjoy the view (not much of a view…).
Then we went down to play and Edmund taught them a new game (Hit a pebble with a pebble!)
Day 3 – We went to Allan’s Waters and spent the whole morning there.
Edmund and Samuel went on a paddle boat. They took pictures of themselves and us.
Both Elkan and Elias went into the Roller Orb.
It was not easy rolling it across the waters.
Anyway, it was tethered to the dock so they could not get very far.
Elias managed to get pretty good at it.
Hello my little hamster!
We fed fishes. We all tried different things.
Samuel fed the big ones (there were some who would simply open their mouths wide all the time.
Samuel and I tried to aim and throw food into their mouths).
We tried “target-feeding” meaning identify a fish and try to feed it.
Elkan and I tried to feed at the “nursery” – a place where all the tiny fishes gathered.
We also tried putting food on the rocks near the surface of the waters
and some fishes actually jumped unto the rocks and managed to eat the food!
Elkan threw a piece of food which got lodged in between the rocks by water currents
and we had fun watching the fishes try to dive in to get the food
(so we imagined, and we made up stories about that).
(In between, we all eat ice-cream)
Day 4 – We spent the morning indoors and drove around Fraser’s Hill after lunch. It was a bad idea to do it on a Sunday! It was so crowded, but we were glad to see that Fraser’s Hill had a bustling weekend economy. Many people actually camped outdoors under pavillions and had BBQ parties! We rounded off our drive with hot chocolate at a tea house.
We found this tea house, which has an excellent location – nice view and ample carpark.
But they didn’t serve much food, so we just had a cup of hot chocolate each.
We played a short game of Top Trumps and just enjoyed “hanging around” together.
Later in the night, that being our last night at Fraser’s Hill, we went out for a walk after dinner, armed with two torch-lights. It was really dark and thrilling. A house nearby had a campfire going but we didn’t go near.
Reason number five – Singapore House was a great place to be at
It was in a beautiful setting.
I loved the steps leading up to Singapore House and I loved its architecture.
We enjoyed being in the “clouds”
We could play outside.
Edmund, Elias and Samuel played frisbee. I read.
Everyone has their idea of fun.
Elias the adventurer climbed onto the water tank tower.
The second time he did it he brought a camera and took pictures.
We could play inside (not just boardgames…) and we had the whole place to ourselves.
Edmund, Elias and Samuel played “soccer” using a beach ball.
It was a bit noisy but quite harmless.
There are two big dinning tables and one small dinning table at the dinning area.
(We ate at the one in the middle)
There was a small TV and quite a few sofas. We mostly used those near the TV for our family time.
Besides all these family activities, we had our books (Elkan was reading “Truth about Trump” and “Piercing the Darkness”; I was reading “What good is God?”; Edmund was reading “God and political justice” and “All about space”), Elias had his phone (to watch movies on) and Samuel played with a little transformer toy which we bought at a souvenir shop.
Edmund and I have come to really enjoy this sabbatical type of holiday, where we take things slowly and have so much time together. It was very relaxing and restful. By God’s grace, we hope to do this every year.
Information & Tips!
Here are some information for those who are interested in visiting Fraser’s Hill.
Singapore House
- You can book it via the Aloha website. It is open to the public although Singapore civil servants get priority – earlier booking and cheaper rates.
- Rooms 2 & 3 are on the right of the house (if you are facing in). Rooms 1 & 4 are on the left.
- We booked Rooms 2 & 3 which can be connected via the bathrooms. Room 2 was a bigger room with a bigger toilet area – the toilet area was separate from the sink/bath area. Room 3 was a smaller room with smaller toilet. I saw a baby cot in Room 2.
- A maximum of 3 adults are allowed in each Room (Children aged 12 & below are exempted).
- Towels (which were changed everyday) and a bar of soap are provided. For everything else, bring your own.
- There is a hot water flask in each bedroom.
Meals (at Singapore House)
- Full board costs RM42 per adult and RM30 per child.
Laundry
- We borrowed the washing machine and dryer at Singapore House. We did not see any Laundromat/Laundry services at Fraser’s Hill.
The Paddocks (prices may change)
- Archery (10 arrows) costs RM9.
- Blowpipe (6 pipes) costs RM6.50.
- Horse Riding (1 round) costs RM9 per adult, RM6.50 per child, RM11 per adult and child.
Allan’s Waters (prices may change)
- Paddle Boat costs RM15 for 15 minutes.
- Roller Orb costs RM7 for 10 minutes.
- Each pack of fish food costs RM1.
Driving up/down Fraser’s Hill
- Try to drive with an empty stomach. We drove up to Fraser’s Hill after lunch and that was not good (although thankfully nobody threw up). We drove down without breakfast.
- Try not to drive after sunset – the roads are not lighted.
