Friday, November 30, 2007

Creatures

On the way up Fraser's Hill, we saw these monkeys by the side of the road perhaps hoping that people would stop their cars to feed them. While taking photos of the flowers in Fraser's Hill town, I just could not exclude the ant, bee, spider and snail because they were a part of all that I saw. The cicada stayed on this wall of half a day, motionless in the same spot.One morning, I found this attractive moth on the carpet. While photogaphing some tiger lilies by the road, I noticed this butterfly stuck in the flower. It looked to me like someone probably caught this butterfly and stuffed it there. Luckily it was still alive and flew away after I gently pulled it out of its predicament.A skink basking in the sun.
During our trek into the Bishop Trail, we donated some blood to the leeches there.
I was told that if you put powder on them they would drop off. We just flicked them off with our fingers. It's an aweful experience to be bitten by leeches. The blood does not clot and continue to flow for some time after you have gotten rid the leeches and the wound takes a number of days to heal. Three well-fed leeches:
This leech escaped detection and its presence was felt at the end of the trail. It was good that it had not taken too much blood before its discovery.
We saw this giant millipede crossing the road and concerned that it might be run over by a car, we let it crawl onto our umbrella and transported it to safety.



Walking down the road from the Methodist Bungalow to our car, we saw these monkeys high above ground. They had long tails and very long fingers. Though they were not threatening, I was glad that the car was within sprinting distance.


It's getting dark, time to go home.On the drive down from Fraser's Hill, we saw a couple of these colourful jungle fowl. I've seen jungle fowls twice before - once on Pulau Ubin and once in Sungei Buloh Wetlands in Singapore. A long time ago.



Thursday, November 29, 2007

Silverpark Resort

We booked a one-bedroom studio unit at Silverpark resort and got a two-room unit at the price of the former because for some reason, it was not available. Anyway, given the same room rate we had nothing to complain at 155 ringgit per night.

Firstly, there was the magnificent view of the mountain range from the 5th floor. Every morning we woke up to a view that is non-existent in Singapore. In the morning, the mountains are veiled in heavy clouds and mist. When the weather is fine, we just do not get enough of the view - that's the one on the masthead of this blog. You can see that these apartment buildings command the best view of the mountains because they are situated on very high ground. Secondly, there are no crowds. This does not auger well for the 'resort' but it is great for people like us who want a quiet and peaceful holiday. On the downside, there are no recreational facilities in this resort other than the playground that you see. If you are finicky about staying in good-class hotels, Silverpark would not meet the mark. There is no room service, nobody makes the beds, change the sheets for you or cleans the apartment. You just get the keys and that's it for you. But at least you get clean towels that you have to collect from the reception everyday.
View from the back balcony.


We stayed on the 5th floor of this block. It is really a pity that this place has fallen into such a dismal state. If we had wanted to we would have given the reception no end of complaints. We chose to overcome the inconveniences in our own way and to see the better side of this resort instead of kicking up a fuss.

Breakfast for two days was served - American breakfast that was not world-class perhaps but it was a decent meal to start the day and the coffee was reasonably good.

Strawberry Farm and Cafe

One of my favourite places in Fraser's Hill is this cosy cafe where we had strawberry tea with fresh strawberries that were grown on the premises. It's a great place to take a breather, read a book or to just sit and relax for a half hour or so.



For the first time in my life I got to see what strawberry flowers look like. The strawberry fruit emerging.
Strawberries are such attractive fruits and even more so when they are not yet plucked from the plant.