Bukit Fraser

In the late 1890, a solitary middle-aged adventurer, Louis James Fraser, was seen trudging along beaten jungle path connecting Tras and Kuala Kubu, hauling a team of mules laden with crude tin ore.

In 1917, a friend Bishop C.J Fergusan-Davie of Singapore and another, Reverand A.B Champion of Selangor went on a holiday ramble in the hills on the border of Pahang and Selangor and at the same time to look for the missing Fraser. However, the eluding Scotsman was never found but instead the two clergymen found that within 5 miles of Gap, on the main trunk road between Pahang and Selangor, there was an area which seemed eminently suitable for a hill station and which can be rapidly, easily and cheaply developed.

Coincided with a popular longing for hill station in Malaya in those days due to an increase in the European population in South-east Asia, the British Colonial Office in Singapore was indeed very impressed with the Bishop’s report and recommendations. A substantial allocation was immediately approved to open up Bukit Fraser. Earlier however, there was a tentative plan to open up Gunung Tahan but the project was later abandoned due to enormous costs in laying the railway tracks and furthermore, the northern part of the mountain range lie in the state of Kelantan, which was not part of the federated Malay state.

Sir George Maxwell, the British High Commissioner, wrote in 1925 that Fraser’s Hill would always be the most exquisite and most dainty hill station in Malaya and in a few years to come will see great development of the enterprise in building bungalow there.

Today, eight decades later, Fraser’s Hill is a thriving little highland resorts, perched majestically some 1500 m, on the Titiwangsa Range, with progressive development and yet able to maintain the ambience of its nostalgic pasts. Cool throughout the year with an average temperature of 21 degrees C to 23 degrees C, the attraction of Fraser’s Hill as a tourist destination has not diminish after all these years.

Reference: Shahzan Inn Fraser’s Hill Visitors Info. Thank you Shahzan Inn.

We stayed in Shahzan Inn from 22-25 November 2009. This was our second visit to Fraser’s Hill this year only (2009). Bukit Fraser is our favourite family resort place.