THE MALAYSIAN COLONIAL HERITAGE TRAIL
A hint of Scotland and pine trees is in many ways the last thing that you would think of in the Malaysia of today.
More likely it would be jungles or their exotic animals like Tigers and Elephants. Or the Far East equivalent of the US twin towers the Petronas building in Kuala Lumpur.
Cameron Highlands and a golf course that would look at home in Scotland…almost!
But settling down to eat strawberries and cream on a dining terrace overlooking pine lined manicured greens and fairways of a golf club. This was certainly not what I was expecting!
In the cooler hills of the Cameron Highlands you could easily be near to bonny banks or greens of St Andrews.
Strawberries and cream Malaysian style in The Cameron Highlands.
Although the British colonial period of Malaysia now looking back was not the happiest for many of its people. But some of the legacy from that time, like it or not, is still very present today.
The current membership of the golf club is no longer just British Army officers and ruling officials. More democratic and encompassing is the membership are now.
Only in the Cameron Highlands could you buy side by side strawberries and insect catching pitcher plants.
That legacy of strawberries is now such a phenomenon that the whole area is dedicated to producing the fruits all year round! The climate of the Highlands brings every cultivatable piece of land into use. In order to grow vegetables, flowers and other cash crops that thrive in this milder temperate region of the country.
Malaysian Colonial Style Still To Be Seen
These once called colonial hill stations are as popular now as they were in those days over a century ago. With numerous hotels still popular as get-a-ways for both residents and tourists.
Hotels like the Strawberry Park Resort not as old as others in the area. But the style and architecture of those colonial times is reproduced almost faithfully along with the service of that bygone era.
Famed for tea, this is another area where the British brew was grown and exported back to it. Also from likes of India and Ceylon too. Tea production is still very much big business in the Cameron Highlands.
BOH tea ready for the pot on a tea bush in the Cameron Highlands.
The company BOH has a plantation of many, many acres with the neatly trimmed bushes rolling over the gentle sloping hillsides. Using hired in workers the camellia plants, as they are a type of that genus. And, are constantly cut by hand in order just to harvest the top few fresh light green shoots. Hand clippers with a mounted plastic buckets catch the leaves and workers bag them up as they trim.
Asian Overland Services guide demonstrates the tool used to harvest tea on the BOH plantation in the Cameron Highlands.
Tiny dots of groups of workers move around the swathes of bushes on the hillsides as they gather in the crop. Hopefully dodging as they work the poisonous arboreal snakes that sometimes are known to share the habitat.
Taman Negara Wildlife Park
We arrived at Cameron Hills after first visiting what is regarded as very much a positive legacy of the period of British rule, that of Taman Negara.
The National Park or Taman Negara as it is in Malay.
This National Park area was established by the British way back in the 1930’s during that Malaysian colonial period. And still today it’s a haven for the county’s flora and fauna. The jungle area has a delightful hotel lodge within the park offering a great chance to try to understand the life that inhabits it’s jungle, from termites to tigers!
Offering many different guided excursions and walks in and around the complex even an aerial walkway high in the canopy to get a monkeys eye view of the jungle.
Transiting between one colonial area and another I found myself heading to Penang Island. Probably the oldest of the hill stations, the Penang Hills.
Island Sanctuary For Orang-utans At Bukit Merah
A knowing stare from an Orang-utan on the Island sanctuary at Bukit Merah
However, on the way calling into see an Orang-utan sanctuary was a must. At the Orang-utan Island sanctuary in Bukit Merah. Here the primates live freely on a 35acre island in the middle of a 7,000 acre lake. Its only the humans that visit are in cages. As a covered tunnel gives access to view and experience them and at times fairly close face to face interaction is possible. But strictly only on their terms!
The island of Penang is now linked by two long bridges and is a busy high-rise and populated area. However, areas of George Town the island capital have been set aside for conservation and the UNESCO have recognised this too.
The Areca Hotel in Penang sympathetic development in keeping with the style of that Malaysian colonial period when the British were its rulers.
Part of the old town area where for instance one hotel the Areca Hotel was built within the façade of a long row of two storey empty shops. This was completed just a year ago. The charming colonial character of the area have been retained and expanded on internally. Reflecting its heritage location within the town.
Penang An Island Of Delight With That Malaysian Colonial Style
No trip to Penang is thought to be complete without a short journey to Penang Hill. Certainly it’s a great marketing ploy for the Penang Hill Railway!
The Penang Hill Railway runs up and down the steep incline with one car helping the other the climb to the top.
Getting to the top takes a few minutes on their modern funicular. Which uses the steep gradient to get the descending car to help pull the ascending car to the top.
Once high up over the George Town at the former Penang Hill Station views over the town are extensive. As well as back to the mainland. It is possible to get even higher, where you can take a tree top walk on the Habitat walk. A visit to their nature trail, which also has a jungle canopy high ribbon walkway.
The view from Penang Hill over George Town.
The hill still has a number of buildings at the summit. Where in colonial times the senior officials would have lived. Today there is also a small theme park and entertainment complex should the nature not be enough.
Malay and British Cultures Mix
Although British colonial rule was never perfect or even fair for its Malay people. It is interesting to see that it’s buildings have not been razed to the ground as one could quite easily see and understand if they had, but in fact preserved and excellently too!
Transport in Penang the ‘trishaw’ would have been known in Malaysian colonial times too.
Their national park a legacy of British rule. It is a real credit to Malaysia as this is a gem of a place that has gone from strength to strength under their continued stewardship.
I have to say I do like the colonial look and feel that can be found around much of Malaysia today. They have embraced its charm, its elegance to good effect as well as the glass and metal sky-rises of today.
Old and young living side by side perhaps a metaphor for life as it should be and is in multi-faith Malaysia.
My tour of Malaysia was supported by Tourism Malaysia and I was sponsored by the following:
Hotel Istana in Kuala Lumpur: https://www.hotelistana.com.my/
Sama Sama Hotel at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. www.samasamahotels.com
Penang Global Tourism Penang: www.mypenang.gov.my
Asian Overland Services: www.asianoverland.com
