Fraser's Hill Day 1

We had a long wait for lunch - mine was a mid-sized bowl of bland fried rice - before setting off to Singapore House. at least the coffee I had was good. Along the way, I just had to call home to tell them I had arrived at the place they knew so well. At least for once, they could more than just imagine the places I've been.

Housekeeper was a Chinese auntie, who probably didn't speak english that well, but that still didn't explain her aloofness. Opened our door, asked us for our preferred dinner timing, and vanished. No more info than absolutely necessary, no suggestions, no small talk. Hey, I was in the travel industry for 5 mths - not really the way you wanna treat guests if you want them to keep coming back.

So we washed up, made a plan, and headed out for some trekking along trails which names i've forgotten using a map i can't find anymore. (darn.) The treks were relatively ok, but rust got the better of me - my feet were uncertain, my knees were cautious and my eyes didn't scan enuff. and i realise that only part of the enjoyment comes from the natural surroundings, most of it comes from the adventurous thrill of a trek, the satisfaction of conquering something non-concrete.

by the end of the 2nd trek i was rather tired, and was secretly (not anymore) glad when we saw the 3rd trail was closed (haha oh darn). so we walked back via the winding mountain roads and guided a convoy of lost tourists with our map, passed by the paddock for a recce, all the while snapping photos here and there.

We were still early when we reached Singapore House, so decided to check out Banglo Richmond further up the hills. I had the chance to peer into the closed gates of Kingswood, where my parent and brother once stayed 28 yrs ago. We made frens with a puppy from behind the gates of another lodging, imprisoned by choice - half his body could come out to lick ally but he remained inside no matter what.

All along the way, we were frenly to ppl who we met, and that felt really nice - that I was really travelling, backpacking, not holed up in my own little world. We helped out lost strangers, passed frenly words to local kids. nice.

Back at Singapore House, dinner was already waiting for us - simple chinese style fare, not bad. The singaporean couple staying in the other room were eating already, and left long before we did. There was too much food for 2 ppl, so taking my time didn't help finish it. I felt kinda bad for making the indian cleaning auntie wait, so we helped by clearing the table. Can see that not many ppl do that.

Just before bed, we took out our cans of beer from the fridge, and I had my 1st alcoholic drink in months. The long journey here and all that walking made me very tired, so I fell asleep shortly after that, didn't even hv energy to finish my beer. Ally, on the other hand, drank some of my beer and proceeded to get high. Accounts of that night from him are all his drunken hallucinations.