World Travel Zone: Welcome to the Jungle

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Lexus Magazine’s man in Singapore swaps the heat of the city for a remote Malaysian hill town with a few unsettling stories to tell.

Written by Rod Mackenzie Photos by Tom Salt

THE ROUTE

This journey begins with Singapore native Rod Mackenzie stuck in the city’s rush-hour gridlock and fading fast. The only thing keeping him awake behind the wheel is his fevered daydream about a purportedly enchanted hill-station-turned-resort located 280 miles to the north, on the spine of Peninsular Malaysia. It’s called Fraser’s Hill, and it’s the kind of retreat you’d expect to find on an old, rolled-up map with burnt edges.

BORDER CROSSING

One thing to be said for Singapore’s gridlock: it allows ample time for my imagination to run riot. For years, I’ve fantasized about penetrating Malaysia’s dense jungle interior on a modern-day Heart of Darkness journey, complete with creeping tigers. This exotic road trip, however, comes with a major perk: after crossing the Singapore/Malaysian border, my chief rest stop will be the urban jungle of intriguing Kuala Lumpur.

DOUBLING EFFECT

Once upon a pretty recent time, 1998 to 2004, the Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world. They still dwarf the city—even their signature, the world’s tallest two-story sky bridge, is vertiginously high. It’s open to the public. I wouldn’t mind driving across it.

THE SCENE

Clinging to the 33rd floor of Traders Hotel, SkyBar isn’t only the choicest watering hole in Kuala Lumpur (complete with its own swimming pool); it also has the finest photo op of the Petronas Towers. The hip young things I see tapping their feet to the DJ’s 80s tunes are here less to admire the architecture than to eye up the glossy parade of revelers emerging from the elevators.

FASHION SENSE

I spot an array of styles—Hollywood to Hong Kong via Paris—that’s almost as dizzying as the view from the bar’s windows. Which makes sense. Style mavens should take note: Kuala Lumpur has one of Asia’s most impressive high-end fashion districts. KLCC, right under the Petronas Towers, has attracted most of the usual suspects: Choo, Vuitton, and Ferragamo; Cartier, Rolex, and Bulgari.

BAND OF BROTHERS

No, it’s not a boy band. It’s a representative sampling of Kuala Lumpur’s hipster kids, who aren’t shy about striking a pose. Translated, Kuala Lumpur means “muddy city.” That was before skinny vests and hair gel.

THE FINAL LEG

My excitement builds on the drive to Fraser’s Hill. The drive isn’t long (64 miles), but it feels like a road trip to Avatar’s deep-space Pandora. The road gets twisty, and the scenery, which is growing ever more dense, couldn’t offer a more striking contrast to Kuala Lumpur’s glass and neon playground. The farther I drive, the more I feel myself disappearing into the jungle’s 20 shades of green.

FRINGE CHARACTER

It was Louis James Fraser, a Scottish prospector, who had the bright idea of founding Fraser’s Hill. Back in the 1890s, he discovered deposits of tin in the hillsides outside Kuala Lumpur (shown here). Fraser went native, cutting himself off from the constraints of “civilized” society, and reports spread that he ran opium and gambling dens for his Chinese workers—until the day in 1916 when he disappeared without a trace.

ENTER ONLY

Two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur’s suburbs, I’ve climbed steadily through the foothills of the Titiwangsa Mountains to reach the guardhouse for the Gap. Completed in the 1920s, this pass marks the snaking approach to my final destination. Too narrow for two-way traffic, the road direction switches every hour or so.

NATURAL A/C

A century ago, the search parties that came looking for Fraser were impressed by the cooler hill climate and it didn’t take long for the British to establish a colonial hill station for government bigwigs. Perched 5,000 feet above sea level, up in the lush Titiwangsa mountain range, the site commands nearly 7,000 acres.

SO “CIVILISED”

Much of Fraser’s Hill retains a surreal Olde England appearance, with a stone-clad post office and police station built in 1919 overlooking a neat little clock tower. You’ll also find shops, restaurants, markets, modest hotels, and even two golf courses, one dating back to 1925. It could all be chocolate-box quaint and touristy—yet England this ain’t.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

I hit the trails with a guide. The calls of birds and insects are intense, and now that I’m seeing the forest up close, the biological diversity is extraordinary. My guide says the area is home to everything from tigers to spider monkeys. Thinking of the former, it’s at this climax that I ask the obvious (or maybe smart) question, “Anything likely to eat me?” Doesn’t matter. Nothing beats a great road trip, especially over unknown roads.