Steven Goh’s Great Food, Budget Travel and Unique Lifestyle

Introduction to Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill)
Malaysia is blessed with many highlands, the known ones are of course Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands, Bukit Tinggi, Fraser Hill and also Penang Hill. But when asked around hardly anyone knew much about Maxwell Hill or Bukit Larut.

Bukit Larut is THE ONLY place in Malaysia where you could find Tulips! If you are Tulips lover, remember to book yourself in during December to February where you could enjoy Tulips blooming in Cendana’s own tulip farm.

The Journey
During the recent Raya break, we decided to go up there for a night. Before that, we have been calling to the office to make our reservation but no one picked up. We then thought that we should just drive there and tried our luck.

We drove all the way from Penang to Taiping town. From the town we drove 15 minutes further and arrived at the foot of Bukit Larut. All visitors have to park their cars at the foot of the hill as no one is allowed to drive up there without authorization. You will need to take a jeep to reach the top of the hill. 

The place was quite crowded and we went straight to the Administration Office to ask for jeep and accommodation. ALAS! All jeeps and accommodation were fully booked and we were told that we MUST make a booking for the jeep and accommodation especially during public holidays. The Accommodations are very limited as they only have few bungalows up there. The jeeps only run every 1 hour. We were very disappointed and decided to head back to town but we thought of why not we hiked up there ourselves? We should be able to make it since we have hiked up to Penang Hill before and according to sources both hills have almost the same height, which is around 1,030 metres. So no problem at all although this time we had to carry our backpacks in case we managed to grab an accommodation.

That was very tiring for us and it took like ages before we could reach at Point 28 (around 280 metres). Our target destination is Point 97! I already felt like giving up but thank goodness a TNB jeep passed by and asked if we were hiking up there. They were so kind enough to take us up there FREE OF CHARGE!

Along the journey the road is very narrow and steep and there were some landslides few days ago due to heavy rain.

Our Destination
About 30 minutes on the TNB jeep we finally arrived at Bukit Larut. Million thanks to the 2 Indians, they were not willing to take any money from us at all…
As soon as we stepped out from the jeep, we just love every moment of it. We can feel the cooling and unpolluted breeze brushed through our faces. The visibility was quite low as it was very misty. It could be due to the low activity level and it may not be as developed as the other highlands.

We just loved the fresh air and breeze and we can say that if you are looking for relaxation and not entertainment, then Cameron or Genting is NOTHING compared to Bukit Larut.

The Accommodation
Back to serious business, we still haven’t got a place to stay yet. The jeep dropped us at 1 bungalow and that was already full. One of the visitors told us to walk further to Cendana Hut and they should still have 2 available rooms at that time. We then walked upward the hill and there we saw Cendana Hut sitting nicely on top.

Feeling exhausted due to some climbing, we then asked for available rooms to stay for the night. They were very reluctant to provide any when they heard that we haven’t made any booking. But after pushing further with some pursuasive words they FINALLY gave in and told us there was still 1 room available with 2 single beds for only RM80 per night. That was good enough for us. *Phew*..we are damn lucky!
The room was cozy with floor carpeting, 4 pillows, 2 blankets, a cabinet, a sink and a ceiling fan.

 There are NO restaurants, cafes or bars around. The only place where you could find food is in the accommodation itself. I believe every hut or bungalow should have a cafe providing limited range of food to server your starving stomaches. No doubt, at Cendana Hut itself it provides a menu with Nasi Lemak, Noodles, Fries, Sandwiches, Toasts, Hot Drinks, Juices, etc. Considered plenty of choices for a day or two.

After having some light snacks, we took a stroll to the surroundings and captured some beautiful sceneries:

It was very unfortunate for us as we were unable to catch with the Tulips season. But definitely we would be visiting Bukit Larut again for the 2nd time!