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Cameron Highlands Part 2


MonsoonMaiden

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Being in the civil service, we are able to book Cluny Lodge, a bungalow owned by the Singapore government. D often suggested we stay there, but I kept putting it off because I liked Strawberry Park & am usually lazy to try anything new. Our colleague C the Toothbrush Man brought his family there to stay once, though, & after hearing about it from him I decided to give it a try.

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Lane leading to Cluny Lodge, lined by firs supposedly planted by Lee Kuan Yew; Cluny Lodge in morning sunlight

In the end I was very glad we went. It is a little stone bungalow, & it turned out to be much nicer than staying in a hotel because it was more homelike. There were large windows everywhere with views of the surrounding hills and the garden, which was well-tended and full of flowers. Since it was off-peak season we had the entire bungalow & garden to ourselves.

I liked the dining area; the plates used were similar to those used in my grandmother's house when I was a child, & made me feel nostalgic. There were also vases of yellow roses & chrysanthemums set on the table, which I guessed were from the garden. Meals were provided & the food was really good, with soups, main dishes, dessert, plus coffee/tea/Chinese tea. It was like home-cooked food, with a choice of Chinese or western.

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Dining room; plate; bedroom

Cluny Lodge is near Sri Menanti. D's grandfather has passed away, but Mr Lim, the caretaker at Cluny, remembers him well. In fact, D had a great time talking to Mr Lim & family (all in Cantonese, so I didn't follow much) about his grandfather & old times. On the last evening after dinner, he went off to the kitchen to settle the bill while I stayed in the bedroom & read my book; & he was gone so long that I knew they must be having another of those nostalgic sessions.

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Front of Lodge; view from the front; rosy clouds at sunset

He finally came back, rather excited. Apparently Mr Lim said that Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore's first Prime Minister) was staying here (at Cluny) around the time of Separation from Malaysia. In fact, Mr Lim said Mr Lee was here when the writ of separation was delivered to him, & also that Mr Lee had planted quite a no. of the old fir trees around the Lodge.

Mr Lim says that the bungalow is historic, & that it's sort of modelled after a castle, because it's one of the few bungalows around which has a basement/cellar. Apparently Mr Lee must have liked the bungalow, because he arranged for it to be leased to the Singapore govt for a limited period. In another 25 years, it will go back to the Malaysian govt. Pity. :whistling:

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Steps leading down from the Lodge to a little playground; garden; rose in garden

We didn't trek around much this time, but we did go down to Tanah Rata so that I could make my usual visit to the ceramics shop. We also took an early morning walk to have a look at Sri Menanti, but there were guests there, so we decided not to disturb the caretaker. On the way back, we saw a huge millipede on the road. It looked like a fat sausage or a miniature minibus, trundling along. One little tap & it curled up into a perfect sphere. We rolled it into the grass, in case a car came along & crushed it.

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11 Comments


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Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.

A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!

In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.

Look forward to the next instalment.

Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).

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Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.

A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!

In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.

Look forward to the next instalment.

Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).

Hi Fergus, :)

that's interesting. I didn't know Mrs Lee taught cooking - she is a lawyer, you know. Could it have been Mr Lee's mother, Mrs Lee Chin Koon? She was well known for her cooking and published a cookbook.

Met. Service assists in any rescue that the Rescue Coordination Centre is involved in ... whether over sea or jungle. I think that would be mainly for accidents involving Singapore like our navy or one of our airlines. I'm sure Malaysia has their own rescue service, though. It's really interesting to hear about your father and uncle ... what has happened to the Jungle Rescue Service now? Has it been absorbed into another organisation? (like perhaps the Malaysian army?) I don't suppose there'd be anything online about it.

Perhaps you should start writing your own memoirs, you certainly have a lot of interesting stories to tell. I look forward to hearing more, some time!

I was thinking that in a way, it's true that there's no point you returning to Singapore to visit, the old Singapore you knew is largely gone. If you wanted the old charm of kampungs, etc you'd have to go to Malaysia to see that now.

Michelle :closedeyes:

PS Is Fergus a Scottish name? I thought it was Irish (after watching The Crying Game)

Link to comment

Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.

A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!

In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.

Look forward to the next instalment.

Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).

It's likely that the Jungle Rescue Service was absorbed into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). If I'm not wrong, the SAF helped in some rescue operations where people got lost in the jungle in MacRitchie Reservoir in the recent few years.
Link to comment

Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.

A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!

In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.

Look forward to the next instalment.

Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).

It's likely that the Jungle Rescue Service was absorbed into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). If I'm not wrong, the SAF helped in some rescue operations where people got lost in the jungle in MacRitchie Reservoir in the recent few years.

It's also possible that the JRS was simply disbanded. Most places would have developed their own rescue capabilities.

Link to comment

Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.

A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!

In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.

Look forward to the next instalment.

Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).

It's likely that the Jungle Rescue Service was absorbed into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). If I'm not wrong, the SAF helped in some rescue operations where people got lost in the jungle in MacRitchie Reservoir in the recent few years.

It's also possible that the JRS was simply disbanded. Most places would have developed their own rescue capabilities.

Hmm... so if the JRS was disbanded, who rescues people who get lost in the jungles of Singapore?

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Hi,

sorry for the late reply ... yes we encountered the same problem but we just booked an extra room to solve it, since it ended up costing about the same that way. Hope that helps!
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I might add that if you want meals on the day that you arrive, you have to let them know beforehand. We usually go to Strawberry Park Hotel nearby for lunch and dinner if we happen to forget about this.
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Guest magnoliamilkforme

Posted

[quote name='MonsoonMaiden' date='29 Aug 2006, 12:23 AM'][quote name='parmenides3' date='29 Aug 2006, 01:25 AM']
Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.
A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!
In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.
Look forward to the next instalment.
Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).[/quote]
Hi Fergus, :)

that's interesting. I didn't know Mrs Lee taught cooking - she is a lawyer, you know. Could it have been Mr Lee's mother, Mrs Lee Chin Koon? She was well known for her cooking and published a [url="http://www.signaturebooks.co.uk/cgi-bin/ai.cgi?ISBN=9812327045"]cookbook[/url].

Met. Service assists in any rescue that the Rescue Coordination Centre is involved in ... whether over sea or jungle. I think that would be mainly for accidents involving Singapore like our navy or one of our airlines. I'm sure Malaysia has their own rescue service, though. It's really interesting to hear about your father and uncle ... what has happened to the Jungle Rescue Service now? Has it been absorbed into another organisation? (like perhaps the Malaysian army?) I don't suppose there'd be anything online about it.

Perhaps you should start writing your own memoirs, you certainly have a lot of interesting stories to tell. I look forward to hearing more, some time!

I was thinking that in a way, it's true that there's no point you returning to Singapore to visit, the old Singapore you knew is largely gone. If you wanted the old charm of kampungs, etc you'd have to go to Malaysia to see that now.

Michelle :closedeyes:

PS Is Fergus a Scottish name? I thought it was Irish (after watching The Crying Game)
[/quote]

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Guest magnoliamilkforme

Posted

[quote name='magnoliamilkforme' date='26 Sep 2008, 05:59 PM'][quote name='MonsoonMaiden' date='29 Aug 2006, 12:23 AM'][quote name='parmenides3' date='29 Aug 2006, 01:25 AM']
Just thought I'd say hi, Michelle, and that I enjoy catching up on your blog every week or so.
A couple of extra oddities for you from my family; my auntie, who was also in Singapore in the sixties, once told me that she was taught Chinese cooking by Mrs. Lee Kwan Yew in person - apparently, she ran a course for a short while!
In one of your blogs you mention the air sea rescue; do you still also run a Jungle Rescue Service, or has that gone over to Malaysia? The reason I ask, is that my father and uncle were founder members of the service in the early sixties, apparently the first of its type in the world. They started it up after a crash rescue arrived at the airplane, only to find that all the survivors had died waiting. They introduced surveillance flights and low-level parachute drops into the jungle (very dangerous), in order to reach casualties more quickly. They also worked a lot with locals on Jungle Survival, learning many important lessons about using the resources around them effectively.
Look forward to the next instalment.
Regards,

Fergus (Parmenides3).[/quote]
Hi Fergus, :)

that's interesting. I didn't know Mrs Lee taught cooking - she is a lawyer, you know. Could it have been Mr Lee's mother, Mrs Lee Chin Koon? She was well known for her cooking and published a [url="http://www.signaturebooks.co.uk/cgi-bin/ai.cgi?ISBN=9812327045"]cookbook[/url].

Met. Service assists in any rescue that the Rescue Coordination Centre is involved in ... whether over sea or jungle. I think that would be mainly for accidents involving Singapore like our navy or one of our airlines. I'm sure Malaysia has their own rescue service, though. It's really interesting to hear about your father and uncle ... what has happened to the Jungle Rescue Service now? Has it been absorbed into another organisation? (like perhaps the Malaysian army?) I don't suppose there'd be anything online about it.

Perhaps you should start writing your own memoirs, you certainly have a lot of interesting stories to tell. I look forward to hearing more, some time!

I was thinking that in a way, it's true that there's no point you returning to Singapore to visit, the old Singapore you knew is largely gone. If you wanted the old charm of kampungs, etc you'd have to go to Malaysia to see that now.

Michelle :closedeyes:

PS Is Fergus a Scottish name? I thought it was Irish (after watching The Crying Game)
[/quote]
[/quote]

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Guest magnoliamilkforme

Posted

It was Mr Lee's mother who taught cooking as she taught my mother too in about 1967 -
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