Talking of Hill Stations…Tanah Rata
Posted: January 14th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Talking of hill stations and resorts in Asia in yesterday’s post reminded me I took some photos of older buildings still in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Hill stations are a very European thing – the British built them everywhere from Simla in India to Maymo in Burma; the French followed too with Sapa and Dalat in Vietnam and even the Americans decided that when the heat got too much a hill station was just what was required and built Baguio in the Philippines. Malaysia of course has its fair share of hill stations and they’re among the best preserved and most popular with visitors in Asia – Penang Hill, the Larut Hills in Perak, Treacher’s Hill near Kuala Kubu, Fraser’s Hill and most famously the Cameron Highlands.
You climb to the Cameron Highlands on a coiled snake of a road and you can’t help wondering what an almost epic journey this must have been for visitors back in the late 1800s when Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident of Perak first suggested opening up the area as a “health and leisure resortâ€. ‘Gruelling’ was probably the best way to describe it. But the Highlands soon flourished thanks to the BOH tea plantations, Chinese market gardeners and the construction of two schools for European children and some hotels as well as the Convent School (right above)
and the Convent Chapel (left above).
Bridle paths and roads were improved and in the twentieth century the row of shophouses, some of which still exist, in Tanah Rata town, the main drag of the Highlands, were open for business. Some officials stayed allyear and some built holiday homes – left is a surviving bungalow for an official in the Cameron Highlands.
Tanah Rata has moved from being a sleepy little street to the major thoroughfare of the Highlands. It’s wher
e the bus from KL arrives, cafes and craft shops cluster and most people stroll around when they first arrive. Further up is the other major settlement of the Highlands, Brinchang, with the weekend night market. But for my money Tanah Rata is the better spot of the two, the cafes and restaurants a little more cosy and friendly and with the Olde Smokehouse (left), a wonderful Mock Tudor hotel and restaurant that could have been airlifted direct from Surrey into the heart of Malaysia, close by. Tanah Rata is overlooked by the old Convent School and its chapel and from here you can launch out on some good hikes.
Hyderabad, also known as the Pearl City, is one of the most famous tourist destinations of India. The ethnicity, the historical monuments, the multiple cuisines, the landscapes, and the diverse ancient cultures make a visit to Hyderabad in particular and Andhra Pradesh in general extremely invigorating, exciting, and plentiful. A couple of years back, handicrafts, textile, gems, and jewelry were the main highlights and business avenues of the city. However, all that changed in the current times, when the city witnessed historical development with the concentration of the IT industry and the IT eS industry. Over a couple of years, tremendous development reached Hyderabad and the growth of the IT and ITeS industries led to the connected and proportional development of the hospitality industry and remarkable infrastructural growth. With business pumping in the city and business travelers thronging it, it is only natural that today there are a number of exclusive world class business hotels in Hyderabad. Most of the major hospitality giants have hotels in Hyderabad. The good news is that the Hyderabad hotels also have an impressive occupancy rate. Though the erstwhile sources of business still have their existence, it is the IT, ITeS, and the biotechnology sectors primarily that are ruling the roost as far as bringing business to the city in concerned. The growth of these sectors can well be imagined when its said that 24 SEZ(Special Economic Zones) have been notified for these sectors.
The Bangalore hospitality in India has seen unprecedented growth since it becoming the IT hub of India and a very important IT destination of the world. As a result of business booming in the south Indian city, the number of exclusive business hotels in Bangalore also scaled up. Almost all the names to reckon with in the hospitality industry have hotels in Bangalore. In addition, Karnataka being a very rich state, in terms of tourist destinations, the government of the state is going back to the drawing board to etch out fresh and fruitful plans to attract tourists not only to Bangalore, but also to the rest of the state, especially advertising the luring outskirts of the state. In a meeting held by the tourism department in the second week of February 2009, high rank executives from about 55 cream companies of the hospitality industry participated and showed keen interest in putting huge investments in the hospitality sector of the state. The Karnataka government believes that the state is immensely blessed with tourist attractions and all they need to do is aggressively promote it and bring it to the fore. Apart from the Bangalore hotels, world class hotels, resorts, luxury spas, 5 stars etc would be soon opening in the other parts of Karnataka.