“Where are we going today?”
“Do we have any plans for tomorrow?”
“Are we going somewhere?”
Does this sound familiar? When it comes to long weekends, public holidays and school breaks this is what my children now ask. We like to take advantage of the many places a short drive from KL, so that we can just pack and drive there for a night or two.
On a recent school break, we decided to look for a night in a jungle retreat to celebrate my husband’s 50th birthday. We booked a night at Awanmulan, located on Pantai Hill, Seremban – about an hour’s drive from KL. We know the area a bit after our visit to the nearby De Serenity and just love the peace and nature there.
Upon arrival we were greeted by Patrick, the caretaker of Awanmulan who escorted to our house, Durian Runtuh – it means falling durian. It is named so, because it catches falling durian during the fruit season. How nice! Unfortunately the season was already finished when we visited.
The house has two floors. We took the upper floor, with two en suite bedrooms – plenty of sleeping space for the five of us. If you have a big group of friends or family, do consider booking both floors.
The view from the balcony is breathtaking and boy, the air is so ‘light’ and fresh here! I particular loved the colourful windows that give special character to the house. The living room is spacious and my kids spent most of the time there drawing and playing board games.
There are two resident dogs and cats roam freely here. They are very friendly and welcome pats – especially the cats. They will ‘knock’ on the door when you are cooking, or just jump in through the window uninvited!
Food and activities at Awanmulan
Special mention goes to their swimming pool. Husband loved the pool as it is salt water pool and the supplied by water from a mountain stream. Cold, clean and refreshing water – not drinkable of course! I am convinced my skin felt instantly smoother…
You need to bring your own food and drinks supplies as they only cater for breakfast and the nearest supermarket is a 20-minute drive away. They will provide a BBQ (charcoal and matches) if you let them know beforehand. The kitchen is stocked with basic seasonings like salt, pepper and soya sauce.
Awanmulan provides local breakfast, nasi lemak and noodles, at your doorstep in the morning. Please bring your own bread or cereal if you are not into local breakfast. We found the nasi lemak pretty good with spicy sambal to give you a real kick in the morning.
If you are feeling adventurous, you can go for a hike in the jungle and a swim in the waterfall. You may go on your own, or you can hire a local orang asli guide to take you. The guide charged us about RM15 per person. There are different hikes and levels of waterfalls in the jungle – as a family with young children we asked for an easy hike. The hike took about an hour and ended up at a most refreshing cool waterfall!
If you are not up for hiking, there is a stream 5 minutes drive from Awanmulan – it was equally refreshing.
Tips
- Watch out for the leeches. They can even go through your sport shoes.
- On the way back, just drop by at Seremban town and get some famous Seremban siew pao (barbeque meat roasted bun) and egg tarts to take back to KL. They are delicious!
There are also a few other retreats along Pantai Hills: De Serenity, The Dusun, Shorea, Selepas Hujan and a couple of other B&Bs.
