The FRIM

No, I did not spell that wrong. 

FRIM stands for Forest Research Institute Malaysia. It is a huge tract of land that is dedicated to botanical research and the indigenous Malay culture. It is unlike our national parks in that people live and work within the confines of the FRIM. To live there you must be of pure Malay heritage. Part of the work of the FRIM is to preserve this heritage.

The cottage above is a true Malay house that was preserved and moved to the FRIM. The early houses were built on stilts to keep out the daily rains. And believe me, there are daily rains. It is usually around late afternoon or early evening. The rains usually do not last long, but lots of water falls in a very short time. One evening the rains and winds were very bad and yet it is also very beautiful. It seems that every day the city is washed by Mother Nature.

Back to the house. You can see in this photo that cooling was done by the overhung roof and all of the panels that open to the breeze. Beautiful decorative painting surrounds the door and side panels. It is an elegant structure and reminiscent of many of the island homes in the Pacific Rim.

Much of the FRIM is vegetation and hiking trails. There is even a guided tour through the treetops complete with rope bridges. Since no one told me about that part, I was definitely unprepared shoe and clothing-wise. Also we were at the FRIM in the afternoon. Not a good time for hiking in Malaysia. Afternoons are very hot and very humid. Walking down the street can feel like aerobic exercise. We did, however, spend a wee bit of time hiking to a waterfall not too far off the road.

It was a cool (relatively) and beautiful spot with water cascading down over the rocky terrain. If there were time, I would have loved to just sit and enjoy the sounds of the forrest and the bubbling water.

Hiking this part of the trail was made much easier thanks to the path laid down for visitors. Logs are used to delineate steps. At this point the slope was gentle and easy to traverse. Bala and I enjoyed the quiet time before getting back into traffic just outside the gates.

What is difficult to imagine is that all of this is just at the edge of the city. And wait till you see the parks within the city! One funny note, when you enter the FRIM, you pay a small fee (less that $1 US) for entry per person AND per camera. It was well worth the fee.