FRIM trip - Back to the Nature !!

George is tired of the normal movie and shopping weekend, so he suggests go hiking at FRIM. It’s his first time to FRIM; he was so excited and even purposely bought a pair of new running shoes for it!

FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia) is located at Kepong, 16KM away from Kuala Lumpur. FRIM offers all all nature lovers a back-to-nature experience, in which can enjoying the flora, fauna, landscapes and the remains of an old Orang Asli settlement.

The entrance fee of FRIM is RM1 per adult, if drive in need to pay additional RM3. I, George and Holly got this healthy activity with the cheapest price!

We reached FRIM quite late, about 10am. However, we got no worries for the sunlight, because FRIM is a living museum of trees, the trees can cover us well from the sunlight.

For the sake of the first timer - George, we decided to explore on the Canopy Walkway, which located at Zone D. FRIM is quite big so I’ll suggest to go to the information counter for a briefing and purchase some brochures, before exploring the surrounding.

George did quite good preparation, he printed out map he found from web so we skipped the trip to information counter. You can see lot of signboard showing the Zone and place of interest around FRIM, and it’s make the way easier with map, even it’s kind of outdated whereby it didn’t show some of the new places.

To get to the Canopy Walkway, we took the short track -- Rover Track

Hike up this path,

Go cross this small wooden bridge.

It took about 35 minutes for us to get there.

Too bad the Canopy Walkway was closed for maintenance until 25 May!!

See, father and daughter from Poland was so disappointed. The little princess yawns: “Daddy, let’s go back!” I wonder why the management didn’t put the same notice at the entrance, so that the visitor won’t tiredly hike up and end up with disappointment.


Another thing to take note is we actually need to buy tickets to enter the Canopy Walkway, RM5 for adult, get it at Souvenirs shop, which located at the same building as the Information center. For those who skip the trip to information center like us, you might need to take note on the green signboard on the path to Rover Track; it actually stated the need for ticket, even though it’s not clear enough. The walkway is open everyday from 9:30am until 2:30pm. It is closed on Mondays and Fridays. The reason for its closure in the afternoon is because of the strong wind that blows in the afternoon.

We continued to hike.. up to 1000 kaki!!!

“Oh my goodness.. Now it’s the time to go down”.. My legs was shaking again….George knew that I have minor acrophobia problem so he get me 2 twigs to give me some support. I look so funny and even datuk nenek can walk faster than me, shame….



After ages, finally we reach the waterfall!! Feeling relieved from the stress, I can’t wait to open my shoe and have fun in the water. The water is refreshing and cool. See, Holly also cannot tahan and start playing with the water.



I felt so exhausted and suggest getting some drinks from Malay Tea house, which said to be 15 minutes away. We followed the path to camp site, I was damn tired and being left behind by George and Holly, they walked so fast!!

We met spider-man on the way…


Discover the many species of flora and fauna …




Lastly .. after the “15 minutes” walk – it definitely longer than that!!! We reached the Malay Tea House, it’s just next to the camp side.

The deco of this tea house is quite nice, very much malay kampung style..




and it impressed us with those antique like old hi-fi, radio, iron and telephone..




We have our tea at the hut outside of the tea house, to get closer to the nature.

This small mug of tea cost us RM6.

There’s a unique tree right outside of the tea house, the leaf are yellow in color! It made me feel like it’s autumn now….


It’s not exaggerated to say FRIM as living museum of trees, as we saw another special tree on the way back to car park. See, the trunk of the tree is so colorful.

The name of this tree is Encalyptus deglupta.

It’s time to fill up our stomach. Holly guided us to get her favorites curry pan mee at Taman Selayang Jaya** – Kam Gei..it’s just opposite Old Town Kopitiam.

We ordered curry pan mee and normal pan mee. This pan mee is too thick, not so nice.


We tried out their濑尿圆 (mean “Juicy meatball”) and cheesy meatball too. To be honest Holly, it’s not nice at all. I wonder why this shop so good business???



Some advice before getting to FRIM:

1) Remember to wear good walking shoes, bring along your towel, drinking water and some foodstuff as there are no shops up in the jungle.
2) Bring along a can of insect repellant especially if you encounter some mosquitoes or other insects along the way.
3) Go to the information counter for a briefing and purchase some brochures/map before you move on.
4) If you want to make it a group trip, a guide can be requested for a fee or RM80-RM100.

Operating Hours and Fees
The operating hours of the park is from 8:00am to 6:00pm daily. Take note that the canopy walkway operating hours is from 9:30am to 2:30pm. Please spare 30 minutes to 1 hour to get from entrance to the canopy walkway. You need to purchase ticket from souvenir shop for the canopy walkway.
If you are driving, the entrance fee to the park is RM5/car else the fee charged is RM1/person. The address and contact number of the FRIM Park:
Forest Research Institute Malaysia
Kepong,
52109 Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Tel : +603 6279 7000

Getting There
FRIM is located along the Selayang-Kepong Highway. Location map of FRIM: