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In the 1970s, I was invited by a Japanese family living in Singapore to accompany them on a road trip to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

There were no expressways in those days, and we drove for over 500 kilometers on a two-lane road built during the prewar British colonial period.

Take National Highway 1, which runs from north and south Malaysia, at a village called Tapah just before Ipoh, the capital of Perak State, and continue for a while until you reach the entrance to the mountainous area.

The altitude of Cameron Highlands is surprisingly high, nestled in the heart of mountains 800-2000 meters above sea level. From the base to the destination, there is a series of slopes for about 50 kilometers, and it takes one and a half hours without a break to reach.

As I was driving at a slower pace up the steep hills of the rainforest, a pair of naked brown-skinned men came into view.

When I got closer and took a closer look, I saw two adults walking barefoot with their lower bodies covered by a loincloth-like cloth.

I later learned from the locals that these men were the indigenous people of Malaysia, the Orang Asli.

Photo of author, 1978

Cameron Highlands is said to have been opened as a summer resort in 1885 by William Cameron, a British land surveyor during the colonial period.

With a temperature difference of about 10 degrees compared to lowland cities like Kuala Lumpur and Penang, it is a rare location in the equatorial tropics where you can enjoy comfortable temperatures and a green environment..

After the 1930s, with the opening of the road, British-style summer houses like this one were built and are still used as highland resorts today.

There are golf courses, highland vegetable farms, and tea plantations nearby. Vegetable farms in the highlands grow Japan cucumbers and other crops and export them to Singapore.

Cameron Highland Smokehouse Hotel
Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

Ivy covered staircase

Photo by author, 1978

During our stay, we didn’t see any other guests, and we had the whole house to ourselves.

Photo by author, 1978

Due to its location at a high altitude of 2000m, it can be chilly in the mornings and evenings.
For this reason, a small fireplace is provided.

Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

Photo by author, 1978

In recent years, the number of long-term Japanese residents, mainly retirees, has been increasing, and the construction of condominiums for them is booming. Apparently, you can see a lot of signs with Japanese and local language in restaurants, coffee shops, internet cafes, etc.

He dedicated his personal fortune to reviving Thai silk and promoting it overseas, which attracted attention from the American fashion world, and as a result, Thai silk became more popular in Europe and the United States, and became known not only in Europe and the United States but also around the world.

On March 26, 1967, he disappeared abruptly at his friend’s villa “Moonlight Cottage” in Cameron Highlands, a luxury villa in Malaysia, where he was on vacation, and was never found again despite a large-scale search operation involving hundreds of Malaysian troops, police, and local residents.

At the time of his disappearance, the Vietnam War was intensifying, and at the time of his disappearance, he had contact with intelligence officials in the United States and other countries, and although various theories for his disappearance were discussed, from kidnapping for profit for ransom to kidnapping and assassination for espionage, from mere distress in the jungle to murder by local residents, Jim Thompson, To this day, his whereabouts and his life and death remain a mystery.