Membership is no longer reserved for planters and administrators, but is open to anyone willing to pay the RM100 annual fee. One of the more interesting features is the billiard table which was made in 1910 which still sees good use by the members. Nearby is the exclusive Clifford School, part-funded by its namesake, Hugh Clifford, the former British Resident. The school was the first multi-racial private school in Malaysia and admitted both British and Chinese boys. By far the most interesting place to stay, and still considered one of the best, is the Government Resthouse, itself a legacy of the old days when it was the official residence of Hugh Clifford.
Rooms are large but basic, and downstairs there is a small history museum.
If you drive to Kuala Lipis, you will probably take the old road up to the Gap, which, of course, is also the way to one of Pahang s three hillstations, Fraser s Hill. This road was once one of the centres for communist resistance, and it is on the hill to Fraser s that you can see a monument marking the exact spot where the British High Commissioner for Malaya was ambushed and killed in 1951. It was after this that identity cards were introduced. Fraser s Hill is actually a bit of a misnomer as it is seven hills, originally called Ulu Tras. The name was changed after the arrival, in the 1980s, of Louis James Fraser, a pioneer tin miner and opium trader.