![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/empty-hill-1024x811.jpg)
Bamboo Hill never had a business plan but grew organically on the jungle hill. 1987: the rock on which we would eventually build today’s Sea and Sky Chalet #3.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/original-building-733x1024.jpg)
There was a building where chalet #1 is now. It was started by two New Zealanders, Jeff and Case, and intended to be a bar but never finished. When I was pregnant with Ben I asked Zul to complete it so my father, new Grandad, could come and stay. It had no electricity so hurricane lamps were lit at dusk. It had a bathroom. There was no bridge across the stream so my father waded across.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/beach-football-1024x672.jpg)
Beach football is still played today, when the tide and sand allows. Today’s players are the children and grandchildren of these players.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ABC-restaurant-1980s-1024x807.jpg)
The original ABC restaurant built in the early 1980s.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/A-frame-hut-1024x729.jpg)
When I first visited in 1987 I stayed in an A-Frame hut. No electricity, no bathroom. There was a shower block with toilets but there were many spiders. Most guests showered in the river.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/inside-A-frame-hut-1024x700.jpg)
Inside an A frame. Mattress on the floor. Hurricane lamp in top left corner. Mains electricity arrived in 1994 when the central generator was built in Tekek.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/3-pre-bougainvillea-1024x668.jpg)
Sea and Sky Chalet #3 was built in 1991 as two semi-detached rooms. It was renovated into the current two-room chalet in 2017. There is a newly planted bougainvillea which will, eventually, cover the hill.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/pre-2-1024x688.jpg)
1993: Rooms #4&5 are built.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Tekek-1980s-1024x827.jpg)
Flying into Tekek in 1988. No development yet.
![](https://bamboohilltioman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ABC-path-712x1024.jpg)
The path in Air Batang village. The only road was from the airport in Tekek to the resort which is now Berjaya Resort.