Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, Kuala Kangsar
So many days. So much to tell. I have been making notes so I hope I can capture some of it.
We cycled into Ipoh, a little city about the middle of Malaysia, north of Kuala Lumpur. We came here because it's near the Cameron Highlands, a tourist stop that everyone has said we need to see. I'm trying to calculate what day it was that we cycled in to Ipoh. Oh, time just gets so lost...what day, what month, what country! Let me think backwards. Last night we stayed in (gotta look at a map to spell the town name right...)...Bagan Serai, and the night before - Wed night - Kuala Kangsar, and Tues night in Iphoh...and Monday night in Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands...and that means we cycled into Ipoh on Saturday because we spent 2 nights there. Oh, it would be so much easier if I wrote every day because my memory is so poor, but it's getting hard to find the time.
Ok, we arrived in Ipoh city and stayed at the Ipoh Boutique Hotel. Here our bikes were stored in a back room and had to be twisted and turned to get through the narrow doorway to get them back there. The people were so helpful and attentive at the hotel. As is our usual timing...the heavens opened with their daily show just after we got settled. We somehow manage to not be caught in these terrific thunderstorms on our bikes...thankfully:)
They next day we laid low, just walking around the city, finding the d town, and getting bus info to Caneron Highlands. It's about 40-50 miles up in the mountains and doesn't look like there are hotels until we get there. With our slow pace (especially uphill) biking it is out of the question. But buses are not high in my preference scale of transport modes...motion sickness is a major issue. Luckily I did bring Dramamine just for such occasions!
Sometimes it's just fun to wander the streets, looking in the shop windows, people watching, sensing the cultural differences. That's how we spent the day.
Monday we had to be at the bus station at 7:30. The hotel agreed to store our bikes and extra gear for the night, so we only took what we needed for one night: sleep clothes, electronics, toothbrush, and pillow! Everything fit in my small backpack. I felt so nimble. Wish I could really travel that light.
OMG. Talk about a twisty, turny mountain road. Even with Dramamine I had trouble by the end of the 2nd hour. But the views were AMAZING! Strawberry fields forever! But you can't see them because they're covered in fabric. And they're grown in self-watering pots. They said they only grow enough up here to sell up here to the locals and the tourists. Yum. I had a strawberry salad, strawberry milkshake, and the next day took a cab back to the strawberry farm for a strawberry float! Now that's the way to eat strawberries!
But I'm ahead of myself. So what else is new?
We finally landed at our destination of Tanah Rata and decided to try and find a hotel first so we could drop Sylvia's bag. (Remember my backpack was already light:)) Since it was only 10 am we needed a place that would let us check in early, too. Most hotels are above the stores, but for whatever reason, we didn't notice them as we wandered the main drag...not a one. We wandered a back street and checked out a couple. I didn't want to spend too much time on a hotel hunt and I wanted to go cheap figuring we wouldn't be hanging around the room like we usually do after a long day's ride, so I jumped on one that I thought would do. That done, we hit the streets...to do what else? EAT!
After are bellies were full, we checked around about tours to the tea plantations, strawberry farms, jungle treks, etc. they weren't cheap. The one that went back in the jungle to see famous Malaysian flower, Rafflasia I think it's called...google it...it's humongous!, that trek would take all day. And we didn't have that. We had 2 half days. So we decided to see about getting a taxi because the plan stations were too far to walk and we didn't have our bikes. Sylvia got the cabbie for 20 ringgit an hour ($7) and off we went to tour the area. It worked out great. First stop was a strawberry farm which is more like a manufacturing plant on the hillside. Acres and acres of these mounded rows of white fabric with the potted strawberries inside. There was cactus and lettuce growing too. And parsley growing in the shade of the strawberry pots. And these huge mounded greenhouses cover the mountainsides. Not a pretty sight, but they sure tasted good!
Next was the tea plantation. Rolling hills of green. The tea trees are chopped short so that the leaves can be easily harvested. They used to be picked by hand but now are mowed with a machine held by two men. The factory was shut down but our cabbie gave us a tour educating us on how the tea is processed. Then on to samples!
Off to our next stop, The Ole Smokehouse, a British homestead that's been converted to a restaurant and hotel. Of course we had to have overpriced tea and scones! While our taxi waited for us! Such royal treatment!!! We scrimp and splurge as the moments present themselves.
The next day we took a cab to another nearby town to explore it, with plans to get the bus back to Ipoh from there. In our wanderings here we came upon a Chinese Buddhist Temple that had enormous statues within.
Another bus trip...back down the mountain...in a rickety old bus...in a MAJOR DOWNPOUR!!! Close your eyes. You're not in control any more. Think positive thoughts. As the bus sways and careens back and forth around hairpin turns. Think: this is the best bus driver in Malaysia! Think: he drives this route every day in the rain. Think: do not attract bad energy with negative thoughts. Now go to sleep. And I did!...sorta.
Our next destination is Georgetown, an island near the northern coast of Malaysia. But we have some new friends to visit along the way. A couple of weeks ago, a man pulled over to take our pictures, buy us water, and talk to us. Khalib. We gave him our blog cards and he friended us on Facebook. He also invited us to visit his home as we got closer to Penang. Definite possibility. He had also told us he had cycled around the world. Wow!
Before leaving Ipoh, he gave us the name of a friend that lived in the next town we were headed to: Kuala Kangsar. We friended him on Facebook and messages him that we would be there in the late afternoon and would call him when we got settled in a hotel.
The best laid plans... We got to a hotel on the main street, settled in, showered, and sent Aswad a Facebook message telling him where we were. We also tried to Skype him but no answer. (The problem with Skype calls is the come in with a strange phone number and most people don't answer those:)). I tried to text him with my phone that has a Malaysian SIM card. I didn't call him because I'm always worried about understanding their speech. It's hard in person...harder on the phone.
So we gave up and hit the town, wandering the streets, checking out the shops, and then deciding to eat. All the while I was looking at my phone for a message. After dinner, we wandered around some more. It's a Royal Town and beautifully maintained, decorated, and lit with colored lights. Around 8 o'clock we got back to the hotel...and guess who was there waiting for us? Aswad. So after he helped us move "the kids" into the hotel lobby for the night, he gave us a tour or the city: the mosque and the palace and all around. Beautiful! Then drinks and stories. His English is quite good and we listened to his wonderful stories of his year biking around the world. He's only in his mid 20s but has seen a lot through bike travel.
Dropping us back at the hotel he said he'd meet us for breakfast and ride out of town with us. Do you realize how slow we go?
Before I sign off this journal I have to share "a first"! I was flashed! Yup! I'm cycling past a large truck parked under a tree and see a man standing in the shadow at the rear of the truck waving his prized possession at me!!! He's not peeing. Nope. That was for my benefit. Yikes! Pedal faster!!!
Pedal on...pedal on,
BagLady
More pictures are posted at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104890875270597877610
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