We are so lucky living in Malaysia as people love to celebrate all holidays, so once again we found ourselves with a long weekend for the Indian festival of lights Deepavali. This is one of our favourite holidays as we love Indian culture and food. So we kicked off the weekend by heading down to the newly renovated Brickfields area which has now been proclaimed KL’s ‘Little India’. Now, we had always classed this area as the main Indian area in KL and handy as only 10mins walk from our gaff.
We took in the sights, sounds and smells as we wandered along the street from stall to stall. Basically it was Christmas Eve, everyone getting last minute supplies. Emma had to buy a few more Punjabi suits to add to the ones she bought in Klang’s ‘Little India’ the previous week. She was aiming to get a match for a pair of shoes she already owned. Three Punjabi suits later, she had a match, I did mention taking the shoes with us, but this fell on deaf ears. Now she needs shoes to make up the outfits for the other two that don’t match!
The new-look Brickfields is really bright and colourful, they have done a good job, so we hope they keep it clean and tidy. Of course we had to have some tasty Indian food and a couple of beers to round the night off.
Up early the next day for the long bus journey to Grik. Where? Grik is a small town in the north in the state of Perak. It is the closest town to Tasik Temengor and Belum Forest Reserve. We had booked a night at the Belum Rainforest Lodge and were looking forward to a relaxing weekend. The journey was pretty long and there were many small creatures on the bus to Emma’s disgust (no holiday for her!). We were doing ok until the driver decided to stop for the second time about half an hour from Grik. He just had to stop at his favourite food stall, never mind the paying passengers!
On disembarking in Grik there was no sign of life. The taxi station was deserted and we began to wonder how we would travel the final 40 km to Banding. A taxi finally trundled up and we were quickly off to BRL (RM50). We travelled along the main highway from Penang to Kota Bharu and it is said to be a good spot to see elephants, so eyes peeled. After half an hour we crossed a bridge over Tasik Temengor and we turned into the resort. Not sure what to expect but at least they had our reservation, smartly checked in and off to the room. This turned out to be a huge surprise, a massive room, great fixtures and fittings, flat screen TV (with all Astro channels), kettle (with tea and coffee), mini-bar (empty – fantastic, straight in with our supplies), dressing gowns etc. (great value at RM255 Nett). No real balcony, but there were expansive patio doors opening onto an outside space, so we quickly dragged chairs and table outside for our own alfresco sitting area. This was great as the resort is set in lovely gardens and it turned out to be a super place to chill out.
Time to explore the resort and it turned out to be a strange place, think it used to be a government hotel and is basically a concrete structure. However, they have managed to make it look nice with natural materials and the restaurant had an outside veranda. We checked out the menu for later and it was soon clear that Emma could be very hungry during the stay. We were informed that there was a cafe situated by the lake that was open till 6 pm. This was a result as not only was it a third of the price but also was situated in a great spot with views of the lake. We went for a wander along a trail by the lake for a while before getting eaten alive and retreating to the cafe, early tea then. There was something for Emma to eat and it was really pretty good.
We decided to take full advantage of our lush room and we were glad to have brought our own supplies. We enjoyed a few drinks as the sun set on our make shift balcony. The only hindrance to this tranquil experience was a leech hell bent on making a beeline for me. Still got the bites from Taman Negara so wasn’t keen on any more!
Up for the breakfast as this was included, but wished we hadn’t bothered. Got to be the worst food I’ve ever seen. Anaemic sausages and eggs did not float my boat but at least there was toast. Now the resort is in a lovely spot but it is close to the road and not really in the jungle. If you want to explore more you have to book an additional trip. A full day tour to Belum forest was RM250 pp ( and you need a permit organised in advance), which seemed a bit much so we decided to opt for a boat trip around the lake (RM35pp) with the hope of spotting some of the 10 species of hornbills that are seen in the area. When we finally tracked down a chief at the recreation desk, he told us the boat trip only went at 4pm, too late for us. Oh well, we’ll just chill in the nice grounds. Reckon that they are only used to dealing with large groups and thought we were a bit strange. This was confirmed when we checked out and explained that we didn’t have a car and planned to hitch back to Grik.
We made a sign with our destination on and camped out by the roadside. All the Mercs and Beamers sped by but as usual a beat up old Proton slowed down and we were soon on our way. Didn’t see any hefalumps again, but we did see a big troop of pig-tailed macaques. Our kind driver dropped us at the bus station in Grik, even though he was heading to Butterworth, what a gent. We were trying to get to Taiping, but no direct bus from Grik. We were soon off on an old charabanc to Lenggong along small country roads. It was a lovely journey and nice to see another beautiful part of Malaysia. In Lenggong, we were looking for info for a Kuala Kangsar bus. Our bus driver saw us and came to help. Turned out there should be a bus to KK in an hour, perfect, just enough time for lunch. Lenggong seemed to be a Chinese town and we found a busy spot across from the bus station and we enjoyed a delicious Kway Tiew (flat noodles) and a cool tall one. Even picked up a souvenir, a bottle of home-made Lenggong chilli padi sauce.
Back to the bus station and it turned out to be the same bus, the driver seemed pleased to see us back on board. Another great trip; winding through the back roads, not as quick as the highway but much more scenic. Soon in KK and we transferred to a Taiping bound bus within minutes. As we entered Taiping the heavens opened, well it does have a reputation as the wettest town in peninsular Malaysia. Unfortunately, due to A/C overdose on the bus to Grik and in the posh resort, I was coming down with a cold. Taiping is one of our favourite towns in Malaysia, it has a nice atmosphere and a lovely lake gardens. Not many tourists come here, which is a shame as the people are really friendly. After a fruitless hotel trawl around town, we decided our first option near the bus station was the best deal, isn’t that always the case? The Legend Inn turned out to be good value at RM108 Nett (not including breakfast – which after the last experience, we could live without!). The plan had been to get up early the next day and walk up Bukit Larut (Maxwell’s Hill), well the weather wasn’t promising and my cold was kicking in, so we decided to enjoy ourselves tonight and put off the walk. We have actually done it twice before and it is really nice walk up a 1000m hill, but not in the wet! We fancied doing it again before they build a cable car to the top and completely destroy the environment. The Malaysia government talk about eco-tourism all the time and then allow projects like this!
We headed out in the drizzle to the Peace Hotel, which is, a lovely run down colonial food and drink spot or a lovely run down colonial brothel, depending on your personal preferences. We had a couple of beers before heading off to one of the food courts which spill out onto the streets at night. We had just sat down when the rain got harder and staff insisted we move inside. However, it was packed and even though they kindly set up a table for us, it was right outside the toilets. We headed back out when we thought the rain and stopped, it hadn’t and the friendly staff offered us an umbrella. Stupid Mat salleh wants to eat in the rain lah! A better table finally came free and we order some food. Food courts are great, you just wander around from stall to stall and order whatever you fancy. We couldn’t decide whether to have chicken rice, duck rice or pork rice, so we ordered all 3! What extravagance at RM 11 for all 3 plates and it was delicious. We moved to another restaurant for a drink and got chatting to one of the staff, told you they were a friendly lot in Taiping. He asked where we were staying and was aghast that we had come all the way from the Legend Inn. You would have thought it was 10km away from his reaction and not 10 minutes! We ordered a couple of carry-outs to take back to watch the footy and he insisted on driving us back to the hotel can you believe. Asians really don’t like getting wet and he couldn’t bare us getting a tad damp, incredible kindness.
It was still wet and overcast the next morning, so abandoning the walk turned out to be a good call. Instead we went for a stroll around Lake Gardens after breakfast. This really is a lovely place on the edge of town. We enjoyed the walk but wondered why people have to drive motorbikes around the paths and leave litter everywhere. The highlight was watching a large group of pig-tailed macaques frolicking in the trees and the young uns were having a ball rolling down a grassy bank. A few long-tailed macaques even joined in the fun. Soon it was time for lunch and back to KL on the bus. Should only be a 4 hour trip at most, but after breaking down for a couple of hours and getting stuck in the holiday traffic we arrived back in KL 9 hours later!
We had another great weekend enjoying more of Malaysia, especially the beautiful back roads and the kindness of the locals, but we may fly back next time it is a holiday weekend.
