Cameron Highlands Weekend

26 - 27 Oct 2008

Here we were in Cameron Highlands again. Land of Boh and Cameronian teas. The weather been terrible for weeks with afternoon rain almost a daily routine. So, we were expecting plenty of wet riding. Even the local meteorological web site published rain and more rain throughout the long Deepavali holiday weekend. Boy, for once, we were gladly wrong. Sun decided to come out in full force.

Some Weekends last 48 hours. For us, it lasts a lifetime especially when we share the ride to our favorite hideout. These are the rides that created fond memories. It was the first time the three of us rode with spouses together to Cameron. We started pretty early as we planned to ride casually. We decided to ride via the Tapah-Tanah Rata road as we haven’t rode on the old trunk road in years. Moreover, we would get to stop over in Tapah for Teluk Intan’s chee-cheong-fun. The authentic Anson chee-cheong-fun food stall is located at the downtown’s wet market food-court.

It was totally unbelievable to have a clear day on ride day when it has been raining almost daily for the past two weeks. Riding on the old road unveiled the charming Titiwangsa Mountain range and the beautiful Iskandar Waterfalls. Simple huts built by the native Orang Asli lined the road with makeshift stalls selling petai, wild honey and other jungle vegetables and flowers. Sometimes, I could not help but admire the simple and relaxed lifestyle practiced by these people. Since the new Simpang Pulai route was opened to public a few years ago, vast traffic is diverted away from old Tapah-CH trunk road making the route good for motorcycle riding again. Keeping to sub 70km/h speed, the road is remarkably pleasurable to ride on.

We stopped at the Cameronian Tea kiosk for refreshments while waiting for Mala to get the apartment ready. It was only 11am and uncustomary early to arrive to destination. We originally planned to ride to Raub and get to Cameron using the excellent Gua Musang-Kg Raja route. The new route is certainly more exciting for fast paced riding but we changed our mind after the weather forecast predicted rain in the afternoon and riding in the wet isn’t any fun

We lazed around till 2 pm before we got our keys to the 3-bedrooms apartment in Puncak Arabella. The whole little town was practically choked with holiday makers taking advantage of the Deepavali weekend.

Well, it was nice once a while to get into the apartment early instead of still on the road riding to somewhere. Sipping coffee and chatting while unwinding the late afternoon away was relaxing. Somehow, the excellent sunny weather was begging us to put on our gears and ride.. Nah .. we passed this time as we felt too cozy to leave the apartment

We had dinner at my favourite chinese restaurant in Brinchang. There are many eateries in Cameron Highlands. Some charges ridiculous prices for simple cooked meals. Brinchang, as expected, was packed with vehicles. Everyone seem to be battling for parking spaces. The restaurant owner was kind enough to allow us to leave our helmets in the restaurant after our dinner. It was a little uncomfortable walking around at the local pasar-malam carrying the helmets. Luckily, we were able to move about freely as the pasar-malam was way too crowded with tourists. We adjourned back to our apartment early to chill out the remaining evening. Jousting around with people and smelling their foul body odors just wasn’t pleasurable.

Our rented apartment neighbour is a cafe. So, it was more than convenient to pop in for hot drinks and light food as we do not need to get dressed up. On the down side, I was rudely awaken by the sounds of pots and pans clashing each other at 630 am

Apparently, the cafe’s chef was busy making preparation to start the new day and my room was located a little too near to the kitchen. Price to pay for having a cafe conveniently located by the door step.

As the town’s restaurants were probably still choked with hungry tourists, we concluded that having breakfast at the cafe might save a lot of hassle. Well if that’s the price to pay for 'dining-in', then the food served was decently good. We had fried maggie-noodles, nasi lemak and roti chanai.

Sam and Chin called in reporting that they reached Kg Raja. Kg Raja is about 35 odd km to Tanah Rata. Given the holiday traffic congestion at Kea Farm, it would probably take them a good 45 min to get to our apartment. We rested in our apartment while waiting for them to arrive. Again, it was nice not to rush to the next destination. We planned to hit the road about 1pm. Sam and Chin looked surprisingly fresh when they arrived. The two been racking up illegal speeds the whole morning.

We were caught up with unbelievable traffic congestion at Kea Farm. Cars were already starting snailing up from Brinchang town. My bike was retrofitted with side panniers causing lane splitting nearly impossible. Coach buses, lorries and cars were fighting for road space. To make matter worse, the emergency lanes were occupied as make-shift parking lots. It was pretty much miserable riding till we reached Trinkap. .

The traffic cleared up considerably after Kg Raja. We were able to speed up and enjoy the riding. Sunny sky and clear road, that what we came here for. We stopped briefly at a veggie farm to regroup and refresh. Wong, proprietor of Step-In Vegetable farm, is an old friend of mine and had lamented for years that I have yet to pop in during my motorcycle rides. I known him since his one-man vegetable farm cum nursery days. I always admired his gift with flowering plants and his near-organic farming methods.

It was already passed 2pm and we yet have any lunch. The highlands was simply too packed with tourists and to get a decent table for a nice quiet lunch was a little tough. We were soon darting around the Sg Pulai route like silly school boys moments after the school bell went off. After refueling at Sg Pulai, we managed to find a chicken rice restaurant still opened for lunch. As usual, we ordered lunch enough to feed an army.

As we were chatting and tossing down Ipoh white coffee, Chin suddenly remembered Tanjung Tualang which is just another 40 min odd ride away. Tanjung Tualang is a town well known for its fresh water prawns and its seafood offerings. Chin talked about the most irresistible steamed fresh water prawns on this side of the country making our ever gluttonous mouths foaming again. It was already past 4pm and the weather had cooled down considerably and riding on the excellent back-road was pure bliss. Passing through kampungs with unusually barren surroundings, it was hard to imagine the area was once the hustle and bustle of tin mining.

The small town of Tanjung Tualang has a mind-boggling numbers of seafood restaurants and diners are spoilt for choices. We reached Sun Mee Foong Restaurant and promptly seek refuge in the air-conditoned restaurant. It has been one hot day !

We ordered oyster omelettes, deep fried soft-shell crabs and some vegetables. The main dish was of course the steamed fresh water prawns that were locally bred in the Tanjung Tualang area. The prawns were steamed with light flavoring and thus making the flesh tasted extremely sweet. Some of the more matured prawns even have cholesterol-ladden 'hea-kou' which tasted bitterly sweet.

Fed heavily twice in a space of 3 hours, we staggered to our bikes to head for home. There was still some available light to make ride through the countryside pleasing. We passed through ponds and mini lakes en route to Kampar and finally passing through Tapah to join back into N-S Expressway. Thankfully, the good weather stayed and we had a marvelous ride home zipping through the southbound traffic.

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