Just one day back from Malaysia, and I’m off zipping to another 2 states in Malaysia, this time further up north. This trip had been planned quite haphazardly, with no bookings for accomodations done right up to a couple of hours before we left home. Travelling in the last week of the year, we were afraid we would be stranded in some unknown places with no roof over our head (nor a bathroom beside us!). But still, we went ahead, with two verbal reservations over the phone and one pending because we paid no deposit. I must applaud my parents for their courage, in doing something that I thought only backpackers my age would dare venture into.
We left one night before our planned itinerary to make a pitstop halfway at Auntie’s apartment in Genting Highlands, this option reduced the distance we had to cover to our first attraction at Teluk Intan. Travelling at night on the light-less North South Highway E1, also known as Lebuhraya Utara Selatan, tested the intensity and power of the headlights of our Mazda3 sedan. We left Singapore at 8plus and managed to reach Genting Highlands at 12plus in the night, by then which, all 3 drivers, my dad, my mum, and I were tired because the bright lights shining from oncoming traffic on the right side strained our weary eyes.
Alarm was set at 7.30am in the morning, but as usual I snoozed it again, even though the whole family decided on my alarm. Oops! We ended up waking one hour later than planned, and went for a quick breakfast at one of the Roti Canai (or the Singapore equivalent of Roti Prata) shop at the street downstairs.
With some flour and spices in our stomach, we set off on our adventure to look for the leaning tower of Perak, and the adventure town Ipoh. But just 2minutes into the journey, we got confused at the roundabout and ended up taking the wrong exit, which meant we had to spend another 1hour or so travelling. What a great start. So much for depending on the GPS when it couldn’t even establish a connection with the satellite above. ZZZ.
First stop for the day was to find this pagoda building that suffered the same fate as the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy, just that it didn’t busk in as much limelight as its Italian counterpart. And I understood why when I reached. The Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan was built in 1885 by a Mr. Leong (maybe he might shared some bloodline with my ancestors!) to act as a water tower, and as a beacon to guide ships into Teluk Intan Port. The tower was tilted due to differential consolidation settlement of the ground. But compared to 294 steps in the one in Pisa, this leaning tower had only 110 steps; we could hardly see it from afar because its buildings around it were mostly taller than that! The place was also not easily accessible, with Teluk Intan almost 90minutes away from the town of Ipoh.
Next stop, Gopeng, the town of adventure. The accomodation for tonight was the one pending because we didn’t transfer any sums over as deposit. But we sorted everything out by popping in into the first ‘rest house’ we encountered after 7km of rocky roads; and we didn’t regret our choice a single bit. There was comfort in the wilds, knowing we will be soundly asleep in air conditioned room, without the disturbance from mosquitoes (not like something someone like me would say hur?! but i was with family, different!). Had we placed the deposit with the other resthouse, we wouldn’t had discovered that we coud upgrade with just RM50!
and that’s where we stayed for the night – at Adeline’s Villa. Villa owner Adeline shared with us over dinner that she only constructed this villa about half a year ago, taking into consideration the feedbacks by the numerous spoilt Singaporeans who wanted air conditioned accomodation versus sleeping on mattress feeding the ever-hungry wild mosquitoes.
Adeline’s Villa had much more facilities than Rumah Rehat Adeline; it was simply like a resort. Adeline shared with us how it all came about. It seemed like any management game on iPhone, just like Restaurant Story or Hotel Tycoon. She started off with a couple of houses, and slowly earned her capital, and expanding when she had the ability to, it was just like leveling up in those games, just that this has much more risks than just treating it as a mere game.
Another highlight, was the food, that was whipped up by Adeline herself! The feeling I get staying at her place, was that it was just like a homestay, and she was anxious for us to enjoy ourselves to the maximum.
With no entertainment provided for us, we were lucky I brought my laptop along, where we watched a Taiwanese ghost movie that Ernest downloaded earlier, after which, we retreated into the night and rested our tired souls.
Life is a daring adventure or nothing 