24 FEB SUNDAY: Afternoon Drive from Ringlet to Kuala Lumpur - Evening KL

We finally left Rainforest Inn around 11am.  I mentioned before how much agriculture there is in the area and I recently read that it is a hub of Malaysia's vegetable farming and international flower farming sector.   These are just some of the scenes as we left the area.  Not many empty plots of land to be seen they're either planted up or covered with polytunnels/growing frames

Before starting the long drive to Kuala Lumpur we visited the Bharat Tea Estate, the second largest tea producer in Cameron Highlands.   We didn't want to take 'the tour' having done this before in India but David wanted to buy some loose tea whilst we were in the area.

We'd been told we must visit the viewing gallery to enjoy the far-reaching views but a warning at the start of the path to the gallery advised that the climb was 350 metres with a 30% slope and not suitable for older visitors or those with poor health.   David opted out of making the ascent and went off to make his purchases and wait for me in the tea house.    I confess I nearly gave up halfway, the ascent had concrete steps - some were 4 inches high, others 18" high and these had disappeared in places so it was bare soil to negotiate.    But I persevered and, yes, the views were stunning - shame they don't look so good in my photos.

Really its best if 2 people go up together so they can photograph each other with the fab views in the background.   I didn't have my phone with me so couldn't have attempted a selfie even if I knew how to!

Its lovely to see so many flowers/shrubs that we grow as 'exotic plants' in England just thriving and doing their own thing here in Malaysia

It was a slow old journey leaving the tea plantation/Ringlet area to get back to the expressway.  The endless winding roads were pretty busy with weekend visitors and inevitably we had idiots who overtook on blind bends and tailgated cars.

I don't know if its a regular weekend thing here but yesterday on the expressway we had groups of 'lads' in very high performance cars racing each other way above the speed limits - I think they must be the equivalent of our 'City Boys' with more money than sense.

Today on our drive we saw something we'd never have believed could happen once, let alone the 6 or 7 times we saw it .... lads on motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic at high speed then flipping out of their seats to lie on their stomachs on the bikes.   The first couple sped by and David and I just looked at each other in amazement.   After that I had my camera ready and before long capture this shot - its through the windscreen so not the best photo but you can see how stupid these lads are - this is in the fast lane where they're exceeding the 110kmph limit!

They appear to have removed the registration plates from their bikes, otherwise I'd have been tempted to send a copy to the powers that be.

We found our hotel in KL and pulled up at the entrance to be met by a parking valet who told us we'd have to park in the underground park.   We asked if a bell boy could collect our cases first and were told that we'd have to take them into the hotel ourselves ... not a good start!   Needless to say we DID get a bellboy to take the luggage in the end.

We have a King Size room which is quite plush with a nice leather sofa, large TV screen and two desk/consoles but only one chair.   As we both have our computers with us and wanted to work independently David phoned reception to see if we could have a second chair, reception phoned house-keeping, house-keeping phoned us and said 'computer says NO' ... one chair per room, nobody has ever asked for a second chair before, can't be done!  There is a business centre in the hotel we can go there and work.   OK ... fair enough!    David wanted to charge his computer so plugged it into the wall socket and tripped the system so we had to ask for an electrician to come to the room ....

Suddenly we heard thunder and then it started raining so we decided to explore the 8-storey shopping mall which adjoins the hotel via a covered walkway and boasts a large food hall section.    The mall itself was just like Bluewater with the same shops - Dorothy Perkins, Victoria's Secret, Next, H&M etc and the food shops were mainly fast food chains.  We settled for an Indonesian fast food place and had a plate of spicy chicken with fried egg noodles and some sort of peanut satay fish pieces.   With a couple of glasses of iced lime juice and some rice it came to less than £7 for the two of us - it wasn't authentic street/hawker centre food but it was tasty and we didn't have to venture out into the rain to eat.

Before we went out we'd asked house-keeping to send us some more creamer.   We have lots of coffee/tea packs but they only left 2 creamers so after one drink we'd run out.   Stupidly I'd left the Do Not Disturb sign on the door when we went out to eat so we had a note left under the door asking us to call House-keeping on our return

I think we've got off to a bad start with this hotel!    Its sad ... the last two places we've stayed at haven't been luxurious but the staff have bent over backwards to be accommodating and helpful.   Now we're back in the world of corporate glossy hotels and the feel is not the same.   Perhaps I'm just tired.   Lets see what tomorrow brings ...

24 FEB SUNDAY: Morning at Ringlet

We had breakfast at 8 – an assortment of dips (most chilli/curry flavours) with naan and roti breads.  For David I ordered toast, egg and jam!  Best of all was passion fruit fresh from the gardens – they are the things that look like pink scotch eggs.  They were absolutely scrummy. 

After breakfast was our demonstration of Orang Asli hunting techniques with blow pipes and other devious traps to catch/kill all sizes of prey from rats (just one type of very large rodent which is apparently very tasty), wild chickens, squirrels and monkeys.

Our host, Gee, explaining how a blowpipe is made (from various types of bamboo) and the poisons used to bring down larger animals.  The poisons can't be extracted from snakes or spiders as the venom would render the prey inedible so they use tree/bark based poisons.

the 100 'bullseye' was scored by the guy demonstrating the blow pipe technique.    David had 5 attempts - the first two made 60 (or borderline 80 for one) the last 3 went high and to the left but were in a tight cluster just outside the target.   Very good for his first attempt!

I dared him!

Durians are much loved by Chinese/Malays/Indonesians but they're an acquired taste.   The stench is horrible - they've been likened to buckets of fermenting nappies and old socks amongst other things.   I tried the fruit in the 80s when Singaporean friends insisted I shouldn't miss out on such a treat .. Yuk!

Anyway, as one of the staff had brought some to the cooking area whilst we were there, David agreed to try some and he actually thought it was 'OK' .. brave man!

I'd photographed this odd looking shrub/fruit last night when walking around the grounds but wasn't sure what it was 

This morning the guy who serves our meals handed me one of the florets to try - just the cream section/base of the floret.   They call it mock ginger plant and it has a wonderful sweet & sour flavour.   The juice or nectar is only produced in the mornings - they dry out and die during the heat of the day ... and in the mornings they are much appreciated by these guys ..

Daughters of one of the ladies who helps around the cooking area

So cute ...

Just before we left Gee took us around the grounds talking about the plants and trees growing there.  He demonstrated how one particular shrub produces a soap like substance when the leaves are crumpled and screwed up in the hands.  Its slightly tacky and can be used to stop bleeding and heal cuts, and it deters flies and biting insects for up to 30 minutes after application as well as being used as a general cleanser.

23 FEB Saturday - evening at Ringlet/Rainforest Inn

I chose the Rainforest Inn because its in a good position in the Cameron Highlands as we only have one night available in our itinerary - it isn't too far into the 'jungle' so only about 1 hour on winding/hairpin roads to reach it.    Also it was to give us an opportunity to learn a little about the culture and tastes of the  tribes of the Malaysian forests!

'Natives' here are known as 'Orang Asli' which is a collective term meaning original, aboriginal or first peoples in Malay.  Apparently there are some 18 ethnic groups totalling less than 150,000 who are widely regarded as being  peninsular Malaysia’s original inhabitants (pre-dating the arrival of Malays).   They were hunter gatherers and skilled with blow pipes with which they hunted monkeys and other small animals.

Our accommodation is basic but clean and spacious.  Its totally built from bamboo and raised on legs in traditional fashion.      The wall panels are sections of bamboo flattened out and joined together then coated with repellant to stop the insects destroying it.

Gee explained that there are 4 main reasons for building this style of house:

1. to prevent the place flooding in heavy rains
2. to allow snakes and other floor dwelling creatures to have uninterrupted routes along the ground.
3. to allow good ventilation and keep the place cool – lots of little gaps for airflow through the bamboo sections
4. to make the building light enough for easy transportation when the villagers needed to relocate due to depleted resources.

There is a mini waterfall in the grounds and the owners have added a series of bamboo water spouts so you can splash around and cool off in the clean water if you wish - we didn't, but we did watch other guests having a fun time.

We settled in quickly then were invited to  visit the 'cooking area' to see how the food for our 'native evening meal' was being prepared.   Basically soup and rice were to be cooked in bamboo and spicy coated chicken and fish and sweet potatoes slow cooked over BBQ hot ashes for 2 hours.

In the interim I dragged David out to walk to a local village – about 15 mins walk away.   There wasn't much to photograph along the way except these HUGE spiders who had built webs high up between shrubs/trees …  (David reckons they're 6" to end of legs)

We didn't go right into the village as didn't want to intrude.   We can hear bird calls and tropical sounds everywhere but haven't seen many birds.   We've had some black & white birds which look like small magpies but I haven't been able to photograph one.  We've also seen wagtails.   Apparently this isn't a good time of year for bird spotting.   We should be here when the fruit is ripe and there will be an abundance of feathered friends taking advantage then.  

We came back in time for dinner to be served at the table on our deck.    I don't eat much fish so David had mine but the chicken was fabulous. 

The rice was interesting.   In Southern India at a Homestay we visited twice the rice was cooked in bamboo but it was packed directly into the tube then steamed and it was pushed out as a sort of rice sausage but recognisable as loose cooked grains when on the plate.    Here the rice was folded into leaves before being packed into the bamboo, water added then heated over the coals for 2 hours.  It was compacted (and not very nice if truth be told).   Its cooked that way for a purpose.   In bygone days the Orang asli didn't have crockery so they simply unfolded the leaf parcels and, voila, instant plates.

They don't use banana leaves as these aren't strong enough to withstand the fire/heat for 2 hours – these are tougher leaves with a name something like Rentek  (I probably misheard the name as can't find it on Google).   This is what the leaves look like:

 The sweet potatoes were tiny – not much bigger than large anya potatoes and were lovely.  The braised leaves of the sweet potato plants were served as a side vegetable and tasted very much like spinach.      All in all, a lovely selection (although there were a couple of local veggies served which neither of us cared for).

We had a good night's sleep.   Basically we have two double mattresses side by side and an all encompassing mosquito net covering the lot – which made for interesting times when getting up for a bathroom visit in the night!

otherwise, all mod cons.   A shower room en suite, lots of hanging and shelf space and a wall mounted fan if needed, though it got quite cool overnight.

23 FEB SAT: Morning Drive to Ringlet (Cameron Highlands)

I was looking forward to some lovely noodles for breakfast at Ren I Tang but the Malaysian meal this morning was roti bread and dal which was very nice but not a patch on the previous day's offering.   We set off around 9.45 for Ringlet

To get from George Town, Penang Island to the mainland you can take a ferry or use the iconic bridge which is about 13½ km long.   We opted for the bridge as its the fastest option but its not possible to stop anywhere to take photos so this is a 'stock' photo.

It was our first experience of driving on an expressway in Malaysia and using our 'Tap and Go' prepaid cards to use at the toll booths en route.  Everything went well – the roads are wonderful and better maintained than ours in Kent!  The standard of driving leaves much to be desired ....

Our RAC routeplanner had suggested the journey would take 3.5 hours.   Our host at the Rainfall Inn had said 5 hours so we planned for the worst.       As we were making good time I suggested trying to find some caves I'd read about in Ipoh, not too far from Ringlet.

We stopped off at a R&R (motorway services) to have a coffee and look at maps to see exactly where the caves were.   The R&R was an experience in itself – so many fruit stalls, hat stalls and walking stick stalls as well as food outlets and a 'male only prayer room' …. no prayer room for females!  It was beautifully clean.

As we got closer to Ipoh the scenery was spectacular with towering  rocks/hills and Sam Poh Tong temple was easy to find .... along with about 12 others.  It seems every available cave has been taken over and turned into temples with all the attendant tourist tat stalls that attracts.

I'd read that Sam Poh Tong temple had fewer internal stairs than most so hence the attraction.  It is said to be the biggest cave temple in Malaysia and features carved Buddha statues in various forms, interspersed among the cave’s natural stalactites and stalagmites. Legend has it that a monk from China was passing through Ipoh in the late 19th centurey when he discovered the cave. He decided to make it his home and meditation place and stayed there until his death. Today, monks and nuns who dedicate their lives to Buddha still occupy the temple. Outside the cave is a landscaped garden which includes a Japanese pond stocked with carp and tortoises.

I have to say the surrounding gardens were probably nicer than the cave/temple.

The cave entrance

As at most of the temples, you can purchase vegetables to feed the tortoises ... they obviously expect all humans to bring food (we didn't) and actually come running at tortoise pace to meet visitors!

I 'd been expecting more stalactites and stalagmites and fewer man-made decorations and was disappointed that in the more 'interesting' sections of cave the staff/workmen had left buckets, ladders, boxes etc., it needs a woman in charge of such things!

While David was buying some bottled water I had a sneaky look around the adjacent cave/temple which was a bit gaudier but still well maintained .. the good thing about all these cave temples is that you're not required to remove shoes so its easier to have a quick dash round

 Another reclining Buddha

The backdrop to these caves is really beautiful

Back in the air-conditioned car (bliss) we carried on towards Ringlet climbing upwards into the rainforest (jungle) on a very windy road with hairpin bends every few yards.    Being a Saturday the road was busy with locals heading for the cooler hillside spots so the journey was slow which was good as we didn't know the route.   We stopped at Thomson Falls en route to take a couple of photos – lots of families enjoying playing in the water and plenty of food & drink stalls lining the road making for a real party atmosphere.

Eventually we reached Ringlet and stopped at the Petronas petrol station to phone our host, Gee Tatt, as arranged.   He came into town on his motorcycle and we followed him to the Rainforest Inn.   The area we drove through was very agricultural with flowers (chrysanths mainly), strawberries and green veggies growing under poly tunnels/protective sheeting.   Although its much cooler in the Cameron Highlands the sun can still be fierce.    Because we were following Gee we couldn't stop for photos - maybe I'll get some tomorrow as we leave.

This is an example of what I mean by poor standards of driving in Malaysia.  Gee was leading the way driving in the cycle lane and a truck overtook us and another car on the wrong side of the line, going into a blind bend!