The Chong Road-trip highlights

Just back from 10 days on the road in Malaysia. Having five kids has seriously curtailed our travel options - even the cheapest budget flights now go into a couple of thousand dollars when you factor in the surcharges, taxes etc! So with no spare cash, we hit the road in Malaysia. And this has forced us to travel deeper into the country, exploring places beyond the usual KL-Malacca circuit.

This trip, we headed up north to Ipoh - a rather nondescript quiet town, now famous as location du jour for Lee Ang's new film and Ipoh hor fun. En route, we stopped at the Kuala Woh Recreational Forest, 13km up the winding foothills leading to Cameron Highlands, off the Tapah exit. There, we found only locals, no tourists, a rushing river shaded by banks of big trees, butterflies in black and green the size of our hands, and a creaky foot suspension bridge. It was a great break from the driving. We loved going on the suspension bridge, wading in the shallow pebble-filled river bed. And the river has hot springs! We discovered this by accident when Isaac yelped as his foot landed unsuspectingly into a hot spot. Further up the river was deeper water and big round boulders. So next trip, we're going swimming!

We also found a decent hotel in Ipoh where we made a comfortable base. We took two adjoining rooms which cost us RM260 a night for both rooms. The room was clean, hot shower worked well, the King-size beds comfy, they had cable tv(which was what the kids wanted) and the breakfast was pretty decent for a small hotel!

Previously, Ipoh was a problem when it came to accomodations - because the places there were just not value for money. Case in point was the run-down Station or Majestic Hotel (a real misnomer!) . It was the old railway station, built along splendid colonial lines and now converted into a hotel. But if you're thinking its the Raffles, think again. The rooms are dark and musty-smelling with no windows, the beds look sad and saggy and the first floor is a warren of massage parlours. The whole place has lost its shine and dignity and its a sad thing to see. And they charge RM200 for a family room - which is two queen-beds!! The last time we stopped here we stayed at the Seri Malaysia, off the main road leading to Ipoh town - and it had the scent of stale durians, the toilet seat was missing, the fridge didn't work and the aircon sucked. So this time, we were very pleased to find a decent place - it gave us reason to come to Ipoh as a place to break our journey up north.

Finally found the famous Ipoh hor fun - ribbons of white that just slides down the throat and chicken nicely poached smooth white! Trin ate everything we ate - down to the chicken, bean sprouts etc. She's always liked our food and hated baby food - the mashy cereal/porridgey stuff - which she always spat out so decisively. So on this trip, she ate everything we ate - her favourite being wanton noodles!

We explored the places around Ipoh - Kellie's Castle, Gua Tempurong etc. Liked the long road heading into the cave area - a long ribbon of grey, bright green fields and wetlands on either side, with a hulking limestone mountain looming up in front of us. The cave is do-able, but unfortunately, poorly lit. It had an underground river, a wind chamber (which was cooling after our long hikes up and down the many stairs and catwalks). So when the kids are older, we'll do the 4-hour hard stuff which includes navigating the underground river.

From Ipoh, we headed to Lumut, intending to cross over to the Pangkor Island Beach R esort. But after doing the sums, I felt that it was too expensive. It cost RM320++ for an Ocean wing and the hotel didn't allow us to all go into one room. It was adamant that we had to have two rooms. And this would have jacked up the cost significantly. And if we stayed one night, the hotel wanted to charge a one-night surcharge! So with all this hesitation, we decided to forget it, and just spend the night in Lumut, heading to Pangkor for a day trip in the morning.

Have to say that Lumut was a dead boring place. We chose to spend the night in the rather run-down Lumut Country Resort. It actually was not a bad place if properly maintained and managed. Nice black and white trim reminiscent of the colonial houses and good layout of the rooms with generous natural light. Cost us RM95 per room per night. We took two rooms. And I spent the whole night hearing light switches go on and off in mine, lots of dragging noises overhead, voices etc - even though I distinctly recall the manager telling us he was giving us a whole wing to ourselves! KH said his room was fine - didn't hear a thing. Go figure.

Pangkor was nice. My first view was of green wooded hills rising from a turquoise sea, wooden houses on beaches with coconut trees, long jetties with fishing boats bobbing away and once in a while, a glimpse of hot pink flashing through the trees. Those were the taxis. All the taxis on Pangkor are painted an exciting hot pink - and all are of the minivan variety, which was great for our large family.

The taxi driver recommended Telok Nipah on the other side of the island. We wended through forests, flanked by beaches on one side and trees and foliage rising from the other. Across the straits, I could see the very posh and expensive Pangkor Laut resort. Too rich for my blood but I figured - we share the same sea/strait so so much for exclusivity!

Telok Nipah was very nice - Gillian and I were landbound thanks to mother nature. But the rest went swimming. KH, at first sceptical about the waters in Pangkor, was won over when he could see shoals of little fishes swimming alongside him. The kids were ecstatic about finding sea-shells, crabs and jellyfish in the water. So we decided that the next trip up, we would stay on the island - either find cheaper (read crappier) accomodation or splurge for a bit of luxury. But we'll definitely be back.

Back on the mainland, we headed for KL where we spent a very nice and comfortable two days in our favourite Micasa Hotel. KL's highlight was a lovely dinner with everyone in my family - Mum, Dad, Paul, Aunty Peggy and Uncle Boris were in town, catching up with Vivian my sister who lives in KL. So we had a great dinner - lots of red meat, pasta and wine - and then headed back to her house to open presents. It was so rare to be able to gather with family like this in KL. The only one missing was the angmoh Paul, my BIL who had gone on his own road-trip, driving from KL up into the far reaches of Laos!

All in, great trip. We had good weather and came home to the torrential rains that eventually flooded out most of Johor and Malacca (still flooding as I write). Discovered new places, hung out with dear ones, made big emotional and physical transitions from girlhood to womanhood. Draining, but still good fun.