In Malay language, gua means cave and lepak is a verb, meaning to hang out, relax. Gua Lepak, the Hanging out Cave, has a restaurant inside a cave. We had dinner there on 15 February after Aric had read about it on the Internet.
The cave is one of the many caves in the Batu Caves limestone hill, famous for the Hindu temples inside the main cave. This cave is a much smaller one, about one km away at the south-eastern side of the hill. See the GE screenshot. Notice how the hill has been encroached on all sides by urban development.
It was an interesting experience. We needed Waze to find Gua Lepak, located in an industrial area. Parking was no problem, maybe difficult in daytime, but the Gua doesn’t open until pm. Entering we first passed a number of food stalls, most of them closed, a bit of a desolate atmosphere.
Before ordering our food, we decided to explore the cave first. Walking down a few steps, we reached the entrance. Nicely decorated. Although the neon sign might suggest otherwise, smoking is not permitted inside the cave.
It is clear that a lot of work has been done to make the cave easily accessible, with (often colorful) lights everywhere. A smooth walkway, here and there, paintings on the wall. Near the entrance we noticed tables and chairs.
In many places the ceiling is very low, easy to hit your head. Interesting rock formations everywhere.
It is not a large cave, after a few hundred meters you exit near where you entered. In the picture you can see the steps to go out.
At the exit, just outside the cave, again some fancy decoration.
Near the entrance there is a Malay stall where we ordered food and drinks.
We entered again and found a suitable table. They had given us a number, so they knew where to serve us.
Service was fast, and the food was quite nice.
It was not crowded, but there were a few more (Malay) customers.
Back home, of course I immediately Googled for more information about Gua Lepak. I found two useful STAR articles, both published on 11 March 2024. In the first one, concerns are voiced about an eatery in the cave, because it might endanger the efforts of the Selangor state government to create the Gombak-Ulu Langat Geopark in the state. The newspaper article contains a poll where citizens can give their opinion. The second one is an interview with the young Malay entrepreneur who, with his family, is managing the Gua Lepak complex. He argues that the rock formations in the cave have not been damaged, only some mural art has been added.
Not surprisingly, the result of the polls (~2000 votes) was that a large majority was against the eatery in the cave, less than 10% was in favour. A few days later, on 15 March, the STAR published a third article, that the Land Office had issued an eviction notice and closed the eatery.
End of story? No. A fourth article in the STAR of 21 January 2025 wrote that the eatery in the cave had reopened, already in October. Repeating concerns about the Goepark After this publicity I expected that the Gua Lepak would be closed very soon again. I suggested to go soon with our UK friend Rodney and only three days later we visited Gua Lepak again.
The atmosphere was the same, not much activity. I had read that the manager and his family actually had a license to operate food stalls in front of the cave.
Also that they had plans to add more options for families and groups of friends to hang out and chill. Like a karaoke room, a surau, a game room, and even a homestay. That explained the fancy decorations in this part of the establishment.
Entering the actual cave, after we had ordered food.
There were a few groups of Malays enjoying their dinner. I think not many other races will visit this place.
We had the same food package as during our first visit.
After our dinner, we showed Rodney the cave. He really enjoyed it.
In the STAR article, the manager had pointed out that they had not damaged the structure, only added some mural art. Some of the paintings are very Islamic.
They left the structure intact. Another activity they have added is rock climbing.
My expectation that the authorities would immediately close the eatery again turned out to be incorrect. In a fifth article in the STAR of 23 January, it was reported that the manager had applied for a temporary occupation licence (TOL). Maybe that request had been granted.
A few weeks ago we went again, this time with our friends Paul and Fahmi. There were no other stalls open, except this one where the lady recognised Aric ;-).
We ordered the same package again.
After the dinner we walked through the cave. Mind your head, especially Paul.
Some parts of the cave have a higher ceiling.
The cave still has a bat population. Aric managed to take a few pictures.
A few more pictures. In the last photo we are standing outside the cave, probably where there can be rock climbing.
We will see how the situation develops. It is a nice location to visit with guests from abroad. With proper management, it could become a major tourist attraction in KL I would have voted in favor of Gua Lepak in the STAR poll 😉
There have been years when I visited more than twenty waterfalls, but that is over for various reasons. In 2023 I visited one waterfall only, during Chinese New Year, the Lata Juang.
As an octogenarian I have decided to visit only waterfalls with easy access “grandfather falls haha), so I was interested when my friend Edwin recently updated me about Lata Khong. When Khong and I “discovered” this waterfall, almost 20 years ago, access was already quite easy. Now the local Orang Asli community has made a cemented footpath for the last 100 meter to the fall , making access even easier. It makes sense they charge a small fee for parking and entry.
When we arrived in the kampung , we were shocked that access to the fall was impossible. An OA boy explained that a few days earlier the police had inspected the access road and decided that it was damaged/dangerous. Not really clear what kind of damage. Closure until January!. Read the hand-written notice.
That was disappointing, we had been driving from KL for about one hour, so what to do? The solution was to visit the Chamang waterfall near Bentong, another grandfather fall in the same region. I first visited this popular fall in 2004. The recent heavy rainfall made it even more impressive now.
Also here “development” has taken place, it is now called Taman Eko Rimba (Ecological Jungle Park) Chamang, with opening times and an entrance fee (RM 10 for me, a bit steep). There were a few tourists only, they stayed for a while at the huge signboard, then left.
Workers were constructing something new, we could not go down to the waterfall.
Which photo would you prefer?
Even with all the development the Chamang waterfall is still a very attractive one, but you must look for a suitable view point.
On our way back we had lunch at the Fantasy Valley restaurant in Kampung Bukit Tinggi. Very scenic location along the Tanglir river.
Aric ordered Claypot Prawn Glass Noodles and veggies. Big Udang Gala (Freshwater Prawns), not cheap, but so delicious!
Although we couldn’t visit Lata Khong, it was a very pleasant outing.
After the Klang (1867-1874) war, Jugra became the capital of Selangor. Not for very long, the state capital moved to Klang , then to Kuala Lumpur and finally to Shah Alam . The royal capital moved to Klang until now.
Jugra went into decline, overshadowed by nearby Banting. But there still are many historical remains. Left a GE screenshot of the region, right a detail.
On our way to the Istana we passed the Royal Alaeddin Mosque . Unfortunately we could not walk in because Khong and I were not properly dressed (wearing shorts). Pity because it is a real beauty. Wikipedia is wrong in dating the construction of the mosque as 1903-1905, it was much later, 1925-1926, here is a convincing report. After a recent restoration it has been repainted in white, it was yellow before. A major improvement.
The date error may be caused by confusion with the Istana Bandar, situated only a few hundred meters away. That palace was completed in 1905. Both were built by Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, the fifth sultan of Selangor (1898-1938) Although the Royal Town was Klang, the Sultan often resided in the Istana Bandar. After his death the palace was abandoned, it was given a number of other uses.
When I visited the palace with my friends Pat and Roger in 2013, it had recently undergone restoration and was closed, although we managed to get in. Click here for a report. Now it was open to the public, but completely empty inside.
Ther architecture is interesting. We took many pictures.
The interior is empty. It would be a good location for a museum about the history of Selangor.
The only “decoration I found inside.
Opposite of the entrance there is a huge balcony.
Everywhere you see nice ornaments. The Visit Selangor website writes that the design is largely Islamic, mainly of Indian and Middle-Eastern origin.
There are also nice gardens.
A worthwhile visit. There were no other visitors, many Malaysians don’t know this place. When we left a few men arrived to take photos.
There is a lot more to see in Jugra, but we got hungry. We had a look at a nearby fishing village, Kelanang. Always picturesque.
We had lunch in the Kang Guan Seafood Restaurant, with a nice view of the Langat river.. As usual Khong selected the dishes.
Here is our lunch. Five dishes, fried sotong, mantis prawns, tofu, chicken, meehoon. Total price : RM 110. That’s what the Gang of Four calls VFM (Value For Money) 😉
Nearby is a business district, which explains why there were so many formally dressed customers.
It was a nice trip and we agreed that we should not wait a long time before having another outing.
A scuba diving friend of Aric, Tony, has an apartment in Georgetown and invited us and a few friends for a food trip to Penang. He was also interested in Taiping, so it became a 4D3N tirp, two nights in Penang and one night in Taiping.
Tony lives in Kota Kemuning. After meeting him, we first had breakfast at Kheng Chew Kopitiam. From left to right Aric, John, Tony and Rodney. I had my favourite breakfast, half-boiled eggs and toast. with coffee.
With only an intermediate sanitary stop we drove straightaway to a small village, Bagan Samak, not far from Parit Buntar. Here is a Google map of the region, as you see it is a very small village. Surprisingly there are quite a few popular restaurants.
A friend of John had suggested the Sloam Mit Thai restaurant and that was a good choice. We had catfish, lala, prawn crackers, fried pork and paku (ferns)..A good start of our food trip 😉
The coffee shop is not far from the Komtar tower. Left picture from the ground, the right one from Tony’s condo, where we arrived around 3 pm and had a well deserved rest.,
Tony’s apartment is spacious and has wonderful views
In preparation for our trip Aric had selected a few interesting food venues. One of them was the Peng Hwa Lok Lok in Pulau Tikus. Lok Lok is a kind of steamboat, where the food is skewered on sticks, which you dip in boiling water. Interesting at this stall is that the skewers are already present on the table and regularly refilled. You keep the sticks which at the end are counted to determine what you pay. The place is very popular, you share a table with others. A very interesting experience.
Back in the condo we enjoyed the night view and had a glass of wine
The next day we went again to the Pulau Tikus market, this time for Apom Manis at the coffees hop of Swee Keng. Another must-try on Aric’s list. You have to come early otherwise they are sold out.
After breakfast we split for a while. I visited a friend, LCK, who is living in a colonial mansion at Macalister Road. We had a nice chat with coffee, durians and interesting miniature bananas from his own garden in Balik Pulau.
The others visited the Penang Botanical Gardens.
When they came to fetch me, LCK invited them for more durians.
For lunch we went to the New World Park, where we only had some light food, because more food was waiting for us in Tony’s condo 😉
Through Facebook, Aric had discovered an Assam Laksa “shop” that did delivery service only and had good reviews. Here you see Tony and Aric preparing the laksa. Aric loves this kind of noodles and has a website, Assam Laska List in which he describes and assesses the various Assam Laksa shops. His verdict: eatable, but not that special
Afternoon view of Gunung Jerai, from the condo.
We had bought (expensive) tickets for the Komtar tower. More precisely for the Komtar Skywalk, added to the tower in 2016. These top floors offer spectacular views of Georgetown. In the left picture I have marked with a x the location of Tony’s condo.
But the views were not what we came for ;-). Both the 65th and 68th floor have glass walkways, where you can look to the ground below, 250 meter down. The walkway on the 65th floor is the most scary, because the glass is transparent and colorless. I have no fear of height, but, to be honest I had to force myself to stand on this glass. Here Aric is lying down.
Of course we took many pictures. Once you are on the glass, you feel safe, but the first step is really scary.
On the 68th floor a curved skywalk has been created. If you look carefully at the Komtar picture at the beginning of this blog, you can see the “horseshoe” sticking out. A limited number of people is allowed to enter at any time. Because the glass floor has a blueish color, it is less scary.
We wanted to see the sunset and Georgetown after dark, so we had to spend quite some time on the roof, taking more pictures 😉
The sunset was not special, but the view of Georgetown with the lights on, was worth the waiting
On our way down, we passed this giant durian. Rodney doesn’t like the King of Fruits 😉 The Komtar tower was nicely illuminated.
We walked a bit along the esplanade. I took a photo of the City Hall (1903), just to show that I was not only interested in food 😉
The next morning , before leaving for Taiping, we visited the scenic Hean Boo Thean temple, at the edge of the Yeoh jetty, dedicated to Guan Yin.
We lit candles. I wrote my Chinese nickname 😉
On our way to Taiping we stopped for lunch at the Law Cheang Kee restaurant in Nibong Tebal , another eatery on Aric’s list. Mud crab porridge is one of their specialities. The fresh stock of crab was just brought in when we arrived. We also had fried kembong , a kind of mackerel.
This was our table when we left.
We arrived in Taiping around 3pm and had cendol and pasembor at the Ansari Famous Cendol shop, before checking in at the Flemington Hotel. From the rooms and especially from the roof (with swimming pool) you have a beautiful view of the Lake Gardens
After a short rest we went out again, to visit Port Weld, now renamed Kuala Sepetang. On our way we had a look at one of the charcoal kilns. During my last visit, a few months ago, I was disappointed that it had become very touristy. But this time, almost 6 pm, it was deserted and very scenic.
One of the kilns was working. Controlling the temperature inside to transform the mangrove wood in charcoal, is a complicated process.
Another kiln was being filled with mangrove logs
We walked around in Port Weld and had a nice view from the bridge.
I had invited a few Taiping friends to join us for dinner in Teluk Kertang. There are several popular seafood restaurants in this village (where in 1879 Isabella BIrd landed, see my blog). We had booked at table in the Lemon Tree restaurant. It was a pleasant meeting with nice company and good food.
The next morning we walked in the Lake Gardens. Splendid weather.
Not even all Taipingites know that the Lake Gardens have a few Cannonball trees. After I “discovered” them, many years ago, I always have a look at these magnificent trees..
Here is another view of the gardens, with Maxwell Hill in the background.
After our walk we went back to Flemington to take a shower and check out. My friends were going back to KL, I was going to stay a bit longer. I dropped my luggage at my usual Furama hotel and then followed them to the old Railway station where we had another Assam Laksa.
It was a nice food trip. About my two extra days in Taiping I will write a separate blog.
In a recent blog, The Gang of Four, I wrote about the fellowship of Khong, Stephen, George and me, and the many trips we made during the past 15 years. At the end of that blog I wrote that we had not organised any activity during the Covid-19 pandemic and that we were hoping to continue the tradition soon.
Although the pandemic is not over, the situation in Malaysia became better during the last months and in November we organised our first outing since 2019. We had planned to visit a colonial mansion in Rasa, but unfortunately it was closed..
Tan Boon Chia Mansion
Closed
However, we had a sumptuous lunch at the WK restaurant in Ulu Yam.
Our next outing was on 20 January and our destination was Kampar. A two hour drive from KL, so we left early . First we had breakfast in the huge Kampar Medan Selera. I had a very tasty Chee Cheong Fun, Hong Kong style.
After our breakfast we visited the Kinta Tin Mining Museum. I had visited the museum in 2018, see my album Versatile Perak, for my friends it was new. It is an attractive museum dedicated to open tin mining, using gravel pumps. Lots of old machinery, many dioramas.
Recently I had come in contact with Jacky Chew, the curator of the museum regarding some heritage issues. It was nice to meet him now in person. He is very knowledgeable about the history of tin mining.
The Gang of Four with Jacky CHew
Talking about tin mining in the past
Our next destination was the Battle of Kampar Heritage trail. The Battle of Kampar was a valiant attempt of the British Commonwealth forces to slow down the advance of the Japanese Imperial army in December 1941. Jacky Chew told us that the trail started next to a factory, north of Kampar old town. We found the factory and asked for further directions.
Mr Chee, the owner of the plant, pointed out where the trail started and also explained to us what they were doing in the factory. Basically it is a mineral processing industry. More info here. Very interesting and an unexpected bonus of our trip.
The trail starts next to the factory and was doable for us seniors ;-). Clearly signposted.
There is a memorial with info about the battle.
The wreaths in front of the memorial were put there a few weeks ago, at the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kampar.
From the memorial a trail leads to a few remains of the battle field, a bunker, a trench and the location of the former command post.
the Vickers Bunker
Communication trench
Command Post
Here is a view from the Green Ridge. Not easy to imagine that this was a battlefield where hundreds of soldiers died, eighty years ago.
We went back to the old town for our last destination. After the success of the mural art of Zacharevic in Penang, mural art has been mushrooming all over Malaysia. KL, Ipoh, Gopeng to name a few. And now Kampar as well. The works of art are concentrated in a small lorong (alley) between the two main roads of old town. The quality is not always very good, but at least it is colorful.
Here is a collection of pictures.
Kampar has also quite a lot of heritage architecture, but there was no time to explore as we were getting hungry. Our plan was to have lunch in Sungkai , at the Choy Kee restaurant, but we found it closed, maybe we were too late. So we continued to Slim River, the Fook Seng restaurant, a favourite of Stephen.
We had pork knuckle, herbal chicken, tofu and bean sprouts. With drinks and rice the bill was RM 102. Value for Money VMF), one of the tenets of the Gang of Four 😉
We are already looking forward to our next outing!
In May 2020 I published a blog post Lockdown!, about our experiences during the first Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia. More than one year has passed since then. THe MCO was extended several times, then replaced by the CMCO (Conditional) and later by the RMCO (Recovery), Confusing? There is also an FMCO (Full) and an EMCO (Enhanced). For a detailed review of all the MCO variations, with timetable, see the Wikipedia article Malaysian movement control order.
In the beginning of the pandemic there were hardly any cases in Malaysia, but from October 2020 onwards the situation deteriorated. We are now in the 5th “wave”.
During the Recovery MCO, starting in May 2020, international borders remained closed, but interstate travel was allowed. We visited the Cameron Highlands in July 2020, and Taiping twice, in August and October. When the situation worsened, we could not travel interstate anymore, but inter-district travel (within a state) was still allowed. I visited the Batang Kali waterfall in March 2021 and the Rawang Bypass in the first week of May, a few days before even inter-district travel was no longer allowed. We could still walk, but only in our own neighbourhood. I was very fortunate because from my doorstep i could explore the many trails in Bukit Lanjan. In May and June I walked with friends a few times a week, here is one of those hikes, A Backyard Hike.
Then, on 1 July, the backdoor government announced an EMCO from 3 to 16 July in the Klang Valley (most of Selangor and parts of Kuala Lumpur). .Enhanced or Extreme? Physical outdoor exercise, considered by experts to be safe and healthy, was banned. Everybody had to stay at home, only one person in a household could go out for essential shopping (food, pharmacy).
During those two weeks we have been staying at home almost permanently, blogging, listening to music, playing games. We decided to spend more time to prepare food ourselves and only occasionally order delivery food. Every day we took a picture of our dinner. The original plan was that Aric and I would share the cooking duties, but it turned out that he did most of the cooking, often very creatively. Here is a report.
2 July
On our last day of freedom, I hiked with friends to a viewpoint at Bukit Lanjan. We had a beer and enjoyed the nice weather.
3 July
Durian season was starting, we bought online a few containers of Red Prawn and Musang King. Expensive but delicious. We still had Tau Fu Fa in the fridge and for dinner I prepared Spaghetti Carbonara with salad and a glass of wine.
5 & 6 July
The next two days Aric was the cook, the first day Chinese food, the second day Western style.
Tom Yam Stir-fried Chicken with Veggies (Broccoli, Eggplant, Shiitake)
BBQ Cuttlefish with mashed potatoes and veggies.
Shopping
To get some physical exercise, I decided to go shopping on foot, not to the nearby Jaya grocer but to the TESCO, a roundtrip of about 4 km ;-). I did the same during the first lockdown, carrying a shopping bag to show the police that I was not hiking, haha. The TESCO car park was almost empty, the shops closed. Parts of TESCO also blocked, only a few customers. Eerie.
7 & 8 July
Two more dinners prepared by Aric. One Chinese and one Western cuisine.
Red Snapper with fermented bean paste & Chinese cabbage with fried dried Shrimp and Cuttlefish.
Baked Salmon with Lemon Sauce, Cheese-baked potato and salad.
8 July
Dutch food for a change. Pancakes. Two versions, an apple pancake and a spekpannekoek with bacon, traditionally served with syrup. A glass of beer was a good accompaniment.
9 & 10 July
Although dine-in was not allowed, many restaurants still prepared take-away food. We ordered a meal from our favourite restaurant: fried rice, sotong, tofu soup and veggies. The following day I decorated a frozen pizza from the Jaya grocer with extra mushrooms and cheese.
11 July
Aric’s birthday. Of course no visitors, but he was spoiled with three birthday cakes!
We had a traditional steamboat dinner, ordered online. It included the cooking pot, the soup and a variety of ingredients.
Vaccination
I got my 2nd Covid-19 dose (AstraZeneca) on 12 July at the PWTC in Kuala Lumpur. That is a different state (Federal Territory), but for vaccination you could cross the state border without a permit. No police check on our way. The organisation was very professional, separate stations for dose 1 and dose 2. No queue at all for dose 2, I was in and out in 35 minutes and that included the compulsory 15 minute wait after being injected.(right picture)
12 & 13 July
The steamboat dinner was so copious that we could not finish everything, there was enough for another meal. The next day Aric prepared Tom Yam chicken with green veggies
14 & 15 July
My turn, two Dutch meals. Pancakes again, but now prepared by me, the dough a bit thinner. I managed to turn the pancakes in the traditional way, by lifting he frying pan upward, so the pancake will turn over in the air. The next day I prepared Hutspot, a traditional winter stew in the Netherlands. Very simple recipe, carrots, onions and potatoes. Could not find the smoked sausage, but the sliced pork (from a can) was a good alternative. The pickled onions and gherkins are essential 😉
The EMCO was announced from 3 to 16 July, what would happen next? Looking at the daily number of new Covid-19 cases, I expected that it would be extended. On 3 July it was 6658 and on 16 July it had increased to 12541. But the government decided otherwise. EMCO was not extended, probably because it had no effect on the virus, only damaged the economy more.
So we went back to another MCO, actually not that much different. A few more shops could reopen (Aric’s laundry shop for example), two people from a household could go shopping instead of only one. Still no inter-district travel.
But for me a very important difference: Hiking around your house was allowed again. I waited a few days , because this government has a reputation of flip-flopping.
19 July
What a pleasure it was to hike again. For the time being I will hike on my own, keeping a safe distance to everybody. It is clear that they virus is endemic now, everybody can be a carrier, I am fully vaccinated now, but even that gives no 100% protection.
I had made myself a thermos with coffee and enjoyed my cuppa at the Hard Rock. I had to use the timer of my phone, that’s why I look so serious 😉
Two weeks of extreme lockdown. Of course we did more than eat, eat, eat. I listened to a lot of music, click on the image to listen to my favourite composer.
I re-discovered the films of Buster Keaton Here is his hilarious movie Our Hospitality (1923). Click on the image to watch the movie.
During our visit to Pat and Roger in 2015 we went with them on a 5D4N trip in the state of Victoria. First Roger took us to the Organ Pipes National Park. The “organ pipes” are basalt columns, their origin is volcanic and they are 2.5-2.8 million year old.
After lunch in the small town of Woodend we continued to Bendigo where we stayed overnight. In the 1850s gold was found here and Bendigo became a boomtown, attracting gold-diggers from everywhere. There is a goldmine that can be visited and there are numerous imposing buildings in Victorian style. A very pleasant town. This is Pall Mall, the main street. Left the War Memorial, in the middle the former Post Office and to the right, behind the trees, the Shamrock Hotel.
Many buildings are in the (Victorian) Second Empire style. From left to right the former Post Office (1883-1887), the Town Hall (1878-1902) and the Law Courts (1892-1896). Impressive architecture.
The monumental Shamrock Hotel began in 1856 but was several times rebuilt, until the final version in 1907.
Just a few more architecture pictures.
Former Colonial Bank (1887)
Beehive building (1872)
The Rosalind park was where the goldrush started in 1851. It has been a Government Camp before it became a park.
Rosalind Park with Conservatory (1897)
The Alexandra Fountain is located at the entrance of the park and was designed by William Vahland, the main architect of Bendigo in those days. A poppet head is a frame at the top of a mineshaft, supporting pulleys for the ropes used in hoisting . This poppet head comes from a different gold mine and is now a lookout.
City Family Hotel (1872)
Alexandra Fountain (1881)
Poppet Head (1931)
The Sacred Heart Cathedral is unusually large for a small town. Construction started in 1897, in Gothic Revival style, but was completed only in 1977.
We had dinner in the Wine Bank on View, a favourite of Roger. It is a wine bar and wine merchant.
They also serve delicious food.
Starters.
We moved inside for the main course.
The next morning Aric and I visited the Central Deborah gold mine, now no longer active and a major tourist attraction. We took the 85 metres: Underground Adventure excursion, very interesting. Overalls, boots, miner’s hat with lamp. A traditional miner’s lunch was served underground.
Various aspects of a miner’s life, changing room, showering, medical assistance.
Goldmine
Our guide explaining where we will go and the poppet head which will lower us down.
An ore deposit, where gold can be found.
Not easy to take pictures underground.
Lunch 85 meter underground.
Before we continued our trip, we visited the Chinese Joss House Temple (1871). During the gold rush many Chinese immigrants came to Victoria to work in the mines.
Our next destination was Echuca on the banks of the Murray river, where we stayed two nights. We had pizza for dinner.
The main attraction of Echuca are the paddleboats. Echuca was founded in 1850 and became fast a major inland port. Nowadays it is a major tourist attraction.
Paddleboats brought their cargo to the Echuca wharf where it was unloaded and transported by rail to Melbourne. The wharf is now Australian Heritage.
Of course we went for a trip, with the paddle steamer Pevensey. It was built in 1911, used to transport wool and still has its original steam engine.
Impressive machinery. Must be a tough job to be a stoker!
The interior of the Pevensey.
Two more paddle steamers. It was a very interesting excursion
In the afternoon we drove around Echuca and visited the Cape Horn Vineyard. The Echuca-Moama bridge dates from 1878, to reach the vineyard we had to cross the Stewart’s bridge (don’t worry, the new one is hidden behind the old wooden structure).
Roger is a wine connoisseur, I am just pretending 😉 .
Of course a day is not complete without drinks and food!
The next day we had a short stop at Kryabam , where we visited the former Town Hall (1895), now an art gallery. Just to prove that we are interested in more than food 😉 .
We continued to Rushworth, another goldrush town. Nice buildings , but not so spectacular as in Bendigo.
Criterion Hotel (1856)
Post Office (1857)
Shire Hall (1868)
Anglican Church (1870)
Commercial Bank (1884)
Mechanics Institute (1913)
I had seen on the Internet that near Rushworth there was an old gold mine with a ghost town. I asked Roger if we could visit that place. He agreed but regretted it when it turned out that the access road was bad, causing some damage to his car. Fortunately Aric could repair it 😉 .
The Balaclava mine is an open-cast mine. The tunnels have been closed for safety reasons, so there is not much to explore.
The ghost town of Whroo is not much more than the cemetery. Hard to imagine that once the town had several churches , a school, a library and a few hotels.
We stayed overnight in a motel in Nagambie and had an al fresco dinner at the Nagambie lake.
A beautiful sunset!
The last day of our trip we visited Yea, another small town, with some interesting buildings. The Shire Hall is from 1877, the Grand Caledonian Hotel was built in 1901.
Yea was founded in 1855, because of the gold rush, but now it is primarily a farming and agriculture town.
The Yea Wetlands are worth a visit,
We had lunch in an heritage building, the E.S Purcell’s General Store (1877).
On our way back to Upwey, we had a stop at Yarra Glen for a drink in the Grand Hotel (1888).
Grand Hotel (1888)
It was a very rewarding trip. Amazing how much we could do in just a few days.
After our trip to the Cameron Highlands had shown us that traveling in Malaysia was possible again after the lockdown, a visit to Taping was of course my first priority. I booked four nights in my favourite hotel Furama, we drove to Taping on Thursday 13 August, Aric went back to KL on Saturday, I stayed two more nights and went back home on Monday by ETS. Here is a report.
My friend George was also in Taiping and suggested that we could have lunch in a Tupai food court, Sin Wong Kok, where they had the best popiah in town, according to him. When we arrived , my friends were already waiting for us, George and Jenny, and also Suet Fun and Peter. A nice start of our trip and the popiah were delicious indeed.
Of course we took off our face masks during the lunch, but in public we were good citizens.
After checking in at Furama and taking some rest, we went out in the evening and drove to Simpang for the famous char koay teow prepared over charcoal fire. Char koay teow is a favourite of mine, I had visited this stall before, but for Aric it was a first. The shop has been operating since 1972, nowadays the son has taken over from the father. The char koay teow was perfect, we also had very nice stingray.
Young mr Loh in action
Very nice char koay teow
Succulent stingray
One for the album
On our way back we stopped for a while at the Lake Gardens and had a look at the Chinese Pagoda bridge. That the bridge is illuminated is in itself not a bad idea, but the gaudy and continuous change of colors is ugly, IMHO. Judge for yourself.
The next morning we had chee cheong fun for breakfast at Tong’s stall in the small food court in front of the Novotel hotel. That has become a routine for me when I am in Taiping 😉 .
Back in our hotel, we noticed a group of monkeys in the huge tree opposite the hotel. Spectacled Langurs, we were quite surprised to see them there, and were wondering how they would go back to the Lake Gardens, where they probably came from.
Our first stop this day was in Barrack Road where we visited Mrs Long, the sister of our Singapore friend ST Lee. Another tradition. During my last visit I had promised her a photobook with pictures of Taiping.
Beautiful house
Presenting the booklet
Our next destination was the Taiping Aerodrome. There was some activity at the entrance, friends told me later that they were preparing for a skydiving event on Merdeka Day.
I had asked Aric to bring his drone, here is the first result. The former runway is clearly visible.
I am working on a blog about Isabella Bird in Taiping and one of the targets for this trip was to visit places related to her visit in February 1879. AFter crossing the Straits from Penang and entering the Sg Larut, she landed in Teluk Kertang, from where she continued to Taiping. In those days this was the main port to ship tin to Penang!
Now it is a romantic stream, with quite a few shipyards and charcoal kilns on the opposite bank of the river
We continued to Port Weld (Kuala Sepetang), the successor of Teluk Kertang, where we had the famous curry mee for lunch.
On our way back to Taiping we stopped at Kota Ngah Ibrahim, mentioned by Isabella Bird in her book The Golden Chersonese. Next to the fort is Speedy’s bungalow.
Kota Ngah Ibrahim
Speedy’s Bungalow
The fort is now an interesting small museum, free of charge and worth a visit. The centerpiece on the ground floor is a statue of an elephant . According to legend this elephant came back from the jungle in the 1840’s with tin mud on its legs, starting the tin mining in the Taiping region. The first floor tells the history of the court case against the murderers of J.W.W Birch, the first British Resident of Perak, who was killed in 1875. The trial took place in this fort.
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The Kota has also been used as a school, a teacher training college and it was the HQ of the Japanese army during the war. Because of his involvement in the murder plot, Ngah Ibrahim was exiled and died in Singapore. His remains were brought back to the fort in 2006 .
Ngah’s tomb
A drone picture of the complex.
Our next stop was at the pillars in front of the ruined Casuarina Inn. The Taiping Heritage Society (THS) is planning a gotong royong (cleaning) operation of the pillars. The bungalow still existed in 1961 and has been used as accommodation for visiting Residents and Governors. Some of the (34) pillars are completely overgrown, cleaning them will be a formidable job.
A drone picture of the hill with the pillars and the ruins of the Casuarina Inn (originally the Taiping State Rest House).
From the same location the drone took a nice picture of the Lake Gardens. Just visible in the bottom right corner is the former Residence of the Assistant Resident, now the DO’s bungalow. Speedy started building it, Maxwell lived there and received Isabella Bird as his guest in 1879. Of course in those days it was only a simple bungalow, as described in her book.
We decided to have dinner in Yat Sun, one of Taiping’s landmark restaurants. It has now two branches, both in Jalan Pasar. The original establishment was closed that day, so we went to the new one. A bit lacking in atmosphere, but the Hainanese chicken chop was still very good.
After our meal we were looking for coffee and cake. We tried Yinn’s but found it closed. The owner told me later that they close earlier these days because of the covid19 crisis. So not everything is back to normal yet. The beautiful illumination of the facade (the former town house of the Hai San leader Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee) deserves a picture.
During my last visit to Taiping in February I had a look at a bungalow in Tupai, near my hotel, which had been overgrown for years, but recently cleaned. The building intrigued me and with the help of a friend I found out who the owner/caretaker was. Yeap, the president of the THS contacted this Dalbir Singh, who was willing to give us a tour of the inside.
Here is the bungalow, looking glorious in the bright morning sun.
The bungalow is in good condition. The house has not been inhabited for a long time, but it looks like the last residents moved out just recently.
Hopefully this house, built in the 1930’s, will get a new lease of life. I would not mind living there 😉 .
Next we visited Crystal Creek. A larger contrast is hardly thinkable. We wanted to have a look to see if apartments here could be a good investment.
We had a look at a penthouse, apparently never inhabited yet, so a massive “renovation” would be needed. The view from the balcony is spectacular, but we found the general atmosphere of Crystal Creek disappointing. Many condo’s are for sale, or used for AirBnb. A bit of a failed project, despite its own waterfall?
We had lunch in the Peace Hotel, char koay teow again. Notice the nice decorations on the pillars. Built it 1928, it is one of the many decorative buildings in Taiping.
After lunch Aric drove back to KL and I took some rest. These days I am a volunteer gardener at the TTDI edible garden, so I was interested when my friend Lay Chun told me that she had started a garden behind her house a few months ago. She showed me around, I was surprised how much she had achieved already in such a short time.
Taiping is called “Rain Town”, but during this visit there was not the usual afternoon rain. It was a Saturday, many people were at the Lake Gardens, boating, walking or just relaxing in the grass. Taiping, my 2nd hometown 😉
When I visit the Lake Gardens, I always have a look at my favourite cannonball trees. For those Taipingites who don’t know the location, here are the coordinates: N 4° 51.05′ E 100° 45.10′
One problem I have in Taiping, is paying the bill after a dinner with friends. They are hospitable and generally faster. This time I was the host at Restoran Yes and I found a trick, by warning the waitress halfway the dinner that the bill was for me. It worked.
We had pig trotter, fish curry, sotong, tofu and veggie. Total bill RM 119.80 for six pax. Amazing 🙂
Halim had told me that he was free for a trip on Sunday, did I have an idea? I suggested that we could explore Kuala Kangsar and surroundings and he agreed.
Actually I wanted to visit two places related to Isabella Bird. In February 1879 she travelled (by elephant!) to Kuala Kangsar to meet the Resident Hugh Low. She stayed a few days in his Residence, a simple bungalow on a hill top. This bungalow was demolished in 1904 to make way for the King’s Pavilion, designed by Arthur Benison Hubback in 1906, and meant as a residence for visiting Governors of the FMS. Now it is a school.
Nearby is one of Hubback masterpieces, the Ubudiah Mosque, completed in 1917, in my opinion the most beautiful mosque of Malaysia.
Next to the mosque is the Royal Mausoleum of Perak, built in the same period. The two tombs in the right picture finally gave the answer to a question I have often asked (in vain) my Muslim friends :-). Graves have either two round tombstones or two flat ones. What is the difference? The answer is, the round tombstones are for males, the flat ones are for females.
After Kuala Kangsar we went to Kota Lama Kanan. Ever heard about it? After Birch was killed in 1875, the Brits retaliated of course with the Perak War as result. The decisive battle of Kota Lama Kanan was fought against Maharaja Lela and his army on 4 January 1876.
Nowadays Kota Lama Kanan is a peaceful rural district. We went to the mosque and were pleasantly surprised to find there a cannon, according to the caretaker dating back to the battle.
Why was I interested to visit this place? Because Isabella Bird also went there on 16 February 1879. Riding an elephant and crossing the Perak River on it. At that time, three years after the battle, the region was still a “black area”. Detailed story in my forthcoming blog about Isabella in Taiping.
From the mosque you can walk down to the mighty Perak river. It looks impossible to cross this river on the back of an elephant.
We were intrigued by the mention of a Batu Peringatan (memorial stone) on the signboard, looked around for a while, but could not find anything. Finally we asked the caretaker of the mosque who told us that the memorial stone was actually inside the mosque. He allowed me to enter the mosque, after washing hands and feet. A very nice guy.
Mansur Shah I was the 2nd sultan of Perak (1549-1577), he had his residence in Kota Lama Kanan, and in 1577, during Friday prayers in the mosque, he disappeared without leaving a trace. This memorial stone (round and only one!) has been placed in the mosque in 1916. Probably the sultan was kidnapped by the Acehnese. Interesting story.
Our last destination had nothing to do with Isabella Bird. I wanted to show Halim the Suka Suka Lake Retreat of my friends Aziz and Asiah, because I was sure he would love the place. I had stayed in this peaceful resort five times between 2010 and 2014, and it was nice to visit Aziz and Asiah again after a long time. Aziz buys old Malay houses, disassembles them and then rebuilds them on his resort. Halim liked the place very much and I think he will come back soon.
It was a wonderful day, full of variety, really grateful to Halim, hope we can do something similar during my future Taiping visits.
The next day I took the train back to KL, but in the morning I still had meetings with friends. First breakfast and an interesting chat with Anand in Lian Thong. Later, after checking out at Furama, my friend Bok Kin picked me up for lunch, again at Lian Thong. Bomb Mee this time.
After lunch she dropped me at the station. It was a wonderful visit, looking forward to go back soon.
Very convenient way of traveling with the ETS, and no problem with social distancing 🙂
Here is a short video taken by the drone. It shows the Taiping Aerodrome, the Kota Ngah Ibrahim and the Casuarina Inn with the the pillars.
A few months ago, Aei Yong, one of Aric’s sisters, came with the idea to celebrate Christmas with the family in Langkawi! She asked Aric to plan the trip, as she knows that he is a good organiser. He booked an Airbnb in Kuah, 23-25 December.
It turned out that not everybody was available, so finally we went with the two sisters and their family, ten people in total. The ferry to Langkawi leaves Kuala Perlis at 1 pm and it is about a 6-7 hour drive from KL, so he decided that we would leave one day earlier and stay overnight in Kangar on the 22nd.
We went in two cars and met in Tanjung Malim for breakfast. I had my favourite eggs on toast, creatively prepared 🙂
Breakfast in Tanjung Malim
Creative eggs on toast
Chinese names are not easy for me to memorise 😉 . Left Aric’s nephews Zhen Ee and Chun Yee. , right his two sisters Aei Ling and Aei Yong and in the middle a Kwai Loh, my nickname.
Two nephews
One Kwai Loh
Two sisters
Around 4 pm we arrived in Kangar, the capital of Perlis, where Aric had booked comfortable rooms in Federal Hotel Kangar.
One for the album
Comfortable rooms
After a short rest we went to Kuala Perlis for our dinner in the Hai Thien seafood restaurant. Aric and I had been here a few times before and we liked the (Thai style) food very much. It was crowded, we had to wait a bit for a free table.
Waiting for a free table
Choosing the dishes
The kids playing
The men drinking beer 😉
The food was delicious as usual. The advantage of eating with a larger group is that you can order many different dishes!
The next morning we had time to explore Kuala Perlis. There is not much to see, but there is a nice pedestrian bridge, crossing the Perlis river, with good views of the surroundings.
View from the bridge
The Al Hussain mosque is quite attractive, and sometimes nicknamed Floating Mosque.
The ferry is relatively small, it was interesting to see how the experienced crew managed to fit so many cars and lorries.
The crossing to Langkawi takes a few hours. The weather was perfect and there was a small canteen where you could buy drinks and snacks.
Around 4 pm we arrived at our Airbnb, a nice, modern house, located in the outskirts of Kuah.
Spacious, many rooms to accommodate our group.
Usually we decorate our condo in Damansara Perdana during Christmas and this time we had taken all the Xmas stuff with us.
Aric in action
Kwai Loh and Zhi Ying
The result
The plan was to have our Christmas Eve dinner in Western style. There are not that many restaurants in Kuah that serve Western food, but Aric had found one, the ARTS Cafe. He called them to make a reservation and they asked us to come over already to select what we would like to eat the next day.
The ARTS cafe
Perusing the menu
What to choose?
After we had made our choice, we looked for a suitable restaurant for our dinner. Our original choice , the Wonderland Food Store , was too crowded, we found a good alternative in seafood restaurant TEO.
Seafood Restaurant TEO
Selecting the food
Enjoying the food
And the (Dutch) beer
Another elaborate selection of tasty food
The next day, after our breakfast we first visited the Durian Perangin waterfall on the slopes of Gunung Raya, Langkai’s highest mountain. I had visited this waterfall in September 2007. Now there was a lot less water, but still enough to enjoy a nice bath.
I took a lot of pictures. It was a good place to frolic around.
The waterfall was a very suitable background for modelling photos 🙂
After spending almost two hours at the fall, we drove to the top of the Gunung Raya, at 881 m the highest point of Langkawi. There is a view tower from where you are supposed to have a 360° view of the island. We were also expecting a cafe there for lunch. But everything was closed, already since February 2018!
Gunung Raya
Beautiful view
View tower
Closed!
Next we drove to Cenang Beach for KFC(!) lunch and the tax-free shopping malls. After that back to our Airbnb for a short rest.
Before we left for our Christmas Eve dinner, there was time to take an official family picture.
The ARTS cafe had prepared all the food we had ordered, I forgot to take pictures of all dishes, some people had ordered pasta, others pie, grilled salmon, lamb shank, fish and chips, etc. Nice food.
Lamb SHank
Grilled Salmon
Fish and Chips
Many paintings on the walls of this cafe, another occasion for some more modelling photography.
Kwai Loh
Art
Aric
Aei Yong
Zhi Yi
Aei Ling
Back home, it was time to wish each other a Merry Christmas.
On Christmas day we visited the Langkawi Sky Bridge and of course we were not the only ones. First we had to use the Cable Car. Well organised, we had to stand ready for the gondola, which doesn’t stop, not much time to jump in 🙂
The adventure begins
Waiting for the gondola
Ong, Zhi Le and Zhi Ying on their way
View from the gondola
The cable car has a station halfway, where you get out and can view the surroundings. In the picture you can see behind us the summit station and the sky bridge.
Another gondola brings you to the top.
In the gondola again for the second part
Approaching the summit station
There is a viewing platform, from where you have a good view of the sky bridge. Notice that the sky bridge is quite a bit lower than the cable car station. It is possible to use the so-called Sky Glide, a short funicular railway, but you have to buy tickets separately for it and there was a long queue. Here is a negative comment of a visitor: Don’t use the SkyGlide.
We decided to walk down, in about 20 minutes. A much better option, although it was rather hot :-). Walking on the sky bridge was a worthwhile experience, for me the first time, because during an earlier visit it was closed for maintenance.
Arriving at the sky bridge
It was hot!
The trip organiser, enjoying the view
Another picture for the album
Ong and Chun Yee, preparing to take off
A creative solution for the love locks
We spent considerable time at this major tourist attraction, so it was almost 5 pm when we arrived at the second destination for the day, the beach at Tanjung Rhu. Crystal clear water, a sandy beach, casuarina trees for some shade, a nice place to relax and take a sea bath.
We had read that at low tide it was possible to walk from the beach to one of the rocky islands (the middle one in the picture below). It was low tide and indeed, you could walk quite far out, as you can see, and on the Internet I have seen pictures that there was even a dry “sand road”, leading far out. But when we were there this was impossible.
People trying to go as far as possible
Almost dry
We could walk quite far, shallow water, swimming was not easy.
Almost sunset. A romantic beach. This picture was taken at 6:30 pm
Aric had planned our last dinner at Laman Padi Langkawi , a Malay restaurant, surrounded by rice fields. We arrived a bit too late, it was dark already, but we could still see the nice surroundings.
Romantic location
Waiting for our food
Fish, prawns, beef, no pork of course
Attractive presentation
The next day we took the ferry back to Kuala Perlis.
We passed a fish farm
Almost in Kuala Perlis
From Kuala Perlis it was a long drive back, we stopped in Bukit Mertajam for lunch in the Sentosa Corner, a very popular eatery, famous for its yam rice.
Sentosa Corner
Having yam rice
A relative of the family was living nearby, we paid the couple a short visit.
One more for the album
Aei Yong and Aei Ling with the couple
It was a very successful, but also exhausting trip 🙂
A report about a 3D2N trip to Penang with my friends Paul and Fahmi. Our target was to enjoy food and culture. I have already written separate posts about Penang Mural Art, Penang Colonial Architecture and Penang Museums. In this post I will write about our trip and about food.
We traveled by ETS train from KL Sentral to Butterworth, a very comfortable journey. From Butterworth we took the ferry to George Town. This way of reaching the island is more romantic, compared to the usual way (by car and bridge).
ETS train
Leaving Butterworth
Ferry Crossing
Arriving at George Town
Our hotel was on walking distance from the jetty, but we were hungry and needed lunch first . We found a busy food court, where I had Penang Assam Laksa. The Armenian Street Heritage Hotel is very well located in the heart of the historical town.
Lunch
Penang Laksa
Our hotel
Quite ok
After some rest we went out to explore the town. We started with the Khoo Kongsi. More photos .
Khoo Kongsi Temple
And of course we saw a lot of mural art. More photos .
The weather was nice. We walked past many houses of worship, in the Guan Yin Temple a celebration was going on with a performance of Chinese opera.
Kapitan Keling Mosque
Sri Mahamariamman Temple
Guan Yin Temple
Nagore Durgha Shrine
George Town is a haven for foodies, in 2014 I wrote a blog about it, Penang Food. This time we were looking for halal food. We first walked to the Esplanade. because we remembered that there was a Malay food court there, but it was closed already. Beautiful views of the floodlit colonial buildings!
Townhall (1880)
Walking back we ended up at the popular Kapitan restaurant, where we had an acceptable Tandoori Chicken.
Restoran Kapitan
Tandoori Chicken
The next morning we were in the mood for a dim sum breakfast, but of course most dim sum places are not halal. We were lucky to find a gem: Dim Sum Valet . Delicious dim sum, a very friendly Malay couple, they started the shop beginning of this year. Worth visiting!
Dim Sum Valet
A lot of choice
Having our breakfast
The owner and I
We still had some space left for a dessert. Our friends Pat and Roger had visited George Town recently and were very enthusiastic about the durian ice cream of Kek Seng. They were right, it was delicious.
Kek Seng
Durian Ice Cream, Yummie
Our first target for the day was the Pinang Peranakan Mansion. A wonderful museum, surprising that I had never heard about it earlier! More photos .
We spent considerable time in the museum, there was a lot to see. For lunch we went back to the food court at the Esplanade that was closed yesterday evening. Now it was open, we had the famous Mee Sotong of Hameed Pata . A long queue, but worth waiting for it
In the afternoon we explored the colonial architecture of Beach Street. One bank building after another prove that in those colonial times George Town was the financial center of Malaya. But not only banks, also emporiums, shops, opulent residences. More photos .
George Town Dispensary (1923)
Central Fire Station (1908)
We visited a few more mural artworks, and we were not the only ones. Actually I am not happy about the mushrooming of mural art in Penang (and in the whole of Malaysia!). Not always is it high quality and the economical Law of Diminishing Returns is valid also here. More photos .
After a short rest in our hotel we went out for dinner to the New Lane Hawker Center. I had good memories about this place from earlier visits, but this time I was rather disappointed. Too many tourists, too expensive. We had popiah, oyster omelet , kerang and stingray.
Our last day in George Town already. We had breakfast with Roti Goyang at the Roti Bakar in Hutton Lane. The soft-boiled eggs were really shaking (goyang) surrounded by the pieces of toast. Very nice.
The Sun Yat Sen Penang Basee was the last museum on our list. Sun Yat Sen had his office here in 1912 when he was looking for support for the Chinese revolution. More photos .
A last round of more mural art. Some of them quite nice, in the humoristic Zacharevic style. More photos .
Before taking the ferry back to Butterworth, we had lunch near our hotel, in restaurant Jawi . Peranakan food, friendly service.
Jawi House Cafe & Gallery
Peranakan food
Friendly staff
After lunch we took the ferry back to Butterworth. Paul and Fahmi went back to KL, I stayed in Taiping for couple of days more, see my report Taiping, July 2019 .
It was nice to visit George Town. But as a result of being a Unesco Heritage Site, it has become very touristic. Fancy museums, I may be old-fashioned, but for me it doesn’t add value.
