Well our time on the island is up. There has not been much Adventuring for dear old Crispy. Sun, sea and sand. Swimming in the ocean and chilling on the beaches. We are so pleased Pangkor hasn’t changed. In fact I think it is probably quieter now than when we last visited. It’s one of the nicest beaches we know and somewhere that you can feel is genuinely unspoilt. Long may it remain so. We have seen a handful of other western travellers but no more than a handful. The only thing that has changed is the amount of monkeys has increased. We have decided, reluctantly, to move off two days earlier than planned. The last time we were in Peninsular Malaysia we ran out of time to see the Cameron highlands and Ipoh. It’s only two hours bus and ferry from Lumut and the island. Ipoh is considered the gateway to the highlands and is famous for its spectacular Buddhist cave temples. It’s a big city in the scheme of things and not really a major destination on the traveller route other than the old town and temples. We have no time to get further into the highlands and plantations but the caves should be amazing.
We caught the first ferry from Pangkor to enable us to break our fast before heading inland on our 52 seater steel chariot. Crispy was elated as we found a small Indian cafe serving Dosa near the bus station. Crispy loves her Dosa. You never see them in Blighty which is a real shame and people are really missing a trick with it. Thin rice flour pancakes served with curry and chutney. Perfect with a sweet cup of chai.
After breakfast we caught the bus and two hours later arrived in Ipoh Sentra bus terminus. Ipoh is big and sprawling and we had not the faintest idea where our lodgings were. I tried to navigate the bus timetables to get us closer to where we needed to be but couldn’t make head nor tail of them. Eventually I gave up and fired up the grab app on my phone. Within minutes a young lady turned up with her taxi and herded us aboard. She set off before I could tell her where we were going to make sure that her google maps was accurate with the position of our hotel. It isn’t always accurate and you are better off reiterating the details before screaming off into a strange place. The map was not accurate and the grab driver couldn’t find it. She drove into some deserted part of the town and stated “your address”. I explained again where I thought we needed to be but she was getting fractious and kept repeating, “u here, I don’t know where is. I have other job waiting”. Crispy lept to the fore and explained that a team of the devils horses would not move her arse off that backseat until we were outside our hotel. There was no way she was getting out of that taxi till we were safely at our lodgings. One look at Crispy and she knew she wasn’t going to win. I explained again where we needed to be and after a few minutes she fiddled with her phone and drove us to the right location. We are a fair way from the old town but it’s a lovely place and very quiet. I think we will have to rely on the grabs whilst we are here as nothing is in walking distance. We are only here for two nights to see the temples so we won’t really get a chance to work out the lay of the land.
After getting settled we again took a grab back to the old town and had a look around. Ipoh is not a pretty place. Think of Little Hulton post apocalypse. A Warren of run down old buildings interspaces with tired old colonial buildings. I don’t know who took the promotion photos for the Ipoh website but he must have great artistic flair and be a master of photoshop. We found a bar to strengthen our reserve with a stiff drink before finding somewhere to eat. In the bar I searched google for an eatery and by chance came across Durbar FMS. It looked like it served food Crispy could eat so we headed there through the maze of downtown Ipoh. It didn’t look much from the outside but inside was amazing. One of the oldest restaurants in Malaysia that had great fame amongst the colonial rulers. Beautifully decorated and filled with pictures of old colonial Ipoh and newspaper cuttings. We dined under a huge picture of Queen Elizabeth II, god bless her, and the food was amazing at four pounds per main course. Susan, our waitress, has made us promise to go back tonight as she wants me to have “The house special”. I’m intrigued so we will definitely go back. After dinner another grab saw us tucked up in bed under the air conditioning. Tomorrow is a busy day and I feel a bout of temple overload creeping on.
Bare and Crispy, signing off, somewhere in Ipoh, Malaysia.
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