Kuala Lumpur and north to Tapah

---

So after a couple of days of checking out the sites in Kuala Lumpur including the super-cool Petronas towers and lots of good eats, and I was ready to head north. I got a late start as I had a great conversation with Andrew from Traveller's Palm guesthouse where I'd stayed. The map that I was using, though not detailed seemed straightforward enough. Little did I know that it would prove much more challenging. I definitely didn't want to take the expressway and so opted for what my map referred to as primary roads. Well these roads such as Jalan Kuching that criss-cross throughout the city certainly seemed enough like expressways to me! I attempted to follow signs for the number 1 primary road as opposed to the E-1 expressway, but I just wasn't enjoying travelling along on a marginal-sized shoulder with 3 lanes of speeding traffic beside me. I followed some directions offered to me by a fellow when trying to use what I called "smaller roads" and rather than the direction of Ipoh city which is what I was aiming for, I ended up on Jalan Ipoh (Ipoh rd.) which unfortunately led me to a point where I had doubled back and could now see KL tower much closer than I would have liked and I was headed right for it! I asked someone else and they of course pointed me in the exact opposite direction. I did eventually make it to Batu caves which was right on the right track, but when following more directions ended up biking on highway type road(complete with off-ramps and three lanes of speeding traffic) again. Pulling off at one of the off-ramps I was again told that I was going the wrong direction at which time I turned back once more and eventually after 35km of mainly expressway type riding found myself pointed right at the KL tower and the Petronas towers. I had done a complete semi-circle! It was now after lunch and I decided that I had had enough of trying to figure my way out of this town and in way too a short time was back downtown! As someone who fancies himself a reasonably self-reliant traveller with a good sense of direction it was a bit deflating to feel that I had failed miserably at trying to get out of a city-lol! Well, ego now in check I investigated bus options but the general concensus was that it would be easier to take a train as it would accomodate the bike much easier. I made my way to the old train station and purchased a ticket to Tapah Rd. station which is near to Tapah which had been the original destination I had been aiming to bike to. The train didn't depart until 6:11p.m so I set off to kill some time by checking out a bit of the national museum and having a snack. The train left at 6:45p.m or so which while late was certainly within on-time parameters for Malaysia so I was told by a former rail employee who I had been chatting with. The train ride was fun as I was quite the sweaty,stinky curiosity with the bike crammed in front of him to the car full of students returning after a month and half long school holiday. Did I mention that it was 36 degrees celsius? One might think that my day's adventure was quickly coming to end....not so fast! Getting off the train, the station was deserted save for one rail employee on the other side of the tracks frantically waving me to carry my bike up the three flights of stairs and over the tracks to exit on his side. After taking a break on each landing(my bike was now fully loaded in riding mode), I eventually made it up and over. He ushered me over and locked the gate to the stairs behind me. He pointed the way to Tapah while shaking his head and laughing as if I were quite crazy. It was now 9:15p.m, absolutely pitch black, and pouring rain. With a sigh, I put on my rain covers and steeled myself for the 8km ride into town. Unfortunately I couldn't get my headlamp working but at least my rear flashing red light was working so I felt relatively safe from a being seen standpoint. The whole seeing standpoint was a little trickier. I had to rely on headlights from either cars behind me or on-coming traffic to take a mental snapshot of the road contour ahead. This technique worked well when there actually was traffic, the rest of the time I was riding blind. Only one significant sized pot-hole took me by surprise and my prayers to the tire-tube deities were answered when there was no subsequent tell-tale hissing sound. I eventually made it to town, rode right up to the NH hotel that I had read about in my guidebook and finished the day happy to have finished where I had originally planned!

---

Photos

Petronas Towers
Awesome site!

Petronas Towers_2
Playing around with a different angle and sepia..

Petronas Towers_3
Look up, look way up...

Masjid
One of the mosques...whoops, have forgotten the name.

Outside a mosque in Little India,KL
I had a nice little chat with these ladies after, they were shy at first but got a kick out of the shot.....

Old building
The city is a mix of shiny,modern skyscapers and cool old colonial era buildings

Bike
My typical hotel room mess-lol! This is in Traveller's Palm guesthouse in Bukit Buntang, Kuala Lumpur